Question for English teachers/markers re: memorising quotes for English Lit GCSE

[HereComesYourMam]

Back in the day we were allowed to bring our texts into our English Lit exams. We went wild colour-coding all the quotes with highlighter pens so we could quickly find them. That seemed to work pretty well... didn't it?

I just wondered whether anyone can shed any light on why things have changed now and they have to memorise everything. To me it feels like more of a memory test than anything else - but maybe there's a reason?

I'd also love to know how it works with the marking... DS can usually remember the gist of a quote but is rarely word-perfect - would he still get any points for a slightly mangled one?

Thanks!

I’m surprised you were allowed an annotated copy in an open book exam - I’d expect it to be clean unmarked texts only.

Anyway, the idea is maybe to avoid that. Also in fact students waste time flicking through a text searching for a quote. Write your essay! No one is expecting huge tracts. Just memorise a few short quotes for each theme. I defy you, stars! Unsex me here. Ape-like fury.

Seriously, it’s about how well you use the quote to support your point, not who can recite a whole speech of Shakespeare.

I‘m not an Eng teacher btw but I know loads and that’s what they say :)

Some A level papers are still
Open book but not allowed annotations, they have to be clean exam copies.

I still advise my students to learn quotations anyway to save them the time flicking through.

The reason is Michael Gove, as far I know, and a whole misty-eyed Tory idea that everyone ought to be able to quote reams of literature. Which I think is bollocks, and I'm a philosophy & literature graduate.

The kids have to spend so bloody much time memorising quotes now and it's going to be impossible for my DS who has ADHD, but sadly I doubt they'll change the exam in the next 2.5 years 😑

I took my GCSEs many years ago and we had to memorise quotes. The teacher gave some recommendations and to be honest it wasn't that hard as they were well known sections.
But we also did coursework which needed lots more quotes and analysis.

They're not looking for you to have exact quotations. "Textual references" is what the mark scheme says - think about key words and moments rather than huge quotations!

Open text exams wasted SO much time

English teacher here.

Anyone who is revising English by sitting reading over quotations is doing is wrong.

You need to re-read the text because those quotations mean nothing without the context in which they were said.

As has also been said here, we're not looking for long, complex textual references. Keep them short and relevant.

Chimpanzees can remember hundreds of human words and phrases. Let's stop pretending that asking teenagers to learn a few short quotations from a novel is beyond them.