How can I revise for my English Literature exam?

Whilst it may not be as obvious as other subjects how and what exactly to revise for English Literature, there is so much you can do to consolidate your knowledge and boost your grade. Rather than just re-reading a text, there are many active things you can do to revise English. I recommend choosing 3/4 core themes for each text, and then make one page for each theme with all of the key quotations. Especially with complex texts such as Shakespeare, one or two word quotations work perfectly in exams. Practice essays are important, but you don't need to overdo them. A really effective method is to write essay plans for a past paper and getting someone to talk through them with you. Preparing a few ways to introduce your chosen texts saves time in the exam as well as immediately gets you marks for form and context (important in AQA papers)... For example you could say 'Charlotte Bronte's Victorian bildungsroman 'Jane Eyre" or 'Oscar Wilde's fin-de-siècle farcical comedy 'The Importance of Being Earnest".

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Answered by Annie D. English Literature tutor

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