Revision Guide
Revision Booklet for GCSE
English Language and
English Literature at Saint
George.
Revision Guide
Revision.
You will be assessed on all of the knowledge and skills you have gained throughout Key
Stage Three and Key Stage Four. In order to perform to the best of your ability – you
must revise.
To improve your grades:
1. Plan your revision, and stick to the plan.
2. Revise for twenty minutes at a time, somewhere quiet, where you won’t be
disturbed or distracted.
3. Revising doesn’t just mean reading; it means actively engage with, make notes on,
produce evidence to show that you have completed a process.
4. Revise with a pen and notepaper and store and save your revision in the same
place so that you can look back at it and have a sense of achievement.
5. Start revising now - don’t leave it until the last week.
Revision is the greatest single factor
in exam success.
Exam Dates 20__:
English Language 1:
English Language 2:
English Literature 1:
English Literature 2:
Eight out of ten students, on getting their
exam results, wished they’d revised more.
Revision Guide
What’s in the exams?
GCSE Language AQA
Assessment
Paper 1 (1h 45m):
 reading literary fiction (unseen)
 writing descriptive or narrative
 16 marks for Spag writing (50%)
Paper 2 (1h 45m):
 reading one non-fiction and one Lit non-fiction
 writing to present a viewpoint (50%)
Literature GCSE AQA
Assessment
Paper 1 (1h 45m)
 Shakespeare – extract and play as a whole
 19th C novel – extract and novel as a whole
(Extracts/chapters will be signalled at beginning of Spring term)
Paper 2 (2h 15m)
 Modern Texts – essay on modern prose or drama
 Poetry – one comparison of named poem and chosen
 Unseen Poetry – two unseen poem questions and one comparison
Revision Guide
Texts you may study include:
Shakespeare – Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, Much
Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar
19th C – Jekyll and Hyde, Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Frankenstein,
Pride & Prejudice, The Sign of Four
Drama/Prose – An Inspector Calls, Blood Brothers, History Boys, DNA, The Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, A Taste of Honey, Lord of the Flies, AQA Anthology
texts, Animal Farm, Never Let me Go, Anita and Me, Pigeon English.
Poetry – AQA Anthology and unseen poetry (teacher choice)
AOs or Assessment Objectives are how the Examinations board (AQA) give you a grade.
They are the same for everyone across the UK. The percentages mean how much it
contributes to your final score:
(Reading) AO1: Identify and interpret explicit and implicit information and ideas. Select
and synthesise evidence from different texts – 10%
(R) AO2: Explain, comment on and analyse how writers use language and structure to
achieve effects and influence readers, using relevant subject terminology – 17.5%
(R) AO3: Compare writers’ ideas and perspectives, as well as how these are conveyed,
across two or more texts – 10%
(R) AO4: Evaluate texts critically and support with textual reference – 12.5%
(Writing) AO5: Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting
tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise
information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence
and cohesion – 30%
(W) AO6: Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity,
purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation – 20%
Revision Guide
Speaking and Listening is also assessed by the Exam Board but does not contribute to
your examination grade overall. However, you will receive a grade for this element which
will be visible to employers and colleges:
(S&L) AO7: Presentation skills in a formal environment
(S&L) AO8: Listen and respond appropriately to spoken language – questions and
feedback
(S&L) AO9: Use spoken Standard English effectively in speeches and presentations
Revision is worth the effort - revision earns
its own rewards.
Help yourself to be successful. Revise.
Revision Guide
Revision Timetable
Remember to select at least four tasks each week, taken from either the list of suggested English
Literature tasks or from the list of suggested English Language tasks. Write the number of the
task you choose into the table so that you can check that you are not constantly repeating the
same activities. Each week try to do a mixture of English Literature and English Language
revision. Write the total number of tasks done each week in the last column and feel a real sense
of achievement!
Week
Commencing
English Literature
English Language
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Total number of
tasks this week
Revision Guide
English Literature: 20 20 minute tasks
1. Select two poems create a spidergram or picturegram describing the content, the themes, the structure
and the significant and important phrases or language devices that best express the meaning of each
poem.
2. Read through the poems and divide them into themes such as: death, family relationships, growing up,
conflict, nature. Identify two ideas or phrases that particularly express the theme of each poem you
have identified and, using a thesaurus, explain and explore that meaning, putting it into your own words.
You might begin with this topic sentence: The poet is suggesting that…
3. Spend 20 minutes on the BBC Bitesize web site looking at some of the poems you have been studying
and extend and develop your notes.
4. Select two poems and choose three phrases from each that best sum up for you the content and
meaning of the poem: e.g: from ‘Patrolling Barnegat’ Wild, wild the storm, and the sea high running
suggests the feral and uncontrollable nature of the sea; the present tense suggests that it is always like
this, and the use of the simple connective ‘and’ implies that it is expected and normal for the personified
sea to be so untamed, like an animal. Remember, poetry can be described as ‘language working under
pressure’: explore the meaning of the words, work out what that pressure is.
5. Select two poems and create a spidergram or picturegram describing the content, the themes, the
structure and the significant and important phrases or language devices that best express the meaning
of each poem.
6. Select two poems that deal with the theme of parent/child relationships. Create a spidergram or
picturegram describing the content, the themes and the structure and add the significant and important
phrases or language devices that best express the meaning of each poem
7. Create a time line of the key events in your novel or play, naming the chapter number in which each
event is located. This will help you in your exam to find the evidence quickly when you need to.
8. Choose a character from your novel or play to describe. Create a pin man drawing and then describe
his or her character using the writer’s own words from the text. Describe them physically, how they say
things, what they say, what the writer says about them, what other people say about them and what
their impact is on the plot.
9. Select two poems that deal with the theme of conflict. Create a spidergram or picturegram describing
the content, the themes, the structure and the significant and important phrases or language devices
that best express the meaning of each poem.
10. Write a comparison between two characters in your novel or play saying which one you prefer. Time
yourself: allow five minutes for planning, and then, using the evidence taken from the pin men drawings
you have completed, write the comparison in twenty minutes, remembering to structure your work using
discourse markers such as: on the other hand, however, furthermore, in addition, in contrast and
similarly.
11. Consider the importance of setting in your novel or play. Make notes on where and when it is set. What
impact does that have on the story? What were the values of the time; was the location a contributing
factor in the story? How do the characters react to their surroundings? How would the story be different
if the novel were set elsewhere? Use a spidergram to record your findings and use quotations from the
text to ensure that you can clearly describe the location and setting.
Revision Guide
12. Compile a list of the ideas or themes that are used in the novel or play you are studying. Brainstorm
some of the events that happen in the novel under those headings. Identify the passages in the novel
where you think this theme is explored and find how the writer describes these ideas. Find an exact
quotation and explore it fully, what is the writer trying to say, and how does he or she say this? You
should have four or five points under each theme; use different colours and chart it on a large size
poster – stick it on the ceiling above your bed.
13. Write the introduction to an essay on a theme from a novel you are studying, exploring the idea of what
the theme is and briefly outlining how the novel describes the theme. Use some of the following
discourse markers to help you: on the other hand, furthermore, likewise, however, similarly, in addition.
14. From an essay plan, write the paragraph that explores how all four poets express their meaning by
using language. Select two phrases from each poem and really explore their connotations – what
exactly is the poet trying to say? Structure your answer using discourse markers.
15. Look at the brainstorming you did for your novel or play. Imagine you are in the exam and you are going
to write an essay on any one of those themes. How quickly can you find the evidence in your book that
you’ve written on your brainstorm? Time yourself, and practise. Finding four pieces of evidence to base
your essay on will probably take you six and a half minutes first time. That’s too slow, so practise: you
don’t want to be wasting time in the exam trying to find your way around the book.
16. Look again at the themes of your novel or play; they might be loneliness, dreams, cruelty, leadership,
isolation, outsiders, revenge, fear. Take each word that is appropriate to your own novel and, using a
thesaurus, explore the meaning of the word. What are the ideas behind it? Have you ever experienced,
personally any of these? Is there a song, or a film, or a picture that explores the issues of any of the
themes? Build up and secure your own understanding of each theme.
17. Plan an answer to a Lit poems question given later in this guide.
18. Write a paragraph of the essay above, and then read it against the criteria later in the guide. What
changes do you need to make? If your exploration of the poems needs developing, go onto the BBC
bitesize website.
19. Take significant phrases from a selection of poems you’ve enjoyed and write them onto strips of paper;
stick them all over the walls and doors of your bedroom, kitchen,(if you are allowed) and toilet. For this
final week it will be really good for you to have these phrases in your mind, explaining to yourself and
your family what they mean. It is through these phrases that the poet is communicating to you what he
means – make sure you have considered all possible meanings to them; try explaining to your Granny,
your baby sister, your dog.
20. Work with a friend who is studying the same novel or play. Working in silence for 20 minutes, each one
of you write a plan to answer the same essay question. Include your paragraph plan and the evidence
you will use. Share your ideas, building on them and improving it.
Revision Guide
English Language: 20 20 minute tasks
1. Study an advertisement in a magazine or newspaper or on the internet. Decide who the audience
is, and how you know, what is the advert trying to say and how it says it. Think carefully about the
words and images that have been used. Think about the size of the picture and the words – what
effect is the advert trying to have on you? Jot down some words to describe the effect you think the
advertiser is trying to create and then use a thesaurus and develop and extend your vocabulary.
2. Read a newspaper report from The Guardian, The Times, The Independent or The Telegraph.
Complete an analysis of the report.
3. Create a poster to go up in your bedroom of the features you might expect to find in a persuasive
text.
4. Go on to the BBC Bitesize web site, English section and complete the Reading Non-Fiction Texts
section: Getting started, genre, audience, purpose, language, information, style, tone.
5. Compare two texts; one must be an information leaflet and the other a newspaper report from a
tabloid web site or newspaper (e.g. The Sun, News of the World, Daily Mail, Mirror).
6. Go onto the BBC Bitesize Web site, Reading Non-Fiction Texts section and complete the
comparative exercise and the comparative exam question.
7. Here is the opening to an essay: ‘Write a persuasive article for a teenage fashion magazine about
whether following fashion is important’. Whether or not you choose to follow fashion depends very
much on you. Some people like to wear whatever is cheapest. Others want things that are warm or
practical and others want to look like they’ve just stepped off the catwalk or out of a high street
shop. Some people just HAVE to be seen in the latest gear – whatever the cost. Using your poster
from task 3, rewrite this so it is really punchy and persuasive – remember who your audience is and
what your purpose is.
8. Read an information or a persuasive leaflet and complete a table, identifying the audience,
purpose, use of fact and opinion, the language and the layout. What do you think is the writer’s
intention?
9. Plan a response to this question: Write an article for a newsletter in which you aim to persuade your
readers that animals should be released from any form of captivity.
10. Write a persuasive essay from one of your plans. Allow yourself twenty-five minutes to write it, then
check it.
11. Take an advert from a magazine and make notes about how it communicates; focus especially on
the picture or pictures. Think about the graphology – remember someone has been paid a lot of
money to communicate to their audience and persuade them to buy the product – why have they
made the advert look like this?
12. Look outside your bedroom window. List four things you can see. For each thing, describe how it
looks, sounds, tastes and smells. Write four sentences, each one beginning with either an adverb,
or an adjective, or an exciting and dramatic finite verb (e.g. Whirling across the road, the leaves
brushed the tarmac, bruising the cold concrete with the fresh, acrid smell of decomposing life.)
Revision Guide
13. Compile a list of five simple verbs: e.g. walk, sit, eat, drink, laugh. Then imagine four different types
of people: a soldier dying on the battlefield in World War 1, a chav, a ten year old landmine victim
from Afghanistan and a middle aged career woman with four children. The rest of this activity will
take about half an hour, so don’t rush it. Using as many words as you can, focusing on the verbs,
describe how each of those people would perform each of those verbs. When your list is complete,
share it with someone else, and see if you can add more. The skill in writing descriptively, which
accounts for 15% of your English Language GCSE, is being able to visualize and empathise with
what you are trying to write about. Thought track each of those characters. How does a ten year
old landmine victim feel when they try to walk or sit or eat or drink and do they laugh? Perhaps you
have now come up with more vocabulary and ideas – add them to your list.
14. Plan this essay in 15 minutes: Journeys can be exciting, boring, or a mixture of both. Describe a
journey you have made, so that the reader can imagine it clearly. Focus on vocabulary choices,
using a thesaurus, and building up detail and description through the choice of subordinate clauses.
Remember to make it interesting: it’s good to have a hook at the beginning e.g. It was a matter of
life and death; arriving on time was essential.
15. Read a Sunday paper. Choose a substantial article and analyse the effectiveness of the article.
Allow yourself twenty five minutes and write an essay which explains how the writer communicates
with the reader.
16. Timed practice: Allow 45 minutes for planning and writing this essay: Write to the Examination
Board and persuade them to award GCSEs on coursework grades alone, and to stop all
examinations. Write four paragraphs. What do you need to do to improve your work? Get on and
do it. Share the best parts of your essay with someone else in the house – they’ll probably enjoy it:
I’ll bet you’re lovely to live with right now.
17. Get some colouring pens. Create a forest with each tree being a letter from AFOREST. Which
persuasive techniques go in the trees? How might they be used to persuade a reader?
18. Allow 45 minutes to plan and answer this question: Choose two places and write about the
different people featured in them. Where are they from and how do they feel about things?
19. Allow 45 minutes to plan and answer this question: Describe your ideal holiday location.
20. Use the marking in your exercise book. What do you need to do to improve?
85% of students who revise get their
predicted grades or above.