Is this normal for GCSE English Literature?

[Violet38]

Dd is coming to the end of year 10 in a large mainstream secondary. They’ve still only covered one and a half of the AQA literature texts. A Christmas Carol finished in January, and they’ve been on Macbeth ever since. The class she’s in is an Act behind her friends classes due to her teacher being unwell for two weeks, and the sub teachers just went over what they’d already covered at that point.

Is this standard at this point in year 10 and am I worrying unnecessarily? They still need to finish Macbeth, then even if they start An Inspector Calls this term, there’s also all the poetry to cover. They haven’t done any themes, or exam questions / past papers, exam skills etc. Is it normal for all this to be crammed into year 11?!

My Year 10 (also large mainstream secondary) has done 2 books + some poetry + some exam technique. Apparently the last book + more poetry is covered in Year 11.

It doesn’t sound ideal tbh but a lot of what is covered in the early lessons will be useful for all texts (skills for ACC = use those for AIC IYSWIM). So less time will be needed for AIC. Also it’s a bit more accessible tbf that either ACC or especially Shakespeare. Many schools spend longer on the Shakey as it’s harder, or perceived as harder.

So I imagine it will be fine. You can help by sourcing productions of the texts to watch eg at home. There is a brilliant brilliant version of Macbeth with David Tennant and Cush Jumbo which was filmed and may be screened near you; also a good one (well, I liked it!) with Chris Ecclestone and Niamh Cusack. Or loads of other versions. AIC the classic one is the NT production by Stephen Daldry originally staged in the 1990s but I am sure you can find a version of that as well.

Also please remember that the essay is a 45-min task in the exam; no examiner is expecting anything astonishing. IMHO a term is plenty of time to study AIC and start on the poems. I think people get way to hung up on remembering the quotes but the key thing is the themes and what in the text backs them up.

We are in Wales so things are done slightly differently. Year 10 are the first year following a new syllabus so they have double award English, which combines language and lit.

So far they have done a Christmas carol, and the 2 nea that linked to it so module 2 is done. ( I think helped by the fact they had looked at the text in year 9.

They have covered the poetry needed for module 1, and sat the actual exam before half term.

Module 3 is also 2xNea, which i think they should completed one of by now, but they are schuled for later in June.

They haven't yet started the text for module 4,( which will be an exam) which i think is going to be an inspector calls.

They haven't yet started a Shakespeare play ( don't know which one they are doing), which will be part of the nea for module 5. The other nea for module 5 is poetry based, which they haven't started either.

I can't remember what was covered by module 6, which will also be covered by an exam.

I don't think I remember language and literature together being as much as this, but it was over 30 years ago so may have been.

I think things probably took a bit longer at the start whilst they were all bedding in, and bubthe time they finish this year, ypu may be surprised about what they have covered.

Unless they have really leaned into language then I think that’s slow. We cover all lit texts except maybe a few poems in year ten then circle back through then in year 11. Full Language and a Paper 1 lit paper are done in year 10 and a full set of both in Nov year 11. I think that is pretty standard.

Have they done much of the language paper? They’ve still got plenty of time to do AIC and poetry, but it depends on how much of Lang they’ve done as to whether I’d be concerned or not.

This seems pretty normal compared to us. DC did 2 books in year 10 and 1 in year 11. They’ve also did the poetry across both years.

It's fine if it's been interspersed with English language, as those texts take time. It's better that the supply staff were just given work to consolidate what they'd already learned and the teacher picked it back up. Being an act behind another class makes very little difference. They have to know the text well and how parts connect, and what to say about it, not just have sped through reading and recognise it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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).

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

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

@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.

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!

What’s the brand new anthology?