GCSE English Lit Exam

[Justmoveon]

Can anyone give advice please. My ds sits his English lit AQA paper 1 on Monday. He is studying Much ado and Jane Eyre. He knows quotes but is worried he won’t will be able to answer the questions under pressure. Can anyone give any last minute tips please that he could work on today and tomorrow.

BBC Bitesize

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z3wyk7h

Lots of resources for Jane Eyre too

Reminders to read and reread the question.

Could you get him to talk you through the key themes and characters from each using some quotes, just to calm him?

My DS has his English Lit on Monday too (different texts though). The panic is rising here too!

Has your DS looked at BBC Bitesize? They've got good resources for all the texts - some short quizzes, podcasts etc that only take 5-10mins to do.

Has he gone through past papers to look at the questions to see how he'd answer them? Maybe making essay plans for some? (I wouldn't get him to do the whole questions at this stage.)

I haven't used them but I know lots of people recommend Mr Salles and Mr Bruff videos.

I would say that he probably knows a lot more than he thinks he does at this stage.

I'm planning on making sure my DS stops revising at 7pm as for him, getting rest and a good night's sleep is probably as important. 5 weeks of exams is a long slog.

write some essay plans… so much ado do role of woman, deception, etc

He needs to record himself reading them out loud, then listen to the recording over and over.,

oooh it’s nice to see a school that doesn't go for Macbeth/R&J and ACC.

I agree with those who say to look at some themes (easily found online – past papers and other resources) and then write five points for each one. Can he give a reference for each and explain why it is relevant. It doesn't have to be a direct quote – it's fine to say Jane Eyre's reaction when xyz shows abc about the role of women in the novel. As in, a paraphrase of what happens in the text.

Will it be better if he talks it through with you (or a friend, a sibling)? that can be helpful. Remind him to reference the section of text he is given in his answer as that is a good place to start and should offer lots of material.

Light up hub or ask chat to give sample questions, practice the style of questions & map out answers building in quotes. Tomorrow do a few hours in a format that works & applies a bit of time pressure like: 20 mins content, 20 mins timed question from chat or web & then 20 minutes reviewing answer.

sleep & good breakfast, snack just before he goes in.

Mine is doing Much Ado too (with Frankenstein). I think it's harder when the text is a bit less common as all the main videos Mr Salles etc focus on Macbeth/R&J and Dr Jekyll & Christmas Carol.

Dd's been through all the past papers since 2017 so has built up some ideas of themes and questions. She thinks Benedict will come up! But sure what aspect...

It's a fun play but tragedies are easier to write about.