The grade 9 conundrum: How can I achieve a top grade in Literature?

As a GCSE English Literature teacher of 24 years and an Examiner of literature for over two decades, I am often asked the same question by my most ambitious students: How do I attain a grade 9? Let's be blunt - getting the very top grade is not easy, and it's not supposed to be. It's the top grade for a reason.

It's difficult to provide specific advice because what often makes a grade 9 is its utter uniqueness and the fact that the student has not relied on a specific structure or formulaic approach. This is why teachers of high-attaining students are often advised not to teach them to use paragraph structures such as PEE, PEAS, or PETALZ, as these can be counterproductive by restricting what they want to convey or making them "shoehorn" or force a part into their paragraph that doesn't completely belong. So what are some appropriate ideas?

One thing that definitely stands out about a grade 9 response is the vocabulary. Having a great command of language not only makes the response sound much more sophisticated, but it also allows students to make points that are much more precise. For example, if discussing Scrooge from A Christmas Carol, it sounds much more impressive and succinct to describe him as "misanthropic", "parsimonious", and "antagonistic" than to call him a "nasty, angry character". One piece of advice is to keep learning and practising using high-level vocabulary until it becomes part of your normal practice and you are confident using the words correctly.

Another practical idea is to make sure that you know the text well enough to use embedded quotations (ideally short or one-word quotations) throughout your response, rather than just focusing on one longer quotation to analyse in each paragraph. This shows the examiner how well you know the whole text, not just a select few quotations. Here is an example paragraph of a response about poverty in A Christmas Carol that one of my classes and I wrote together:

Scrooge is initially presented as a "covetous" and "grasping" antagonist at the start of the novella through the eyes of the narrator. The use of the asyndetic list of negative adjectives, "squeezing, wrenching, grasping", illustrates Scrooge's miserly nature and how he, as a moneylender, exploits those in poverty by "squeezing" any money they have out of them, exacerbating their poverty further. Dickens structures the text so that, at the start, we hold contempt for this corrupt human who is devoid of empathy towards the "idle" poor.

So another top tip is to try to add brief, embedded quotations from different parts of the GCSE text into your points and topic sentences to pick up important marks for AO1.

Finally, another route to success in a literature essay is to write a thesis statement at the start of the essay, which you then prove in the rest of the response. Think of it like a science experiment - you state your thesis at the start, and then the body of your text evaluates whether it is correct. Using this method gives your essay a very specific focus and prevents your response from being vague in nature—excellent preparation for A-Level English Literature. For example, a strong thesis statement for an essay on An Inspector Calls, where the question is about Inspector Goole, could be: "Priestley employs Inspector Goole as an omniscient catalyst to expose the moral bankruptcy of Edwardian capitalism." This shows, from the start, a critical understanding of the text and a very specific focus which can then be proven throughout the rest of the essay.

There is no one way to gain a grade 9, but I truly hope these tips are useful to anyone aiming for a top grade. Good luck, everyone!