How should I prepare for an unseen?

The unseen part of the exam tends to want to test your knowledge of literary devices, so before the exam it's good to brush up on those. Even if it seems impossible to understand the meaning of an unseen at first (especially if it's a poem), don't freak yourself out by trying to understand everything after reading it the first time. Read the poem a couple of times, and then zoom into certain sections (first stanzas, then single lines). Highlight anything that stands out to you and think of how a certain word/ technique has been used to create a mood/ atmosphere or add to the poem in any way. Eventually, by zooming in to little bits, you may end up understanding the poem as a whole.