Transcription
Hello and welcome back to another GCSE revision video. Now, with the GCSE English literature paper one and two exams just around the corner, I want to show you exactly the five steps you should take. And only do this in order to prepare and to feel ready for those exams and to walk in feeling confident, prepared, and knowing that you've got what it takes to get those grades that you deserve in your literature paper one and paper 2 GCSE exams. Let me get into it.
What should you do in this final stretch to your final literature paper one and paper two exams? You may be tempted to try and do it all right. You're panicking. You're stressed. You feel like you need to do something. So what do you do? You start scrolling endlessly on social media trying to watch anything and everything. You download a bunch of past paper questions. You then also think, "Oh no, I need to read all of these texts." You start trying to do lots of things that keep you very busy but may not move the needle at all. What I want to show you is exactly the high impact activities you must absolutely do and do nothing else. And if you focus on these top five things before your literature paper one and paper two exams, I guarantee you're going to be getting those amazing grades that you deserve and you're going to be walking in most importantly to your final GCSE exams feeling ready and nothing can be put in front of you that is going to come as a surprise.
Let me get straight into it. What should you do in this final stretch to your literature paper one and paper two exams to avoid wasting any additional time to avoid also doing the things that are not really going to move the needle?
Number one, when it comes to the first and most important thing you should do in this final stretch to your list of paper one and paper two exams is make sure you focus on memorizing quotations the clever way. Focus in on selecting strategic, short, flexible quotations that you can use in any exam essay that you get. Be it a character question or a theme question because obviously remember that with literature, paper one and paper two, you're going to be having your set plays as well as your set novels and of course your poems as well. Okay. What you need to do is to cram flexible brief quotes per text, per poem that you can use regardless of whatever question you get put in front of you. Please, please, please at this stage, do not at any point pick up your novels or your plays and reread them. You don't have the time. It also is not what your examiners are looking for. Remember that your examiners don't actually care whether you know your play or your set text or even your poem word for word, inside out. What they want to see is you are able to answer the question that's put in front of you using the relevant quotations. And by the way, if you don't know where to start by selecting, if at this stage you're still in the process of trying to put together your flexible uh short quotes which can cover any character or theme question or you don't know where to start, don't forget that on the 4th to the 8th of May, I'm going to be running my final literature paper 1 and paper 2 GCSE master classes. These are going to be uh cramming classes and these are going to be ahead of the final GCSE exams. So between the 4th and the 8th of May, we're going to be focusing on literally boosting those grades before the final GCSE exams, cramming in those last minute quotations, obviously model answer revision. And of course, as part of that class, you will be getting cheat sheets with literally all the quotations that I have literally selected myself that cover any character or any theme question that you're going to get and even any poem question that you can get and you're going to be completely covered. So, simply join in.
Now, the second thing you should do in this final stretch, the second high impact activity when it comes to getting ready and feeling super confident and prepared for your final literature paper one and paper two exams is context, context, context. Okay? And by the way, look at the fact that already in both my top two recommendations, at no stage do I say pull out your novels, take out your poems, start reading what's happening in the plot. Start reading what's happening in uh the entire play. At no stage do I say that because your examiners don't care how well you know your plays or your poems. What they want to see and this is tied to also point number two is in addition to you quoting and showing an awareness of the relevant quotes that fit the question that's in front of you. Are you also able to mention context? Are you able to secure those AO3 marks? Are you able to show an awareness when you're discussing and answering the question that's in front of you? also what influenced the author, the poet, the playwright who you're analyzing and who you're writing about at the time that they wrote. This is context, right? And remember that context is super important. It tends to be neglected by students sometimes. They think, oh, it doesn't really matter context. Context is really important. In fact, it literally can determine borderline grades, right? So, for example, if your examiner is marking your work and thinking, should I give them a five or a six? Context can literally cross you over the line. If they're wondering, should I give them a six or a seven? an eight or a nine, context literally can cross you the over and it can literally be the difference between one grade or another. Equally, remember that without context in literature, paper one and paper two, it is impossible to get a grade 6, 7, 8, or 9. So, if you don't mention context in your essay, you literally are not going to be hitting a six at the minimum. And of course, uh, when it comes to how much context to memorize and to revise, remember what you want to do is to pick two to three context points per text or for your anthology, one context point, max, two context points per poem. And again, when I'm going over my final literature master classes, this is uh from the 4th to the 8th of May in the cheat sheet that I've put together. It literally has all the context that you need, which apply to any question that you're going to get. Okay? So, of course, when you sign up, you're literally going to have access to that.
Now, number three, before the final exams, you also need to learn and use a strong paragraph structure in your writing. The third thing I want to really highlight, remember that when you're writing your essays, you need to write your essays in a way that is really clear and easy for your examiners to follow. You need your essays to be able to hold your examiner's hand and for them to see not only how the points that you're making are relevant to the question that's in front of you, but also how the points weave in quotes really nicely, weave in context really nicely and themes, and go deep into analysis. The easier you make your examiner's life to follow the points that you're making in your essay, the easier it is for them to award you marks. Okay, so remember that. And please try as much as you can before your exams to also try to understand your examiner psychology. Essays that are easy for them to follow make it easy for them to award higher marks. Okay. And what that therefore means and this is what I always tell my students. Keep your paragraph structure simple. Have a structure that is clear that your examiners are able to follow. But try not to have like a 12step, 15step, 20step paragraph structure. It is not necessary. It is not even explicitly awarded marks. If you read examiner reports, you don't see any reports saying, "Oh, this paragraph structure was used. That's why students got these marks." Okay? Examiners just want to read an essay that is simple and easy to follow, but it has great points and it goes deep with analysis. And I argue and I always say this to my students every single year. My students over 90% of them end up getting sixes, sevens, eights and nines every single year because they follow this approach and this framework which makes it easy for them to hold the examiner's hand and follow and help the examiners follow their thought process and it is this appeal paragraph structure. Okay, so it's literally four steps but remember four steps doesn't mean four lines. Okay, peel paragraph simply means point, evidence, explain, link but then with that structure you go deep. Okay, so it's not four lines, it's four steps. And specifically in your peel paragraph structure in your point, obviously begin by answering the question. Then in your evidence, obviously this is where you include your quotations. Then the most important part of your paragraph and of course this is where your marks reside. The majority of your marks reside is in the explanation. This is where you now include in your analysis the technique that the poet or author is using. Then you then layer into that context or theme points and then you finish off by talking about reader or audience effect before step number four linking back to the question. I always recommend that to all of my students even when I'm going over the last minute literature week classes. I will be using the pill paragraph structure. Remember that pill paragraph just because it's simple doesn't mean it's easy. What examiners want to see is you analyze and you go deep with your points and you have essays that are easy for them to follow. If you have some long paragraph structure that's really convoluted, confusing for them to follow, it then restricts the marks that you can get.
Then the fourth thing that you want to do, which is of course closely related to this, once you have a really strong paragraph structure that you're going to use in your essays, number four, practice past papers. But don't just practice past papers in a haphazard way. Okay? In fact, what you want to do when it comes to past paper practice is being strategic. Okay? So when it comes to past paper practice and of course applying your knowledge, applying your memorized quotations, applying your context, applying also the structure that you're going to be using in your paragraph, what you want to do is, and this is a really clever way of past paper practice that's going to boost your grades. Practice questions with well-written model answers. In other words, find past paper questions which have grade nine model answers that have been pre-written. Read the model answer first or better still first practice the past paper question then have the model answer ready to hand which you then cross compare afterwards to then see what points could you have improved on what points did this model answer include. This also is a really effective way especially if at this stage you don't have the opportunity to get lots of feedback from your teachers. Maybe your teachers at this stage are way too busy to give you any marked feedback. You don't know when you practice. Okay, is this response really good or is it not? So, a really strategic way to approach this when it comes to pass paper practice is literally find past paper exams and model answers that you know are written at a grade nine level or at a level at which you are aiming for then practice that question and look and cross compare your response with the model answers. If you read the model answers first, then see what's stuck and then practice that question. And of course, that's the reason why during my uh final literature week classes on the 4th to the 8th of May, we are going to be focusing on model answer preparation. In fact, not only will my students be getting the model answers I go over during the class, I will also be giving free extra model answers that I have already pre-prepared plus p uh past paper questions that they can literally take immediately after the class and then use that as part of the additional revision.
And finally, number five, and this one actually is something I want to suggest you absolutely avoid and have top of mind when you're practicing past questions. Avoid the mistake that most students will make in the literature paper one and paper two exams. Every single year, students keep on making the same mistake. Hundreds of students across the UK always make this mistake and this limits the marks that they get and it limits the grades that they can get available to them in literature paper one and paper two. What is this mistake? This mistake is retelling the story or the extract. Every single year students always go into the exam hall see the extract and then begin by describing in this extract this is what happens and in the play this is what's happens this is what happens in the text this is what happens blah blah blah. They retell the story and they think that they are answering the question, but really all they're doing is retelling. If you do that, the marks that you get are precisely zero because you're not answering the question. Instead, of course, what you need to do is analyze and stick to analysis. Stick to talking about context. Stick to your quotations, really strong quotations, and thinking about what you can talk about in connection to themes. And absolutely avoid retelling the plot.
And as I mentioned, if you're feeling really stressed, maybe you've left it a little bit late, or maybe you have pre-prepared and perhaps you feel like you're drowning in notes and information, maybe you have some questions, your teachers are too busy, perhaps you're already on study leave and you just need some kind of input. Just simply join in my live final literature paper one and paper two classes. They're running every single day from the 4th to the 8th of May at 5 to 6:00 p.m. We're going to be focusing specifically on exam readiness. Okay? And of course with those in that class, not only are you going to get the cheat sheet with all the quotations that you need that you can cram, plus obviously context and themes, but of course, not only will you get the model answer I go over during the class, but also I've prepared an extra practice paper with model answers for that that you can also use for your revision before the final exams. Thanks so much for listening.