How to Improve From Grade 5 to Grade 9
Hi Sir,
This is a bit late but I honestly wanted to say a huge THANK YOU. I got a 9 in English literature, and a 7 in language.
I was at a 5 in English Literature in February.
I brought your guides and watched ALL the videos you had posted. The alternative interpretations on the texts were so, so good. My teachers thought I was joking when I said I wrote in my exam that “Mr Utterson may actually be a homosexual” ha ha.
Honestly though sir, I was so bad at literature, especially because honestly I didn’t enjoy reading the texts and then just doing simple analysis on some quotes.
When I came across you and your analysis of it, I honestly began enjoying literature and how so much can be got from one quote and how important the context is!
I ended up getting 59/62 in my paper 1 Literature. I was speechless, my teachers couldn’t believe it either, as I was predicted a 5
You help all us students so, so much. I am so grateful for all your hard work; good luck sir with whatever you do next. I’ll probably never watch your videos again but you made me love and enjoy literature in such a short amount of time!
Thanks again,
L
1) In terms of Literature I would say I improved because I started thinking critically and out of the box, I wasn’t stating the obvious. To do this I simply watched your videos
2) Loads of people struggle with structure. Nearly all my teachers taught me I should write 3 paragraphs in a PEAS structure, meaning I would end up with 3 quotes for my whole essay.
This simply doesn’t get you a good grade. Instead I think you should structure with a START/MIDDLE/END kind of structure and have at very least 10 quotes in your plan.
So if the question was “how ambitious is Macbeth?” talk about how at the start Lady Macbeth fuels his ambition, then how it becomes his downfall etc in the middle.
So overall don’t stick with a proper structure, instead remember the START/MIDDLE/END and include all quotes that you can remember and have analysed really well at home
3) For literature especially THE MOST important tip I could tell you is, how important it is to get a good night’s sleep and a good breakfast.
For my paper 1 I went to bed at 10 and slept over 9 hours and had a really good breakfast. I only looked over my quotes on my way to school and nearly got full marks.
For paper 2 I did quite the opposite, slept at 1, didn’t eat anything for breakfast and kept on revising quotes. I ended up being around 10 marks short and went blank in the exam multiple times.
It could be a coincidence but in my mocks I mostly got way higher in Paper 2 then Paper 1. One of my friends who ended up getting all 8s and 9s, told me after 9 he wouldn’t touch a book before the exam and would go on a walk in the morning before the exam and only look over his book on his way to school. Well-being is really important.
4) For language I would say YOU NEED to prepare 2-3 stories that you can match with any questions that can come up. I did that, and when I got my exam paper straight away went to the last question and finished it in 20 minutes, as I had practised writing the stories months before. I ended up getting 35/40. Then spend the rest of the time on the other section.
5) For paper 2 question 5, I would suggest reading newspapers and magazines to stay up to date with latest news etc.
I would say you need to think differently, don’t write what everyone else will, think differently. If the statement is “exams are really needed”, 90% will agree and say yeah it helps prepare and test students. 10% would say no, and the added pressure is not needed on kids who do their SATS in year 2.
(Did you notice L bought all my guides. That’s a lot cheaper than a tutor. But, Kindle Unlimited is even cheaper - all my guides for 60 days, for £0.99!)
My Thoughts
I really like the advice on wellbeing. It is easy for teachers and students to forget this.
I also think learning to love thinking about the author’s ideas and the characters is another way to feel wellbeing. There is nothing worse than studying something ‘because you have to’.
If we meet interesting ideas, it is hard not to be interested (even if we prefer something else!)
That’s why I make the videos.