Literature Paper 1: What s in this exam? Exam Date: Monday 22 nd May (it s the first English exam...)
1 hour 45 minutes 40% of Literature GCSE Section A: Shakespeare Macbeth 1 hour One question to answer on your Shakespeare text. There is an extract in the exam paper; you have to write in detail about the extract and also write about the play as a whole. 30 marks plus 4 SPAG marks Section B: 19 th Century Novel A Christmas Carol 45 minutes One question to answer on the Dickens novel. There is an extract in the exam paper, you have to write in detail about the extract and also write about the novel as a whole. 30 marks
Macbeth: Revision Tasks Shaded tasks can be completed within 15 minutes Find 5 key quotes (spread throughout the play) about Macbeth s character. Choose 2 of them to use to write a full quote analysis Make a mindmap exploring the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Include contextual links are they a typical couple of the time? Make yourself a podcast about the historical and social context: James I Witchcraft The Gunpowder Plot Scotland The Divine Right of Kings Banquo as a historical link Make a set of revision or flashcards about each key character. Plan an answer to the following exam question: How does Shakespeare show that ambition is the most important theme in the play? Look at Macbeth s dagger soliloquy (Act 2 Scene 1) Using this as the extract, plan an exam answer to a question about Macbeth s state of mind. Which other parts of the plot could you bring in? Look on youtube to find revision videos of all sorts of themes and characters. Use an index card to make brief and focused notes as you watch. Write an essay exploring your view on the following statement: Lady Macbeth is the most important character in the play. Write a revision index card about the theme of trust. Make a character profile for Banquo s character which parts of the story is he involved in, how is he an important character.. Choose a scene which is focused on Lady Macbeth s character. Identify and analyse 2 key quotations which show that she is a powerful character If the exam question was about Macbeth as a tyrant, which parts of the play would you use to support your ideas? Use the BBC Bitesize website to explore the plot, context, characters and themes. Make a powerpoint explaining who you think is most responsible for Duncan s death, Macbeth or Lady Macbeth. Use textual references to support your ideas. Write an article for a broadsheet newspaper giving your view on the following statement: This play is about the supernatural and the power of witchcraft.
A Christmas Carol: Revision Tasks Shaded tasks can be completed within 15 minutes Use a version of the audio book online to read the book again easily available with a quick search Plan an answer to an exam question about Fred s character. How is he important in the story? Which sections of the book would you want to write about? Use the revision videos available on youtube to revise a character or theme you don t feel you know securely. Make a revision index card on each of these themes: Christmas Social inequality Redemption Change Family Draw an image of each of the 4 ghosts as Dickens describes them. Condense the key events of each scene into notes on a post-it note Look at the description of the Cratchit Family Christmas. Write a page answering the question Why does Dickens choose to describe the meal in such detail? Write an analysis of this quotation from Bob Cratchit: "I'll give you Mr. Scrooge, the Founder of the Feast!" Create an image for the front cover of A Christmas Carol which shows the key themes and characters without giving away the storyline. Find 10 quotations where Dickens uses a language feature (such as a simile). Make a revision resource where you design an image or icon to match each feature. Make an index card detailing key quotations about Scrooge s feelings throughout the novel Write a negative review of A Christmas Carol where you argue that Dickens simplifies the problems in Victorian society. Research why Dickens felt such sympathy for characters like Bob Cratchit Plan an answer to an exam question where the extract is from Stave 5, showing Scrooge s transformed character. Which other sections of the story would you write about? Use the resources on BBC Bitesize to complete some revision
What do I get marks for? In both sections of this exam, you are being tested on 3 key skill areas: 1. Develop a response to the question and use appropriate textual references. Worth 12 marks (out of 30) A note on textual references: When writing about the extract, use direct quotations. When writing about the rest of the text, use your memory if you remember a quote, great, if not, write about the event, or what you do remember! 2. Analyse the language, form and structure of the text how does the writer create meanings and effects? Worth 12 marks (out of 30) 3. Be able to relate (link) the text to the context in which it was written. Worth 6 marks (out of 30) Remember! For the Shakespeare section, you are also awarded up to 4 marks for your vocabulary, sentence structure, punctuation and spelling. Don t lose these marks through sloppy writing habits.
Section A: Shakespeare Answer one question from this section on your chosen text. Macbeth Read the following extract from Act 3 Scene 2 of Macbeth and then answer the question that follows. Following the killing of King Duncan, Macbeth is worried about Banquo s knowledge and suspicions of how King Duncan died. MACBETH O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife! Thou know'st that Banquo, and his Fleance, lives. LADY MACBETH But in them nature's copy's not eterne. MACBETH There's comfort yet; they are assailable; Then be thou jocund: ere the bat hath flown His cloister'd flight, ere to black Hecate's summons The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done A deed of dreadful note. LADY MACBETH What's to be done? MACBETH Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, Till thou applaud the deed. Come, seeling night, Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day; And with thy bloody and invisible hand Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond Which keeps me pale! Light thickens; and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood: Good things of day begin to droop and drowse; While night's black agents to their preys do rouse. Thou marvell'st at my words: but hold thee still; Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill. So, prithee, go with me. Starting with this conversation, explain how Shakespeare presents the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Write about: how Shakespeare presents their relationship in this speech how Shakespeare presents their relationship in the play as a whole
Section A: Shakespeare Answer one question from this section on your chosen text. EITHER Macbeth Read the following extract from Act 1 Scene 5 of Macbeth and then answer the question that follows. At this point, Lady Macbeth has received a letter from her husband telling her about the predictions the witches made. LADY MACBETH: Glamis thou art, and Cawdor; and shalt be What thou art promised. Yet do I fear thy nature; It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness To catch the nearest way: thou wouldst be great, Art not without ambition, but without The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly, That wouldst thou holily; wouldst not play false, And yet wouldst wrongly win. Thou'ld'st have, great Glamis, That which cries, "Thus thou must do," if thou have it, And that which rather thou dost fear to do, Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear And chastise with the valor of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crowned withal. Starting with this speech, explain how far you think Shakespeare presents ambition as the key theme of the play Write about: how Shakespeare presents ambition in this speech how Shakespeare presents ambition in the play as a whole
AQA-style question Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol Read this extract from Stave Three of the novella then answer the question that follows. In this extract, Scrooge is observing the Cratchit family during Christmas dinner, accompanied by the Ghost of Christmas Present. Oh, a wonderful pudding! Bob Cratchit said, and calmly too, that he regarded it as the greatest success achieved by Mrs Cratchit since their marriage. Mrs Cratchit said that now the weight was off her mind, she would confess she had her doubts about the quantity of flour. Everybody had something to say about it, but nobody said or thought it was at all a small pudding for a large family. It would have been flat heresy to do so. Any Cratchit would have blushed to hint at such a thing. At last the dinner was all done, the cloth was cleared, the hearth swept, and the fire made up. The compound in the jug being tasted, and considered perfect, apples and oranges were put upon the table, and a shovel full of chestnuts on the fire. Then all the Cratchit family drew round the hearth, in what Bob Cratchit called a circle, meaning half a one; and at Bob Cratchit s elbow stood the family display of glass. Two tumblers, and a custard cup without a handle. These held the hot stuff from the jug, however, as well as golden goblets would have done; and Bob served it out with beaming looks, while the chestnuts on the fire sputtered and cracked noisily. Then Bob proposed: A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us! Which all the family re-echoed. God bless us every one! said Tiny Tim, the last of all. Starting with this extract, how does Dickens present the importance of family? Write about: how Dickens presents family in this extract how Dickens presents family in the novel as a whole. [30 marks]
Read this extract from Chapter 4 of A Christmas Carol and then answer the question that follows. In this extract, a group of businessmen are discussing the death of Scrooge s character. "No," said a great fat man with a monstrous chin," I don't know much about it, either way. I only know he's dead." "When did he die?" inquired another. "Last night, I believe." "Why, what was the matter with him?" asked a third, taking a vast quantity of snuff out of a very large snuff-box. "I thought he'd never die." "God knows," said the first, with a yawn. "What has he done with his money?" asked a red-faced gentleman with a pendulous excrescence on the end of his nose, that shook like the gills of a turkey-cock. "I haven't heard," said the man with the large chin, yawning again. "Left it to his company, perhaps. He hasn't left it to me. That's all I know." This pleasantry was received with a general laugh. "It's likely to be a very cheap funeral," said the same speaker; "for upon my life I don't know of anybody to go to it. Suppose we make up a party and volunteer?" "I don't mind going if a lunch is provided," observed the gentleman with the excrescence on his nose. "But I must be fed, if I make one." Another laugh. "Well, I am the most disinterested among you, after all," said the first speaker," for I never wear black gloves, and I never eat lunch. But I'll offer to go, if anybody else will. When I come to think of it, I'm not at all sure that I wasn't his most particular friend; for we used to stop and speak whenever we met. Bye, bye." Starting with this extract, how does Dickens present the views of other characters towards Scrooge? Write about: How Dickens presents the views of the characters in the extract How Dickens presents the views of other characters in the novel as a whole [30 marks]