St Thomas More Catholic High School

GCSE English Literature Revision Resources

Revision Guide Links: 

GCSE English Shakespeare Text Guide

GCSE English Text Guide - A Christmas Carol

GCSE English Literature

 

Useful websites:

 

There are some good Macbeth revision videos/resources on this YouTube channel…

English lessons recommended for Key Stage 4 | Teacher Hub | Oak National Academy (thenational.academy)

 

There are some good Macbeth revision videos on this YouTube channel…

English Illuminated - YouTube

 

BBC Bitesize has some useful info to revise the poems…

Poetry - GCSE English Literature Revision - BBC Bitesize

 

Check out this YouTube channel for guidance on how to write a high-level essay…

hyperbolit - YouTube

 

This website has really useful study booklets to work through on all the Lit set texts... 

20 Study Booklets (Plus some other bits) - Douglas Wise

Paper 1 Content

 

Paper 1:

Shakespeare & A Christmas Carol

 

Section A - Macbeth - 30 Marks + 4 SPaG, 52mins

You will be provided with a short extract from the play and asked how Shakespeare presents a character or theme and how it links to the rest of the play.

 

Section B - ACC - 30 marks, 52mins

You will be provided with a short extract from the novella and asked how the writer presents a character or theme and how it links to the rest of the novel. 

 

For both questions, you must remember to include relevant references to historical context and link this to the writer's wider message

Paper 2 Content

 

Paper 2:

Modern Text & Poetry

 

Section A - Lord of the Flies - 30 marks + 4 SPaG, 45mins

Choice of 2 questions - pick ONE only - on a theme or character.  You will not be given an extract, so will have to revise key quotations on characters and themes from the novel.

 

Section B - Power & Conflict Poetry - 30 marks, 30mins

You will be given a copy of one named poem and a question on it.  You must then choose one other poem from the cluster to compare it.

 

Section C - Unseen Part 1 - 24 marks, 30mins

You will be given one unseen poem and one question on it to answer.  Write about ideas expressed and methods used, exploring attitudes at the start, as they develop and the end.

 

Unseen Part 2 - 8 marks, 15mins

You will then be given a further unseen poem to compare to the unseen poem in Part 1.  For this question though, you only compare by methods.

Supporting Pupils at Home - Top Tips for Parents/Carers

Encourage pupils to read as often as possible. Fiction or non-fiction are both equally useful, if it’s something that your child is interested in then even better!  

  • Watch or listen to the news. So many of the topics that we cover have links to the wider world, while we also explore the context that underpins the literature texts that we study. 
  • Help pupils to develop their own opinions. One way to do this is to look at the ‘comment’ section of a broadsheet newspaper (e.g., The GuardianThe Times) and see how writers use language to get their opinions across.  
  • Reading for Meaning: Ask your child to explain, in their own words, the plot of the book/text that they are currently studying. In addition, to check your child is absorbing what they are reading, pause to ask them occasional questions about characters and events in the book.  
  • Seeing literature as more than just a book to be read. Look out for film or stage adaptations of famous texts – many of these are available for free online!