How I got a 9 in GCSE English Literature… You can too!

About Me

I have to be honest, getting a 9 is no easy feat - but with the right effort, attitude and technique, it is certainly possible.

Trying to maintain my hobby as a writer whilst being a climate activist and finding the time to revise was difficult to balance at first. Attending the occasional #FridaysforFuture gatherings was not an excuse to miss out on work and revision - if anything, I had to work harder to catch up! So, to manage my time, I wrote down each of my subjects and the topics within them. When it came to revision, I would choose two subjects and topics to go through per day. For example, for English Literature, revising my Shakespeare play consisted of making a couple of main character mind maps (always linked to a theme) and doing a practice question/paragraph which included those characters and themes.

GCSE English Literature

I’ve always loved English Lit - studying the subject gives you the greater ability to empathise with others: you see yourself mirrored within books and delve deeper into what makes people, people.  The modern prose (I did ‘An Inspector Calls’) is especially relatable today, and even Shakespeare’s writing has themes which are still relevant.  But, of course, less of the supernatural ghosts! Once you get past Shakespearean language (Sparknotes is great to translate his plays into a more modern English) you can see the destructiveness of greed, what drives ambition, and the undying power of love. The very things that run the world today!

As I said before… it’s not easy! A 2 hour 15 minute long exam? 3 essays? I’ve always struggled with timings and structure - but these things can be refined with a bit of hard work. Being a visual learner, making diagrams and using colour helped me remeber the key points to mention in each paragraph. For example, using a point, evidence, explain structure and remembering to include context on what the writer is trying to show about society through their choice of language.  

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The Classwork

I think the most important way to get good grades in English is consistency. Do not underestimate the importance of classwork because, at the end of the day (or two years), that’s the content you’ll be assessed on. What helped me most were practice questions. After you study the text thoroughly: characters, themes, plot, quotes, different interpretations and perspectives - do a practice question so you get used to applying your knowledge - like you would do in an exam.

It can seem quite daunting at first, which is why I strongly recommend getting started early on. Over time, your technique will get better as you apply the teacher’s feedback. For example, once my ideas were perceptive and I explored different views within my text. I also needed to work on my structure in order to make my essays clearer and more precise. This eliminated all the unnecessary waffle so the examiner can match my response to the mark scheme and easily award me marks. Examiners are looking for the quality of the points you make, not the quantity!

English Literature is also all about ideas: the more you read, the better your ideas will become. You’ll start thinking differently about the plot and linking the themes with characters, or even start to see how the author’s life and what was going on around them influences how they write. This is called perception, and it’s a crucial skill to develop in order to qualify for the top grade bands. When you start re-reading your texts regularly, you’ll not only consolidate the key points, but also think differently about what’s going on and be able to approach the text from a broader perspective (knowing how the text will end and what happens next).

An example of the feedback I received over the course of the year - this was for unseen poetry

The Revision

Revising consistently is good, but you need to find the right methods. Using a wide range of vocabulary can help explain your ideas in a more sophisticated and precise manner. I find that Quizlet is great for this as it’s easy to do on the go, or, you can make it more fun and visualise it through adding diagrams and using fancy fonts. Sparknotes (No Fear Shakespeare) is also extremely helpful to act as a basic outline for your own notes and revision resources. They include main themes, characters, plot and quotations. That said, don’t make it your only revision resource. 

An example of a flashcard testing set on Quizlet

Learning quotes is often overestimated when revising for English Literature, people often spend more time learning how to memorise reams and reams of quotes. What’s more effective is learning a few short quotes which are easy to remember. These are called ‘microquotes’ and linking them to a bigger theme through a character is a great way to show skill. Remember that your quotes should always have a dramatic device to analyse in detail: common dramatic devices are contrast (juxtaposition), metaphors and similes.

Some of my notes on ‘Macbeth’. As you can see there’s a mix of mind maps and bullet pointed lists. I used these to better understand the points I could make about characters, themes and scenes in the play.

Some of my mind maps for ‘An Inspector Calls’. I used different colours to help draw my attention to quotes.

A practice essay and the flashcards I made after re reading the essay. This type of repetition helped me remember important points which I could then use in others essays and in the real exam if the right kind of question came up.

A practice essay. Here you can see my short and punchy introduction as well as my first paragraph.

More from the practice essay above.

Remember that the English Lit (AQA) exam is split into two papers and it’s important to keep going through your plays, novels and poetry throughout the year to keep it fresh in your mind. I started alternating my practice questions from February: going over the one text/section of the paper every couple of weeks. I focused on one text at a time and went through it thoroughly, making sure I understood everything in the texts so that I could make links, parallels and contrasts between detailed scenes/chapters as well as the texts as a whole.

This is a screenshot on what’s assessed and how it’s assessed for paper 1 and paper 2 taken from the AQA website.

It’s also essential to revise for the mocks as if they’re the real thing. If anything, because I did this, the real exam was so much more relaxing. After I finished every text I made some revision materials to help me trigger my memory and ideas about the text.

When it came to the exam, I used these materials to go over, because making sure you know and understand the text is essential, how else will you be able to be ‘perceptive’ about it? Essay plans are also really good to do when you’re rushed for time. Use an example question and always, always plan out your answer. What is your first paragraph/point going to be? In each paragraph you should link back to the question, talk about language with quotes to support your point. You should also explain why the writer wanted to write about this - what events were going around at that time? For example, in ‘An Inspector Calls’, remembering the audience knew the Titanic sank after the play was set is dramatic irony.

The Exam

Nonetheless, at the end of paper 1, I thought I had done terribly. After so much revision and preparation, I could only think of what I did wrong. I had a ‘Macbeth’ ‘asses’ question, and although I tried to plan my answer thoroughly, I didn’t have enough time to do a proper counter argument. On paper 2, I was still rushed for time but I made sure I stuck more consistently to timings and planned my answer to every question. Luckily, my poetry question was on the exact same poem that came up on my mock, which is why practice papers are so important (even though it wasn’t the same question). In my mock I over complicated the question and compared it to a loosely connected poem, thinking I would get more marks for a ‘perceptive’ comparison. But luckily I learnt that it is better to make more obvious comparisons and explain them in more detail so the examiner can easily award you some marks. 

Summary and Pro Tip

English Literature is a tough exam and there’s a lot of it, so it’s important to consistently refresh your memory on the texts and revisit them with new ideas over and over again. If you’re not great at timings, first get the skills right. For example, picking specific quotations, analysing them in detail and the linking in what events happened in the author’s lifetime to inspire their point of view. Try and pick apart specific details from a quote and then look at the wider perspective, are there any similarities or sharp contrasts to the rest of the texts? Getting a good grade means you should also persistently look at not only how the author did it (language analysis) but why would they write this novel, play or poem? What is the point they are trying to make to their audience or readers? What is the writer trying to say about human nature, society and the world? 

Thanks for reading my blog, I hope it’s been helpful - good luck!

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A Complete Guide To GCSE Spanish and German (and how to get a 9)

For GCSE, I did both Spanish and German. Despite many people thinking that double languages would be overwhelming and confusing, it was one of the best choices I made! Being more familiar with the exam papers, mark schemes and teaching methods helped me to be more prepared throughout the GCSE course. For me, languages not only provide an efficient way to communicate with others, but also allow you to explore new cultures and traditions - giving you a much broader insight to the world.

So here’s some advice to help you learn languages more effectively, in particular, for GCSE. 

The key to success

Immerse yourself in whichever language you’re learning, for example: 

• Read foreign magazines

• Listen to foreign music (Alvaro Soler has lyrics which aren’t too complicated to translate)

• Watch TV series and films in the language you’re trying to learn (Netflix have quite a few- High Seas, Elite and Cable Girls)

Even though you may end up reading the English subtitles, listening to the language makes you pick up new words and phrases. Being passionate and interested about a language really does help fuel your knowledge and cultural awareness for it, although this is crucial for A-Level, it’s great for GCSE! Consistency is also crucial to learn languages (test yourself using active recall) and it ensures that, whilst your language skills are building all the time, you can utilise whatever knowledge of the language you have at any moment.

The Exam (structure)

Most exam boards (I did AQA) test you on four main skills at GCSE languages: 

• Reading 

• Writing

• Listening

• Speaking

Each of these are equally important and are worth 25% of your final mark at the end of year 11. What I love about learning languages is that, for GCSE, every theme or topic will come up in at least one of the four different types of exam (reading, writing, listening and speaking). 

The different themes are: 

Theme 1: Identity and culture

Theme 2: Local, national, international and global areas of interest 

Theme 3: Current and future study and employment. 

It’s hard to believe how much progress you make at the beginning of the course through to the end of year 11 - not just with the building bank of vocabulary, but also your grammar skills. For example, when revising, I found it helpful to go back to my early written pieces and add more complex structures and varieties of tenses to improve my work.

The Vocabulary

Vocabulary is extremely important, perhaps even more so than grammar when you study languages at GCSE. This is because you don’t always need to understand the exact translation of something to win the marks in an exam, you often just need to have a general understanding. In many questions this is enough to get the bulk of the marks. I find that websites such as Spanish Quizlet, German Quizlet and Spanish Memrise, German Memrise were very helpful, as long as you use them consistently throughout the course. If you simply search for the sets with the correct exam board, you’ll find topic specific vocabulary which can be used for all the language exams which you sit. After all, there’s no better way to understand others and communicate than having the right words to say it readily available!

👆Quizlet example

👆Memrise Example

The Grammar

Personally, I found German grammar and Spanish tenses quite confusing - as we rarely pay a second thought to the grammar and tenses we use in English! Even when we are using English, it seems as though there are only three tenses: 

• Present 

• Past 

• Future

Yet, without realising it, there are many forms of each time frame which we use in everyday life. For example, the preterite past, present continuous and subjunctive… These are only a few tenses and it still sounds confusing! Initially, it is slightly annoying, and I couldn’t help thinking - why can’t we all just use three tenses? But, as you delve deeper into a language, you realise that tenses are crucial to communication. As a visual learner, I found it really helped me to make a timeline of when to use what tenses (for example: the preterite is for single, completed actions in the past), what endings to include and any irregular verbs.

The Listening Exam

Out of the four sections which are examined, I always found listening exams the hardest: most of the time I could understand what the audio was saying, but transferring it from my ears to the paper in the correct format for that question was slightly trickier. 

So what’s the best way to improve? Sounds simple... but the answer is to just practice! Practice listening out for words in whatever language you’re studying on a regular basis. When you encounter a word you don’t know - write it down (even if it seems irrelevant) anything can come up in the exam. 

Remember to write down things you do not yet remember or understand, it takes time but it works! 📝

Writing and Oral Exam

For both the written and spoken exam, there is so much freedom for creativity, which will help you to use the best language you can and get the top marks. To practice writing and improve my vocabulary, I would regularly write paragraphs for each topic we studied in class. Using a checklist for exams was extremely useful for me, as it ensured I included the best variety and quality of work that I could, for example: 

• Opinions

• Connectives

• Tenses

I used other complex language and phrases, for example, in German - the ‘verb comma verb’ structure:

‘um…zu’ and connectives such as ‘obwohl’.

In Spanish, showing off a range of tenses in phrases like:

‘no podría’ (conditional)

Using the subjunctive phrase

‘cuando tenga…’

Or perfect past

‘siempre he querido’. 

Make sure to have some handy phrases when writing about the past, present and future to impress the examiners and show a wide range of knowledge. 

Opinion phrases are crucial to show your passion and interest when you’re writing in a language (I found that, I believe/ think that, in my opinion, some say…). Connective phrases show fluency in both speaking and writing, and using sophisticated conversational terms helps you sound less like a robot and more like a native!

German grammar can also be quite difficult once you move onto the more advanced (and slightly less relevant) aspects, but my advice is to focus more on the skills you will use. For example, instead of learning multiple versions of the past tense, recognise a few of the important verbs in the imperfect tense - such as ‘ich war’, but make sure you know the basic German perfect preterite tense like the back of your hand. Similarly, in Spanish, make sure you have some good ‘go to’ phrases in different tenses which can be easily used during a writing or speaking exam.

Practice is crucial for any exam: learn the content, vocabulary and basic grammar. Remember, you’ll be improving all the time as you continue to use the language. This also means that whilst you complete practice papers and questions (I get mine here, on AQA's website) you’ll automatically get more familiar with the format as you gain more understanding in the language.

Some of the German GCSE Revision materials I used

For the written exam in particular, it’s important to practice the questions to time. Often, most people finish extremely early, yet still manage to write above the expected word count: I strongly advise not to do this! You are marked on: 

• Accuracy - thoroughly check your work after finishing to make sure the tenses and word order is correct

• Range - include a few impressive phrases or idioms in different tenses as well as having opinions and justifications

• Content - stay relevant to the question, the examiner is likely to mark you down for wandering off topic

The Reading Exam 

Make sure to read the text a few times before answering questions, underlining the key information as you go. And, of course, learn vocab!

Here are a few German words that are key to distinguish ideas in a text:

Doch, aber: but

Jedoch, obwohl, trotzdem: although

Vorgestern: day before yesterday

Neulich: recently

Selten: rarely

Streng: strict

Zuverlässig: reliable

Frech: cheeky

Witzig:funny

Hilfsbereit: helpful

Gelegenheit: opportunity

Geduldig: patient

Chef: boss

Also: so

Note: grade

Bald: soon

And for Spanish:

Mañana por la mañana: tomorrow in the morning

Decepcionante: disappointing

Sensible: sensitive

Sencillo: simple

Aunque, sin embargo, a pesar de, por otro lado: however

Sin duda: without doubt

Por eso, por lo tanto: therefore

Mejor: better

Peor: worse

Cuidar: to look after

Querer: to want

Suelo de: I usually

Acabo de: I have just

Largo: long

Nota: mark

Some Spanish revision notes and guides 🇪🇸

The Real Thing

For the real exam - make sure to be calm and focused. For me, the speaking exam was the most daunting, it seems as there is added pressure because of the one-to-one conversation, but most teachers understand how you feel so support you as much as they can! 

Make sure you stick to the plan which you have prepared, for example, I remember in my German speaking, every time my teacher was looking down at her sheet of paper, I thought she was disinterested (when really she was looking for a new question) - so I stopped answering the question and didn’t add as much detail as I had intended to. Expand and elaborate on your points as much as possible. After all, this gives the teacher less time to ask you more questions which might catch you out, and more time to talk about what you know. You’re in control of what you say, so take the initiative and play to your own strengths! 

The great thing about doing two languages was that my Spanish was significantly less nerve wracking, having recently been in a similar situation for German, I felt much more composed and took my time. Making sure to answer all my questions in sufficient detail, unlike my previous German exam!

Summary

Languages are one of the most essential skills to learn, they provide so many external benefits. The topics explored are culturally valuable and relevant, so they give you an amazing foundation to build your skills on and are compatible with every other subject! At GCSE, make sure you keep on top of the vocabulary and the main tenses that you need to know in order to fluently write or talk to someone. Whereas the more complex phrases have the capacity to boost your grade. It may seem embarrassing at first, but try to converse with friends, family (or even yourself) in the language.

I hope this has been helpful, gracias por leer/danke fürs lesen!