How to Feel Confident when Walking Into your English Literature Exam

Students sometimes report feeling acutely nervous walking into their GCSE English Literature or A-Level English Literature exam. My experience has taught me that this heightened anxiety stems from not knowing the texts as securely as they might.

However, fixing this problem of "not knowing the texts" (a phrase many parents will recognise from parents' evening) requires students to do more than just re-read the novel or know the plot of their Shakespeare play.

What does it actually mean to know a text well enough to feel ready and confident when striding into the exam hall? It is far more than just knowing the story. Here are my three top tips as an experienced English teacher and tutor.

1. Know Your Quotations

It does not matter whether students are sitting a GCSE or an A-Level exam - for a large part of that paper, they will need to support their ideas with evidence, and then analyse and discuss that evidence in relation to the question.

If an English teacher has not provided a list of quotations to memorise, the responsibility lies with the student to find one or create their own.

How many quotations do students need to know for each text? While that depends on the component, roughly 30-40 is usually adequate for a play or novel. Crucially, quotations do not need to be long or full sentences - short phrases work brilliantly.

For instance, in Act 1, Scene 7 of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband and claims to be truer to her word than he is:

I have given suck, and know

How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me:

I would, while it was smiling in my face,

Have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums,

And dashed the brains out, had I so sworn as you

Have done to this.

The whole passage does not need to be memorised. It can be reduced simply to: "dashed the brains out, had I so sworn."

Now, the student has a punchy, easily memorable phrase to highlight Lady Macbeth’s cruel mindset and her strategy of coercing her husband by implying he is more cowardly (and therefore less masculine) than his wife.

2. Know Why Those Quotations Are Significant

It is pointless memorising quotations if students have nothing to say about them. I advise selecting quotes that clearly highlight a key aspect of a main character or theme.

When creating a revision list, avoid learning multiple quotes that all reveal the same character trait - aim for range, and ensure all major characters are covered. Using Lady Macbeth as an example, a student should pair her early ruthlessness with a quotation illustrating her eventual mental collapse ("Out, damned spot… will these hands never be clean?") and one demonstrating her deceptive nature ("Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it.").

Conversely, there is no point learning a famous line like "Is this a dagger which I see before me?" if the student cannot explain why it matters in the context of the play.

3. Know How to Analyse Your Quotations

Examiners frequently assess responses based on how effectively students analyse language. Therefore, quotations must be chosen because they provide scope for language analysis.

Good language analysis requires three core ingredients:

• The quotation itself

• Identification of a language technique or literary device

• An exploration of that device's effect on the reader or audience

Using the dagger scene from Macbeth as an example, a student could analyse the dagger as a key symbol. If treated as a hallucination, it symbolises Macbeth’s mental deterioration; if viewed as a supernatural manifestation, it represents the ongoing manipulation of the Witches. The dramatic effect is a sense of uncertainty for the audience, who are left questioning how accountable Macbeth truly is for Duncan's murder.

Here is how that looks in practice within an essay response:

When Lady Macbeth declares she would have "dashed the brains out" of her baby "had [she] so sworn", Shakespeare pairs the powerful verb "dashed" - implying violent, heartless action - with grotesque imagery of spilt brains to present her as devoid of humanity.

The hypothetical scenario she constructs is horrifying for the audience, yet she uses it to demonstrate strength and commitment, revealing her cruel, manipulative nature...

Bringing It Together

Therefore, to approach English Literature exams with confidence, students must memorise key quotations, understand their significance, and know how to unpack them technically.

A concise revision flashcard for a single quote might look like this:

• Quote: "dashed the brains out, had I so sworn"

• Significance: Psychotic cruelty, manipulation through shame

• Analysis: Powerful verb ("dashed"), grotesque imagery

Knowing what evidence to discuss - and precisely how to discuss it - is the foundation of proper exam preparation for English Literature, and it is work that should begin long before study leave starts.

Students often say, "English is all skills-based, so you can’t revise for it." While that myth persists (and holds a grain of truth for some GCSE English Language papers), it is entirely untrue for English Literature. 

There is a vast amount to learn, memorise, and know. The students who fall for that myth are usually the ones who feel anxiety creeping up on them as exam day approaches.