How should I approach an unseen piece of text in an exam?

Firstly, read through the text carefully and try to get your bearings within it. Ask yourself some basic questions to begin: what kind of text is this? Is it prose, poetry, a newspaper article? Who is speaking? Do we have any hints suggesting at context, at time or place? What seems to be the mood of the piece? Do any themes jump out at you? Scribble these down on the side of the paper and then start to look in closer depth. Separate the things you want to look at: if it's a poem, look for rhythm. In any text look at language choices (technical features like alliteration, metaphor, extended metaphor, assonance). Most importantly, never just identify a feature in the text: always explain what effect this has on the piece as a whole and on the reader. For example don't just point out that in Tennyson's 'Break, break, break' he repeats that word again and again; emphasise, for example, that in doing so he evokes a relentless momentum that mirrors the never ending spiral of his own feelings of grief.