IGCSE Literature Exam Technique

You answer one of two questions, and both ask you to compare two Part 3 poems: one names both poems, the other names one and lets you choose the second from Part 3. Every Part 3 poem is printed in a Poetry Booklet that comes with the paper.

• Plan a thesis that captures similarity and difference in one sentence.
• Structure four integrated paragraphs, not two separate mini-essays.
• Use connective phrases: "whereas", "similarly", "by contrast", "in the same way".
• Compare writers’ methods (language and structure) and effects, not just subject matter.
• Keep comparison front and centre: almost every paragraph should reference both poems.

You answer one of two essay questions on your play, for 30 marks. No extract is printed: some questions open with a short quotation or a statement, but each asks about the play as a whole and tells you to consider language, form and structure. The paper is open book, so you may take in a clean, unmarked copy of the play.

• Spend a few minutes planning: choose moments from across the play that answer the question.
• Anchor every paragraph in a specific quotation or stage direction.
• Range across the whole play - its opening, turning points and ending.
• Track dramatic methods: stage directions, dialogue, silence, lighting.
• Your copy is clean, so know where the key scenes are: searching for them costs time.

Each is one essay from a choice of two on your text, argued in response to the question. Paper 1 Section C (modern prose) is closed book, so you quote from memory, and it is marked for knowledge of the text and for context. Paper 2 Section B (literary heritage: a Shakespeare play, or a novel by Austen, Dickens or Hawthorne) is open book, with a clean copy of your text allowed, and is marked for knowledge of the text, language, form and structure, and context.

• For Paper 1, learn short, flexible quotations: your prose text is not allowed in.
• Open with a clear, argumentative thesis. Avoid plot summary.
• Use a five-paragraph PEEAL (Point, Evidence, Explain, Analyse, Link) structure.
• Weave context into analysis, not a separate paragraph.
• Keep an eye on the time - aim to finish with 3-5 minutes to review.

You are given a previously unseen poem and asked to explore how the poet uses language, structure and form to create meaning.

• Read the poem twice before annotating - first for sense, then for method.
• Identify the core feeling or argument, then track how it develops.
• Comment on form (sonnet, free verse, dramatic monologue) where relevant.
• Use subject terminology precisely - enjambment, caesura, sibilance.
• Write analytically, not descriptively: always link method to effect.