10 Amazing Study Hacks that'll Make Scoring an A in your English Literature Trifling!

 10 Amazing Study Hacks that'll Make Scoring an A in your English Literature Trifling!

Where to Start?

English literature is one of the most difficult subjects at O levels; no doubt it is, but your love
for it beats the pain! English literature becomes an experience more than just academics. The
class is incredibly interactive where the students and the teacher brainstorm ideas and analyze
texts from all genres of the English literature discipline. But you have to do well in it, don't
you? So here are ten studying techniques that will ease your way to scoring an A, or better an
A* in English literature.

Tip 1: Plan!

Yes! Highly important, but most students overlook it. Why's that? We procrastinate! But don't
worry, I’ll make it easy for you with the following east and efficient pointers:

1. Firstly, mark your exam dates according to the Cambridge timetable on a calendar. You
can use apps like Notion and Google Calendar, or you can print one from multiple
templates available online. This gives you a set time for your preparation and revision
before exam season so that you get everything done at the right time.

2. Secondly, list down all the set texts that your teacher has selected to prepare for the
exams (if you’re a home school student, discuss your selection with your tutor, and
choose the texts you can prepare well in the given time.) Click here for the Cambridge
syllabus for 2022.

3. Finally, you need to plan when to study which text and what days are assigned for
practice essays. The best way to do this is if you’re a school student, plan according to
what you're studying in class so that you can pace along, and stay a step ahead with your
efficient revision. If you’re homeschooled, you can choose a very flexible timetable for
revising English literature; a week exclusively for prose, one for poetry, and the next for
drama. You can alternate these three categories and get more work done in less time!

Tip 2: The Cambridge O levels' Learner's guide

Cambridge International has compiled a learner's guide for English literature at O levels and
GCSE to help the students get a clear picture of the exam and its specifics. It also ensures that
your self-study plans don't deviate from the actual goal, since in a subject like this you're
more likely to find yourself whirl-pooled into the abyss of unwanted information and
material. Click here for the Learner’s guide.

Tip 3: Always keep in touch with your tutor

Tutors can be extremely helpful for such a subject. Sometimes, you need a teacher or a tutor

to help you confirm some of your mind-boggling ideas to be exam quality: can the crickets

chirping be symbolic of something? They can help. Your tutor can also help you out with

your school assignments, help you understand an essay question, give you feedback on your

essays, and help you brainstorm ideas about a bewildering Bishop's poem. So ask them for

help as much as you can to make good progress.

Tip 4: The Best Time to Study at Home

Early birds VS. night owls. Everyone has their rhythm, but then school nights happen so you

need to find a balance to survive. Home-school students can have a very flexible studying

schedule, day or night? No problem. But school-going students can only have that luxury on

10 Amazing Study Hacks that'll Make Scoring an A in your English Literature Trifling! 4

weekends and during prep leaves. So try to carve out at least 20-30 minutes to revise your

literature flashcards, it'll help in the long run.

Tip 5: Your Personal Notes and Resources

The notes you've made for a text are the best resource you can ask for. Because they’ve got

your unique touch. But they may not all be commendable pointers and you can end up with

limited writing content for your exam. There are several websites mentioned in the Learner’s

guide that can assist you in making better essay plans and writing essays that your teacher

can grade higher. But beware of plagiarism, it’s a thing! Try using these resources and curate

your ideas because that’s what makes your paper A* worthy.

Tip 6: Flashcards!

For a subject that doesn’t require you to memorize facts and theories, making flashcards

is slightly different. There are things like specific quotations that relate to a certain theme that

you need to memorize, and to make the process fun and expedient, flashcards are the best.

The most effective way to do this is by writing down a past paper question as a prompt (they

cover nearly all the themes of a set text). You’ll now have a place to start foraging for

relevant quotations, their effects, and the writer’s intentions behind emanating a theme.

Sometimes characters are the focal point in past papers too. Writing a few pointers relating to

characters’ cardinal characteristics and their relationships and roles in the play or prose as a

whole will make revision in the last few weeks easier.

These are the flashcards I made during my A levels revision. The format can be making

short essay plans with relevant quotations, character summaries, or using a theme as a

prompt i.e. seasons, or a cause (conformism, etc.).

Tip 7: Become a Moderate Lexicomane!

Your literary vocabulary being superfluous isn’t necessary at all. But to avoid redundancy of

words like symbolize, means, implies, etc. because they’re used throughout your essays, you

can learn a few fancy synonyms like connotate, depict, epitomize, accentuate, and many

more to avoid sounding too repetitive and bland.

Another thing examiners are eager to see in your essays is the ‘correct’ usage of literary

devices. You aren’t expected to learn a lot of devices, but knowing when to talk about the

setting of the play in coherence with the theme, or how the cups are personified with a human

characteristic is key. Here’s a link to a site listing the common literary devices.

Tip 8: Get the Best of the Quotes

Here’s how you can make the most of your chosen quotations for last-minute revision and

practice essays:

1. Categorize them according to themes, characters, practice questions, etc. (For poems,

blocking them out in themes is enough.) You can also try using Notion or Excel to

organize the quotes.

2. While reading and analyzing the texts during class, mark the quotes, or write them down

in a notebook.

3. Choose quotes that can be used to describe multiple themes and objectives, making it

easy for you to memorize before exams. Too many quotations can be burdensome, so

keep it simple

4. Try to incorporate only a minimum number of quotes in your essays, but the key is to

interpret and analyze them very efficiently following what the question is asking.

Remember, less is more!

When it comes to using quotations, take it easy. The point isn’t to fill your paper with a

multitude of quotations, but how you explain them, either in contrast with or according to the

question asked.

Tip 9: Practice!

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE! I can’t stress how fundamental this step is in your

preparation. It is slightly tedious because you’ve got to write essays and not one-word

answers, but every hardship comes with ease! Get your essays graded by your teacher or

tutor, to help you make productive progress(knowing where you lack helps a lot!). Practice

questions with different keywords i.e. To what extent, How far, In what ways the writer

makes you feel somber about the XYZ poem/character, etc. Practicing questions with

different command words will improve your essay skills and you’ll be confident that you’ve

practiced enough to tackle anything in the exam.

Tip 10: The exam day!

You’ve done everything: you’ve written a myriad of essays, you’ve made flashcards of all the

characters you loved (or despised), you’ve done everything according to what you had

planned (minus the days where life happened because we’re all humans), and now it’s the

night before the exam! Don’t panic and don’t rush! Just relax the night before, have a hearty

dinner with your family, watch an episode of your favorite series, pray to God that you’ve

done all you could and may He ease your path, and go to bed early. Sleeping well the night

before plays a chief role in your performance the next day. And don’t even think of revising

right before the exam, because you’d have done enough of it and don’t need anymore note

perusing. Your brain’s got your back! Trust it and do your best!

Article written by Khedja Khan