How can I get top marks in extract based questions?

Ultimately, all extract questions require careful attention and focus to the extracts themselves. Irrespective of whether it is a play, a novel or a poem, language, form and structure must be analysed closely and linguistic techniques highlighted and explored. Ideally, you should always aim to make a point, evidence this from the extract itself and then explain how it affects your answer to the question.
Specifically in relation to drama, it is important to consider the actual presentation of the play on stage and how that affects the audience members. With a novel, it is always worth considering the role of the author within the text and if/where the author is making comments on the text that are independent from the narrator's/characters'. Finally with poetry, the form of the piece is always of importance and analysis of the poet's choices in meter, stanza length/structure or rhyme can often have a great impact on your interpretation and shows an examiner a greater awareness of poetry as a whole which will only boost your mark.