Is this normal for GCSE English Literature?

@BitterTits they were still finishing unit 3 after the exam. Started module 4 in September - mocks soon, before module 4 exam in November. They aare doing a maths paper then too.
Not sure the November exams seem a bit soon. It serns a very short time ftom starting back after the summer until the exams for the maths and English.
However, it does mean the timetable for May/June is a bit less intense - they have 7 less exams to fit in.
I see the fact that whichever Shakespeare play they study will be an NEA instead of an exam as a good thing. 🙂 They have changed it for those that started yr 10 in Sept, so there are less NEA tasks. I think they have realised it was too much for them to fit them all in ( especially with the teachers having to prepare, mark and moderate them all).

That's atrocious. Talk about teaching to the test rather than educating!

My ds's school started GCSE texts in year 7 and it was a terrible idea because he was completely overwhelmed. I think your school may be more sensible.

We did Unit 2, 3 then 1 in Year 10, beginning 4 after the exam, and I'm still worried about fitting everything in. How are they getting on now?

Past papers usually make the biggest difference. PMT has them, Mr Bruff on YouTube is great for Eng Lit, BBC Bitesize has good guides on the set texts, and school.ninja has all the boards' papers with mark schemes and examiner reports. The examiner reports are worth a read, they show what top answers do.

Check these:
https://www.physicsandmathstutor.com/past-papers/gcse-english-literature/
https://www.youtube.com/@mrbruff
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/zckw2hv
https://school.ninja/gcse/english-literature

Good luck!!!

Dd adored English literature and can’t wait to start the alevel in September!

Going back many years, we did Of Mice and Men, the first chunk of poetry, Macbeth and the war poets in Y10, then An Inspector Calls by Christmas Y11, formal poetry analysis after that.

It wasn't a big thing, we were all done by the beginning of March.

In case it’s useful to anyone on here, DD really liked FlipsCo cards for GCSE English Lit. I liked them too, as they made it easy for me to support her revision!

https://flipscocards.com/

My Y10 child has done An Inspector Calls, A Christmas Carol, and Macbeth this year.

Dd started an inspector calls in y9, then everything else was finished by January of y11 so they had a solid term of revision.

Sorry! Didn’t read the OP properly. It’s Eduqas that have a new Anthology first examined next year 2027.

What’s the brand new anthology?

We aren’t far ahead of that ! Macbeth will be done in Y11. My dd has a dreadful teacher for lang and lit and grades have tanked from 8+ to 5/6 so I’m a bit worried too!

@LarksAscending In theory yes, but in practice (in my daughter’s case) they didn’t manage to cover all the content in two years as they didn’t finish the poems and she had to do these on her own (thank you Mr Bruff!).

I’m sure other schools manage it but if hers had started in the last term of Y9 it would have been a far less stressful experience.

Because it’s a 2 year qualification. They don’t need to spend a year ‘consolidating’. Their answers don’t have to be perfect!

Why do you think fitting poetry and one play into year 11 is cramming? I did An Inspector Calls at GCSE and it’s not a complicated or difficult text particularly. If they finished it all in year 10 what would year 11 be for? Revision for a whole year? Try and chill out

My DD is in year 9 and they have just started an inspector calls, doing a Christmas carol in September, Macbeth in January and then poetry. They are taking the exam at the end of year 10 ( school policy to get it out of the way and concentrate on other GCSEs in year 11).

Mine did GCSEs two years ago and this sounds very similar. I was quite worried about how little they had done (feel the same about A Level to be honest!) but he got 9’s and only dropped 3 marks across both lang and lit GCSEs! . Good luck to your daughter @Violet38

My daughter’s class was similar for GCSE and they didn’t finish all the poems before the exam! I don’t know why they don’t start in Year 9 and then have more time in Year 11 to consolidate knowledge, go through themes, exam questions etc. It felt all very rushed when she did it.

But, on a much more positive note, there are lots of very useful resources out there, so if your daughter is worried she can get up to speed with these.

My daughter found these podcasts very helpful https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/gcse-english-revisionpod/id1442976408

DDs school did An Inslector Calls summer of Yr 9, and done some Poetry, A Christmas Carol and now onto Macbeth in Yr10. They have 2hrs of Lit a week.

Her usual teacher was ill & the sub has just covered the basics.

I would genuinely have no clue at this stage what literature mine have covered. It’s actually hard to find decent teachers. Sometimes you need to accept that the school tried their best but there wasn’t a cover/supply or even permanent teacher available.

When we were growing up (well in the 80s) there is no way a parent would have a clue about set texts.

Nothing changes between year 10 and 11 with which clusters are available for poetry. And it's always true any of AQA's 15 poems can be named for comparison.

I think they start past papers way too late. I would get onto the PMT (physics and maths tutor , but so easy to navigate for English past papers) website and access past papers and get them practising them in Year 10. It’s the unseen poetry which is always left too late. They need to practise these skills in Year 10.

It depends on the school’s curriculum. Some spread Lit across 2 years. Some cover majority Lit in year 10. I’m sure the school will have the outline of GCSE course on their website and what they expect to cover. There isn’t a ‘right’ way to cover the course content. It is harder for next year’s year 11 as they have a brand new poetry anthology for Lit so potentially any of the 15 poems could come up.