Any point in revising for English Literature?

[RevisiontipsGCSE]

Trying to help DD who is in year 10 with a revision timetable as MOCKS are in a few weeks.

Last Mocks: English Language:4. English Literature: 2 Teacher said they are hoping for a 5 in both. Maths: 3. Science: 5

I am thinking we should simplify and focus all energy in Maths and English Language. The upcoming mocks will be for English Literature not Language mock until December. There will be Mocks for maths and science too.

Shall we just forget about English literature? She has lots of coursework in her main subject/qualification too.

I don’t find it depressing when the alternative is not revising at all. But some people are just posting to show how much they know about Macbeth rather than empathising with the student and thinking about things that might actually help.

Most of us can quote a bit of Shakespeare.
Don't come to the theatre with me. I sit there muttering the lines along with the actors. My daughter is the same. A Midsummer nights dream is her favourite play.

Another revision tip. I encourage all of my students to have their own copy of the play and write all over the text. Schools hate this. They often tell students not to do it.

Themes, quotes and context should all be marked on the page. For example, the witches speech about 'til Burnham wood come to dunsinane 'and 'man not born of woman' should be underlined and a note to link them to the denouement and 'Macduff was from his mother's womb untimely ripped'. Equivocation should be noted. Notes should be added linking the text to James 1. Macbeth is Not an Elizabethan play!
Then, when the student re reads the play, all the notes are there to explain what is going on. The themes are all there linked to the quotes. The context is there.

This. Definitely she should be revising for Eng Lit. If you/she want it to be less stressful.

She needs to be doing exam prac for language - there are loads of them online.
She should also be revising some quotes for lit.

I hope you don't mean me. I posted what I think might be some helpful ideas:

• Watch a film of it together, ideally one that stays close to the text, and get the DD to explain what is happening in each scene
• Look at the main themes
• Have some sections of text or even short quotes to illustrate those themes (one can work for several)

In fact most ppl are suggesting reasonable ideas that would be helpful eg BBC Bitesize, CGP notes.

I was depressed by the idea that anyone would use the word translating about Shakespeare, that's all. I actually have no idea whether rewritten versions of the plays exist, but actually the OP's DD has many other options anyway. It's in the English that you and I speak, if you have ever said "in my mind's eye" or "break the ice". I agree though that some of the words and phrases are challenging. But there is no need to understand every single word to get a grade 4 in Eng lit.

Whether she chooses to revise for the exam or not is up to you and her. However, she will still need to sit the exam. How will she feel in the exam and when the results come out if she hasn't revised at all? The literature skills will also be relevant in language.

May not be as easy as you think drop a subject at GCSE. Unless she is already in a low set for English, some of which may not do literature ( I don't know if that is the case or not), what will she do in the English lesson when the teacher is covering literature? She still needs to be in a lesson, supervised and doing something productive.

From experience schools often give information on where pupils can gain guidance. Our school did a bulk order of gcp guides - parents could choose whether to order them (they were discounted to the normal price, I assume because it was a bulk order and there were 2 different books ordered).

There is lots of guidance online such as bbc bitesize.

There are lots of revision guides you can buy. (Maybe look online and see if you can view inside the book) or take dd to a bookshop so she can see what the book is like inside before buying).

We are in Wales and have also been provided withlinks to gcse guidance on the wjec website.

If maths is also a struggle have the school suggested any resources to use? Our school stopped using sparx and went back to mathswatch. They were given a list of topics, and the codes to work through. They also suggested to use the website maths diy. There are booklets to download with exam style questions, and copies with the answers. They gave been doing revision in school in preparation for the exam.

We have the gcp maths books. One of the science teachers suggested getting the science one. I ordered maths at the same time. The science one has been used the most.

Schools will have different ways of organising mocks, because different things work for their circumstances. Our school did a week of year 11 mocks, followed by a week of year 10 mocks in Feb. I know other schools that are doing year 10 mocks after the gcses have ended.

Doing them all in one week meant a morning and afternoon exam each day which felt harsh.

We are in Wales and things are done a bit differently. There are also syllabus changes some introduced for the current year 10, and others over the next few years. The year 10 in our school have currently done an English exam, maths exam and one out of the three science, with the other two being this week and next week. They have complete the non exam assessment for one of the English modules, and are due to start the next nea next week. Lang and literature is now combined into one double award. Not sure if all schools do the maths and English at the end of year 10, but the science being done that way is the norm.

Not sure what the main subject is, and why she has so much coursework to do that stops her revising for core subjects. Is she behind in that and if so is there a reason? What about any other subjects. Depending on how schools organise things there will normally be around 3 options, so she will have more thsn obe, on top of English, maths and science.

I would try and get her to do something in the way of revision for the literature, even if it isn't as much as for example the maths.

If the exam isn't till December I'd definitely be concentrating on the others. I enjoyed most of English lit. but hated Shakespeare, could not see the point. On the plus side you do seem to be able to write pretty much anything.

Eng lit is just as important as Eng lang, it's a core one, so definitely don't treat it as drop-able/unimportant. It's actually quite an easy one to revise for too, it's about knowing the text (s) really well (characters, events, themes) and having some understanding of the techniques used in the texts and the impact of those techniques, backed up by some quotes - use the audio books or watch the films, if she finds listening/watching easier than reading. If you get Cliff Notes books or revision guides specific to the texts (cheap on amazon) she has studied that will make it easier and condense/focus the revision. Gcse bitesize on the BBC websites are also good for smaller and more accessible learning.
Ultimately, the British education system (whilst we do like to moan about it and of course it isn't perfect at all) does produce pretty good results and is pretty well regarded worldwide (not top, but consistently up there) - so it may well seem tough but globally it's right up there, which is a good thing, and lots of systems expect even more work outside the classroom than the UK system. I think if you try to focus on that, rather than the pressure on her, or on what she isn't good at, then it might provide a more positive approach.

It entirely depends on your child, obviously it is better for her to revise for English lit but not at the expense of other critical subjects if she doesn't need it to progress.

I wish I'd let my son stop revising lit. It broke him, those saying they/their child swanned thru with the bare minimum is great but that did rely on some natural ability. That's just good luck.

My son was predicted 5 in lit and lan and did revise, attended all the extra sessions. We did flashcards for quotes and watched the theatre versions and TV versions. Discussed endlessly at home too.

He got a 2 in lit and a 3 in lan. I wish he had just focused on lan. I get that some skills cross over but learning 30poems was never helping his mental health or English lan.

40% kids don't get a 4 in English lan, same for maths. So in a year with 5 sets realistically noone expects any of the bottom set to achieve the 4 to progress. Not having a 4 in English lan or maths is a huge barrier to progresssion. It sucks and the system is rubbish.

So if you think she is behind in maths and risking not getting a 4, I would absolutely be binning off literature and focusing on maths.

If you think the 4 is comfortable in maths and both English are achievable then she absolutely should revise literature.

Good luck it was the most stressful year and my child is still recovering from the impact of the pressure and not getting the English 4 a year on.

If watching youtube is less stressful then DS watched Mr Salles' (English teacher) stuff on Eng lit.

Thank you all; we will encourage some sort of revision.

How many hours revision per day you expect the kids to do? I don’t think DD has the self discipline to do it herself. Should I be reminding her every day once we work out a time table together. I want to support her in getting the best results she can but don’t know how.

I think part of the problem is that I don’t understand these GCSE and we have left het alone to deal with everything until a few weeks ago when I have been trying to get more involved.

Thank you. This is my thinking.

I think we need to be realistic and focus on what is important and what she can achieve.

I am sitting down with DD and discuss it with her as she knows herself and what she can actually do.

The important thing for her to remember is not to just retell the story. She can safely assume the marker is familiar with the text and needs to answer the question. Also mark scheme can be useful. For a 10 mark question aim to make 5 relevant points each backed up by reference to text, character, language or quotation. Would it help her to talk through her responses to sample questions?

And sorry to hear your child didn’t achieve the required grades for English Language,

Best of luck for him in the future. It is stressful. I wasn’t stressing just mainly focusing on DD wellbeing but the school is ensuring I stress and putting pressure on me 😅 and we have not even started year 11.

You shouldn’t be asking strangers on MN about this. It sounds as though you and your daughter need some help with prioritising and organising her workload.
Ask for a face to face with her head of year, tell them what you are concerned about and ask for their advice. There might be extra support she can get through lunchtime or after school subject clinics etc too.

What does the English Language exam include? 🙈

Private schools allow you to drop English Lit so I think if she's unlikely to pass Lang and Maths, she should prioritise those over Lit (although I think Lit is much more enjoyable).

Look out for National Theatre screenings of Macbeth as well as live performances. I’d be getting her a tutor too. English lit is extremely important.

Hi OP do you know which board? That's important as the exam will vary.

Overall though the Eng lang exam (two papers) will include analysis of a text with various questions and then a piece of writing. AQA is the one I know best – Paper 1 includes a piece of creative writing, and paper 2 a transactional or persuasive piece.

The comprehension questions are targeted at specific areas as well – for example AQA paper 1, the first qu is to find four facts, then there are questions looking for knowledge of specific elements such as metaphors, similes, alliteration. If you ask your DD which board you can look up the exam structure as Edexcel is slightly different.

Re the Eng lit – I really would encourage some revision. I hear the posters whose DC really struggled (my DC1 did) and I agree it's not ideal for all; but if your DD is predicted a grade 5 then it is worth doing some work IMHO. Plus from what you say, she has no Eng lang mock this year?Skills from Eng lit crossover – text analysis etc. I would also say that while @LIZS is right and telling the story alone won't win high marks, there is an element of knowledge of the structure of the text and what happens and what that means that is important.

So for A Christmas Carol, which ghost comes when and what does that mean for the changes in Scrooge's character. In Macbeth, what is the order of the murders, how does that affect Macbeth, what is the significance of how it all gets worse (killing the king to be king, then having to kill your best friend, then having to kill an innocent woman and her small children). So the story is important but yes, there needs to be more to the answer than just that.

AQA. I just learned last week reg different boards 🙈 not even sure what it means

This is helpful. Thanks ☺️

AQA is good as it's the most popular so there are lots of resources online. (there are different boards mainly for historical reasons tbh, but I guess it also gives schools different options).

So to take paper 1:

1. Fact question - four facts from the first section
2. Language - how does the writer use language to do xyz in a short section
3. Structure - what techniques the writer uses to structure the whole text
4. Specific section and discussion of a statement about that section (20 marks for this - total of 40 marks for the comp questions
5. Creative writing - 40 marks for this - inspired by a supplied picture or based on a suggested description.

Paper 2 is similar structure but different approach - both marked out of 80 in total.

So there are lots of past papers – not all on the AQA website but you can find them online, for free, going back to the first year it was examined which was 2017. You may need to hunt about to find the extracts as some may be copyrighted. Also mark schemes so your DD can check how well she is doing.

Remember that these exams are designed to test those for whom this is a strength as well as those who find it challenging (ie there is no F and H tier). To get a 4 in Eng lang AQA last year you needed 73/160 marks.

edited to acknowledge your edits @RevisiontipsGCSE

Kindly, I think you need a rethink. If he’s not fitting everything in now, Y11 is going to be an awful shock for you both. It’s a (very) significant ramp up from Y10. It’s important for DC for their own sanity and wellbeing to still socialise, play sport, activities, whatever - my DC has continued to do this even throughout the Y11 exams which they’re sitting at the moment.

For maths is Edexcel

Please do not project your stress or views on whether English Lit is " worth it " or not. Help them with a quiet place to work and lots of snacks when revising. There is an absolute ton of stuff available online from YouTube tutorials to past papers. You can get passnote books on Amazon that literally talk you through the themes and content they need to know. GCSE'S are designed to be done 9 or 10 subjects at a time and there's no evidence to suggest that dropping Eng Lit would improve the Maths result.

I would say that she needs to be doing an hour a night schoolwork. I find it incredibly strange that she hasn't got a homework timetable.

She surely must have been doing a test/exam every time she completes a topic.

What exactly has she been studying this last half term? Macbeth? Then she should be revising macbeth.

She can spend an hour on her coursework for her main subject on Monday and Wednesday. Tuesday she can do an hours maths. Thursday and Friday she can do an hours English each night.

Does she have an online maths portal with exercises? Most schools do. She can spend one evening reading Macbeth. It is not a long play. She can annotate the text if she has her own copy. The second night she can spend watching the play either on iplayer or YouTube. Even better if she can watch more than one version. She will also find teaching resources on YouTube. Mr bruff has loads of resources including a quick, funny synopsis. Characters and themes and scene by scene analysis.

Now for July and August. She needs to reread whatever other text she should have already covered. A Christmas carol is only about 100 pages long, as is Dr jekyll.

She needs to find out what 20th century text she is covering. My guess is An Inspector Calls. She can read the play and watch the film during the summer. Again, I think the film is on iplayer. It is a very short play.

Its a bit difficult to revise the poetry if you don't know which you are doing. She will be doing 15 which are either from love and relationships, or, power and conflict, or a newer selection. Again, there are resources available online.

If she reads the texts in the summer she can do it at her own pace. She will be well prepared for the next year and there will be less stress next year.