Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

English Lit GCSE - set text not finished- tips for help?

30 replies

Lessstressy · 01/05/2016 20:06

DD's English lit GCSE exams are in 3 weeks. She plans to do the A level and probably study it at University.
The problem is that the teacher has not yet finished one of the set texts, not sure why, the other groups finished a while back apparently.

DD should have 4 lessons left until GCSEs begin but will miss at least 2 of these due to being off timetable for two+ days over the next two weeks due to full day drama/ art GCSE exams/ rehearsals at school.
I'm going to buy some York notes but what else can DD be doing at this late stage? She could do past papers but there is no one to mark them so hard for her to know how she's doing- I wouldn't know where to start.

Are there other resources I can buy? Or any schemes whereby good English teachers mark past paper questions online? Thanks

OP posts:
Applepie45 · 01/05/2016 20:23

Ah yes, Mr Bruff on YouTube is quite popular. I think he also does revision guides.

SKYTVADDICT · 01/05/2016 20:23

My DD has been using a you tube man to help study Of Mice and Men. I don't know if it will any good to her but she feels more confident and says she understands much more now!

BossWitch · 01/05/2016 20:19
  1. Make sure DD has read the text to the end at least twice.
  2. Get past papers questions from the exam board website.
  3. Get a revision guide for the appropriate exam board/ paper or text. These will always have stuff on how to do the question, sample essays, assessment objectives for each part of the exam, etc.
  4. Email the head of English, explain the situation calmly, and politely ask if s/he could mark a couple of past papers of your DD brings them to them. Make sure DD actually does this.

The lit papers are usually pretty simple and the grade boundaries are fairly generous. If your DD is naturally good at the subject and does the above, she'll be fine.

Applepie45 · 01/05/2016 20:13

I'd say the first thing you need to do is make sure you have a copy of the book and your DD should finish reading it. Then have a look at BBC Bitesize and perhaps the CPG revision guide for the text. We sell these to our pupils and they're quite good.

It would be worth her having a look at the past papers because it will give her a clue as to what types of things she might need to cover. And even if there isn't anyone to mark it, it's still useful having a go at answering them. It's worth her asking the teacher if she can drop in essays for her to look over-I will always do this for my class even once study leave has started.

Don't panic though-there are only a finite number of skills tested in English, and she will have covered these skills when studying the other texts and the language paper, so it will just be a case of transferring these skills to the other text.

BeckyWithTheMediocreHair · 01/05/2016 20:12

What is the text?