A-Level English Literature Week 1 Exam Preparation Tips

Hey guys! Klara here and as it’s only a few weeks until your English Literature Exam, I know you're probably feeling a bit stressed, nervous and… exhausted. This is completely normal and what this blog is here for. The easiest way to alleviate stress and anxiety is to break the workload down into smaller chunks by taking one week at a time. So, this blog is going to go through what you need to be doing five weeks out - and you can worry about all the other stuff later.

The number one thing you need to make sure to do at this point is to read the material you will be tested on - several times! There are loads of students every year who think they can get by without reading the materials they have been assigned. Although, this might get you by, it won’t give you a really good grade. Sparknotes and Shmoop are great supplements, but you don’t want to rely on other people’s summaries and analyses - the way to show your marker that you deserve an excellent grade is to demonstrate thorough knowledge of the content and original thoughts. This will not be possible if you have not read the material. Even if it’s an open book exam, chances are you won't have much time to flick through all the pages, and you'll end up panicking and running out of time - which is never a good thing. Other subjects will require you to read textbooks and cover several kinds of topics. In literature, the books/poems are the only material you have - so make sure you know it well! Don’t forget that you can also use audiobooks, either whilst reading the physical material or on its own.

Whilst you are reading, look for critical quotes, symbolism, and make note of any interesting thoughts that pop into your head. These are all great things to add into your notes.

That leads us to the second thing you want to do: make sure your notes are perfect. Your notes are the foundation of doing well in an English Literature exam - if you don’t have good notes, there is only so well you can do. You want to base your notes on the syllabus/specification that your school is using. If you don’t know which exam board you are using, ask your teachers and find out immediately. When you go onto your syllabus, the first thing you want to do is look for the Assessment Objectives. These are going to be listed in bullet points. Each bullet point lists what knowledge you must demonstrate to do well - ensure you know these inside out! You may think you’ve written a brilliant essay, but if you don't sufficiently cover the objectives, you'll get a poor mark. Sit down with all your notes and cross-reference it to the specification. Make sure that your notes include everything that is listed in the specification, because if it’s in there they might ask you about it in the exam. Feel free to use highlighters to mark the objectives you feel less confident about, and then go back and fill in the gaps in your notes.

After you feel confident about the material in the specification, you need to add your own flair. Include quotes you’ve saved and interesting thoughts you had whilst reading. In order to really impress your markers, you need to create links between a text you have studied and one that perhaps isn't on the specification, and this requires doing some wider reading. For example, it might be useful to look for alternative views on texts (marxist/feminist/modern/contemporary etc; although try to keep in mind that a lot of these book are OLD).

Google Scholar is a great resource where you can find published papers from experts in the field - these will give you loads of helpful insights into how to analyse characters, the use of language and much more! Don’t forget that extra reading can also be listening to podcasts and watching YouTube videos. Crash Course with John Green has 4 seasons of just Literature content! Some other favourites include Stacey Reay and Mr Bruff - binge watch their videos and feel your (already massive I’m sure) love for literature flourish. All these things should be put in a specific colour in your notes (for example, all quotes in green, all extra reading in pink). Separating different kinds of material using colour is one of the easiest ways to enhance memory consolidation. Plus, it looks nicer.

So now you have a plan for exactly what you need to be doing this week to revise for your English Literature exam. Don’t forget to take care of yourself during this exam season - you can’t write a good exam if you’re running on no sleep and a diet exclusively consisting of chocolate. Actually, scrap that last part - Cadbury’s mini eggs should definitely be consumed in large quantities this week. Most important thing is to remember that there’s only a few weeks to go - before you know it you’ll be able to relax and read whatever books you want - not just those assigned to you.

Have any questions about how to prepare for your A-Level exams? Having problems with any hard to understand content or tricky past exam questions? Then ask Klara. Klara will be hosting a series of Q&A webinars in the 2 weeks before final exams. Post your questions here, and Klara will answer them in these sessions.