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InternationalGCSE EnglishLiterature

Essentially, an International GCSEresponse is an answer to a question. Aslong as the focus of your essay is onmaking an argument to this effect, it willset you on a path towards a good grade.Achieving this to a high level requiresincluding flair, textual analysis, andelements of personal perception andresponse within your argument. Having awell-structured essay, with frequentreference to the question, and the abovefactors present will ensure that youachieve well.

Typically, you will sit two exams - Paper 1 focusing on Poetry and Prose, and Paper 2 onDrama. These are of equal weight, accounting for 50% of your grade for the year, andboth are 1 hour and 30 minutes in length.For Poetry and Prose, you must answer onequestion from Section A (Poetry) and one from Section B (Prose), but may answer eithera passage-based or essay question for each. For Drama, you must answer one passage-based question AND one essay question, each on a different text.

What does the examination format look like?

Exam Advice

1) Planning

Firstly, it is critical to plan out your responsebefore beginning your essay. A planstructures your argument, allows for a logicaland organized response, and critically keepsyou focused in the exam.

A good plan sets out the topic of eachparagraph, with some relevant evidence orideas to include in each also present.

Between 5 and 10 minutes is generally plentyto create a plan. Whilst it may seem likewasted time, it will allow you to write morequickly, confidently, and crucially in a morestructured fashion than without.

2) Introduction

Whilst you don’t have to start with anintroduction, it provides a good opportunity tomake an impression on the marker, particularlyin showing elements of flair which are requiredfor higher grades.

Keeping your introduction short, to the pointand clearly focused on the question will startyour essay off strongly.

Experimenting with a unique or nicely wordedfirst sentence of your introduction can benefityour response; if executed well, they can catchthe markers eye and immediately place yourresponse in a higher grade-bracket.

3) Structure

5) Paragraph Variety4) Time Management &Length of response

6) Personal Response

Ensuring that your response is wellstructured (regarding paragraphs,sentences and ideas) greatly improves theclarity and quality of your response.

It is not necessary to use a prescribed bodyparagraph structure, as they tend to beformulaic and not overly well suited towriting at International GCSE. Instead,having a well-balanced sentence structurethroughout your paragraphs, with a mix ofdifferent sentence types, will provide anatural structure to your response.

Making sure that you utilise a variety ofsentence types and vary the start of yoursentences will assist in providing a goodstructure.

When planning your essay, it is important tomake your paragraph ideas substantivelydifferent from each other. Whilst all are used toanswer the same question, try to differentiatethem by looking at different issues, techniquesor perspectives in each.

This will make it far easier to write, as you will beunlikely to have to use the same techniques ormake the same points more than once in youressay.

Importantly, whilst making each paragraphabout a different topic or idea is important, theyall must relate to the question in some way.Establishing this link between the paragraphidea and the question can be done at thebeginning and the end of each paragraph.

As you have an hour and a half to completeeach paper, it is important to stick to 45minutes per question. You get the sameamount of marks per question, and as youressays are marked positively you won’t bepenalised for not writing more (so long as youhave written a reasonable amount)

There is no set amount of words or pageswhich you are expected to write forInternational GCSE. As a general principle,aim for 3-4 paragraphs, which should beenough to cover enough content to answerthe question sufficiently.

Try to avoid writing massive paragraphs, asyour writing will be more effective if it isconcise and to the point, covering a range ofissues in some detail rather than focusingsolely on one idea. This will give your essaybalance, and ensure that a range of ideas arecovered.

In order to score highly at International GCSE, apersonal response is necessary throughout youressay. Perhaps the best way to include such aresponse is to consider the author, poet orplaywrights’ purpose in the text. This can bewidely interpreted, but any analysis orconsideration of the underlying purpose of thetext, or a theme, character or setting within thetext, is an example of personal response.

Try to avoid statements such as “In myopinion” or “I think that,” as it is better tostick to the third person when writing youressay. Potential ways to introduce apersonal response could be along the linesof: “One could consider,” “(Author)’sintention here appears to be,” “perhaps(author) is reflecting on…”

Text Specific tips

Study Tips

General Advice

Poetry

Prose

Perhaps the most important aspect of preparing for International GCSE is to complete practiceessays, and receive constructive feedback from your tutor or teacher. Whilst perhaps not themost enjoyable form of revision, the process of learning where your writing can be improved, andactioning feedback over time, will have the greatest impact on your grades.

Making sure you have a foundational understanding of each of the texts is also crucial. Such anunderstanding provides a platform from which to answer any question you are faced with, andallows discussions at a higher-level regarding context of certain moments or actions, as well astracking the development of key themes or ideas.

Practicing the integration of personal response is also an important consideration whilststudying. It can be tricky to reflect an insightful personal response, and perfecting this aspect is agood way to gain extra marks.

Experimenting with different writing styles or structures throughout the year can also improveyour writing drastically. Any small alterations to style, or experimenting with different paragraphstructures, can make a difference to your writing. Practicing these in essays submitted forfeedback will also likely pay dividends at the end of the year.

For poetry, the best way to prepare is tocover all the poems until you are confidentwith the main theme or idea within them.When you have the gist, it providesconfidence and certainty to your writing.

Poetry must be treated as if it is spoken,not read.

Analysis of form, metre, rhyme, tone, andsound are generally useful techniques toconsider when responding to poetry.

Going through each poem and annotatingit, alongside any notes you already have,will help to solidify the themes of thepoem, as well as outline some crucialtechniques or language features that youcan mention in the exam.

Regardless of which collection you arestudying, having an idea of each poet’s lifeor philosophy can add to poetry responses,and show an outside the textunderstanding. Also useful is to look at thetimeline of the poems. This provides a neatspringboard for personal responses.

When writing a response to a novel, perhaps themost important thing to keep in mind is theprogression of the central character. Typically, anovel will focus on a specific character, orconflict, and chart its progression and change.When studying, look for the key moments in thenovel and what they signify, be it a low point,high point, moment before or after disaster, etc.

Having a strong grasp of the timeline of thenovel, and where specific events occur within thenovel, will allow you to confidently respond toany question, and look at the specific passage ormoment in its context.

Considering the syntax, contextual placement ofchapters and moments, narrative perspective,foreshadowing and motifs are typically relevanttechniques when analysing prose.

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Shakespeare

Non-Shakespearean Plays

Shakespeare plays lend themselves strongly to choosing a passage-based question, for thebreadth of language within each passage makes it easy to pick out techniques to analyse in anexam. It is critical to ensure that a strong grasp of the themes, characters and story is presentwhen studying.

Particularly relevant in Shakespeare’s work is foreshadowing, changing metre in speech,soliloquy, and especially the changes undertaken by central characters.

Any analysis must be treated from the position of someone watching a play, as a member of anaudience. As such, stagecraft techniques are critical to examine, for instance costuming,lighting, music.

A potentially useful guide may be the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of the play inquestion, but other more modern or alternative productions can be considered in an essay.

As the drama paper requires one passage-based andone essay question, the non-Shakespeare drama textthat you’ve studied may be best suited to an essay-based question. When dealing with these plays, it isimportant to consider the non-language-basedtechniques applied.

Particularly relevant for these plays can be stagedirection, which provides a clear indication ofcharacters feelings, motivations and desires wherepresent.

Lighting, costuming, and all other relevant stagecraftis also critical to consider, as again you must consideryourself a member of an audience watching the play.

A very good contextual understanding of the eventsof the play is critical, as often these plays are lackingin easily identifiable language features. Gaining adeeper understanding of the play makes answeringthese questions decidedly easier.

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