GCSE English - how much needs memorising?

[Cloverisover]

DS is doing AQA spec 8700 next year. Am I right in thinking he needs to memorize all 15 poems from his 'Power & Conflict' book? He's a bit vague on the subject.

I'd be interested in seeing the answer to this too.
I've been assuming it isn't going to be memorising but being able to quote from, like I had to do at O level. (Which effectively meant memorising the short ones but quotes from the longer ones.)

He needs to know quotes from the poems. DS had quotes to represent each of the different themes that might be asked about.

They won't need to know every line, they will need to know enough relevant lines to quote when answering a question. Teacher should help identify useful lines to learn.

He’d be better knowing the themes/key imagery in the poem rather than knowing them off by heart. One will be named and printed in the paper, so close analysis of that one related to the exam question and then be able to make reference to the other poem he chooses.

DS last year tried to outsmart the system, and learned about 8 really well.

You could assume it won’t be Ozymandias this year!

Thanks all.

They will need to know quotes for the themes and also to illustrate the use of language. The quotes can be as short as two words.

Quotes only.

The CGP revision guide has a fab table that ticks which poems have which themes, then brilliant key points for each. DC1's teacher hadn't seen it (they were the first in 2017) and was v impressed. A* attained.

You could assume it won’t be Ozymandias this year!

Thankfully DS2 revised it last year, even though his friends said it definitely wouldn't come up after being on the specimen paper.

A few useful quotes from each poem is fine. By useful, I mean each quote could be used to illustrate more than one thing.

Be careful with over reliance on the CGP guide tick list of themes when learning links. The question may not be worded exactly that way so it's worth discussing synonyms.

I teach this and I recommend students learn 3 quotes from each poem (and equally 3 quotes for each character/theme in the full texts) depending on what grade he's working at it will end up being more/less but it's a fairly good starting point.

A attained*

That grade doesn’t exist anymore. Do you mean a 9 or an 8 perhaps?

Dd is doing Love and Relationships. Knows 6 off by heart and has picked 6 different ones so that she's got different kinds of love covered. She's the type to remember song lyrics easily so it wasn't too hard for her. She knows the other poems for analysis purposes.

In the exam you integrate very short quotations as part of the point you're making so absolutely no need to learn them off by heart unless you really love memorising poems!

cauliflower Yes, DC1 got a 9. They were in the year that did the first number grades so I got used to converting the English & maths into old grades for simplicity!

A 9 is superb!

cauliflowersqueeze children taking iGCSEs are still awarded the old-style grades.