GCSE English Revision Tips for Exams! (Last minute BOOSTS!)
Here are a few tips for your English revision and those forthcoming examinations.
When you are asked to ANALYSE any text whether on a Literature paper or a Language paper try these tips.
- Ask yourself WHO is speaking and where are they speaking from? Is your character feeling powerful and authoritative or are they disempowered, compromised and vulnerable? These questions are essential as they remind you to evaluate POV (Point of View) and link to CONTEXT. For example, in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Stevenson switches from third person POV( filtered through Utterson) to the first-person point of view on several, significant and revealing occasions. ( Lanyon’s letter and Jekyll’s ostensibly ‘full statement’). These switches introduce new solutions/explanations to the mysteries within the narrative and show the reader knowledges that would otherwise remain hidden. That said, it is also true that first person POV can mislead and be highly unreliable. First person POV can be emotionally compromised as it is subjective and limited in what can be ‘seen’ and admitted. See if your speaker is a child or an adult. Where are they in terms of their story
- If you are given an extract, the context is essential to its meaning and your analysis. For example, many language papers use extract from the openings of novels or short stories. Openings must capture the attention of the reader and usually present a problem fairly quickly to generate suspense or interest. Openings also need to establish some sense of character and a glimpse of setting. Sometimes, setting is character. Look for personification and pathetic fallacy too.
- Any extract, particularly an opening, will generate expectations on the part of the reader. Expectations can then be fulfilled, undermined, challenged or even subverted entirely.
- Look at the use of setting. How does setting evoke mood? Does the setting reinforce the characterisation? Or is the character anomalous? Sometimes there might be a sense of alienation when the setting and characterisation are at war psychologically, even physically.
- Look to see how the writer evokes a sense of the character and their situation. Characters are created through their problems. We witness Scrooge and Macbeth facing crises of their own making.
When analysing any text or extract these words may be useful because when you vary your expression you find more to talk about.
This text….
Explores
Examines
Communicates
Evokes
Generates
Reminds us
Describes
Gives (dramatic) representation to
Shows/Presents
Reveals
Relies on the cumulative effect of
Gives expression to
Generates a sense of
Effects.
Uneasy/bleak/dismal/grim/malign
Uncomfortable/sobering/Disquieting
Joyous/affirmative/ life-affirming/sentimental
Awkward/ sinister/ eerie/ haunting
Uncertainty/unsettling/challenging/ repulsive/alienating
Mysterious/enigmatic/Ambiguous
Ambivalence
Satirical /humorous/Comical