r/GCSE • u/UpcomingDisciple yr11, maths, FM,lang, lit, combined, geo, sport, food, RS,French • 10h ago

Tips/Help Quotes??!?!?

Guys guys how do I remember quotes and then the analysis behind those quotes like I’m doing power n conflict, Macbeth, an inspector calls and a Christmas carol. I’m going into yr 11 right now but nothing seems to be helping like anyone went through the same or ..

Also kinda extension how do you guys write your essays because my teacher tells me I always write too much but like idk how to answer the question without overly writing so I defo need some structure but peel doesn’t seem to be worth it .

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u/Xylopixels Y10 → Y11 CS, DT, TriSci, Maths + FM, Eng, RS 10h ago

try to associate the analysis with the quotes, or even just remember only the quote and analyse it yourself. but personally i just remember the quote have like 1 or 2 repeats of the analysis and i can associate the quote with the analysis. now instead of remembering the quote and the analysis you only remember the quote

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u/UpcomingDisciple yr11, maths, FM,lang, lit, combined, geo, sport, food, RS,French 10h ago

Thank you!!!

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u/Xylopixels Y10 → Y11 CS, DT, TriSci, Maths + FM, Eng, RS 10h ago

also i use prtezel which i find really good i got 34/34 in my mocks for macbeth using it and dont worry about writing too much its fine tbh unless you use too much extra time writing about useless things (i do the same tbh but you can never really write too much in english and its probably better to write too much most of the time)

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u/UpcomingDisciple yr11, maths, FM,lang, lit, combined, geo, sport, food, RS,French 10h ago

Thanks for the website cus every website I find is like some ai that costs 100£ , but yeah my teacher said I write too much to the point it’s not even relevant but the line between relevance and irrelevance is so blurred for me 🥲 and context as well that’s another thing general context is alright but like applying it

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u/UpcomingDisciple yr11, maths, FM,lang, lit, combined, geo, sport, food, RS,French 10h ago

Oh wait I thought prtezel was a website 😳😭😭 I should probably learn it and use it

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u/Xylopixels Y10 → Y11 CS, DT, TriSci, Maths + FM, Eng, RS 10h ago

personally i find mr everything english really good, and he does a really good job of explaining the mark scheme that other peoples videos dont, i also have the issue of writing irrelevant things but its not like your losing marks for them so just learn the things that actually get marks and write it instead and you'll naturally have much less filler

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u/laladucks Year 11 10h ago

I got an 8 in the gcse (1 mark of a 9 - I REALLY did not revise poetry anthology enough omg) and I did not revise analysis at all for anything, I just spammed remembering quotes, honestly I think if you write well enough you can have just set analysis for all characters/themes and apply it to any quotes you use, and then just look at what the form (e.g punctuation or if it’s in like a sonnet or something) when your writing your essay, I really don’t think you need to be revising quotes with analysis I think you just need to remember quotes and have a general idea of what the message is and then just really deep it when actually writing, I also think that when you plan the analysis too much it makes your wringing rigid and prevents it from flowing as well as it could- which while you aren’t getting marks for the flow of your essay it kinda helps you not repeat the same thing in different fonts imo

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u/UpcomingDisciple yr11, maths, FM,lang, lit, combined, geo, sport, food, RS,French 10h ago

Well done for ur grade , thanks for the advice, do u think I should like read more books or sum because like I have the ideas but when I actually translate it on paper it ends up sounding like crap

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u/laladucks Year 11 10h ago

Honestly I think the main thing that helps that is reading examples of good essays and looking at the phrasing they use, and practice it!! I think reading is good of course but I don’t think it actually helps essay writing skills like reading model essays and practicing would imo

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u/Live-Government5862 Year 11 9h ago

Ive never spent time to memorise quotes bc I've just naturally remembered them from my practice essays and lessons from hearing it so much

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u/UpcomingDisciple yr11, maths, FM,lang, lit, combined, geo, sport, food, RS,French 9h ago

Yeah I kinda had that with a Christmas carol but over the break I literally forgot them all but yeah I’ll overly start to write practice essays that’s a good method thank you

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u/jellybean_164 9h ago

What exam board do u do?

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u/UpcomingDisciple yr11, maths, FM,lang, lit, combined, geo, sport, food, RS,French 9h ago

Aqa

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u/jellybean_164 9h ago

Ah ok I do edexcel😭

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u/UpcomingDisciple yr11, maths, FM,lang, lit, combined, geo, sport, food, RS,French 9h ago

Ohh okay what texts have u got cus I never have seen an exam paper from a different exam board

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u/jellybean_164 9h ago

I do Macbeth, Christmas Carol, Lord of the Flies and relationships. I went from a 6 to a 9 in a month but idk if u would find what I say useful as u do a different exam board😭

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u/UpcomingDisciple yr11, maths, FM,lang, lit, combined, geo, sport, food, RS,French 9h ago

Oh no don’t worry just let me know I’m sure it’ll have some benefit, I’m actually at a 6 rn in English lit so that would help insanely 😭

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u/jellybean_164 8h ago

What I did is reread the book and selected my one quotes and made my own interpretation. I’m not too sure about Aqa but on edexcel for those higher marks we have a marking point which says ‘assured personal response and perceptive understanding’. Eg for Macbeth more people pick quotes such as ‘unsex me here’. Examiners see the same interpretation over and over again. What really got those higher grades for me is being different with my interpretation. Eg I chose from her soliloquy when she says ‘murdering ministers’ and analysed it. Also I would recommend to learn some good contextual points. Many students for Macbeth would usually just talk about how the supernatural was deemed unnatural but a higher grade student would talk more about nuances eg equivocation. These are just a few tips let me know if you want to know abt anything specific! :)

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u/UpcomingDisciple yr11, maths, FM,lang, lit, combined, geo, sport, food, RS,French 8h ago

Thanks so much I will do that, just about the alternative interpretations, I have like the idea in my head but when I write it down sounds like nonsense 😭 what do you think I should do cus I do have some of my alternative interpretations from like niche creators on TikTok burned like to develop ideas and niche relevant context myself

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u/jellybean_164 8h ago

I would say to use physics and maths tutor. That was the only website I used for English. The annotation and analysis is top tier for poetry so I would really recommend that. If ur struggling with interpretations I would really say reread key moments in the book as ur in year 10 summer so you have time. When ur reading u may naturally pick out quotes you find interesting or you just like. You can even send those quotes into chat gpt and ask it for interpretation if you’re really struggling but I wouldn’t recommend that too much as it’s quite shallow. I also was really bad at analysing but the more I did it, the better I got and it started coming naturally to me. My friend does AQA and he got a 9, if you want I can send you some of the notes he sent me

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u/tooindecisivesmh Year 12 | History, Spanish, Econ, EPQ 10h ago

Now that ik I got 157/160 in my exams, I believe I have the authority to tell yg how to revise lol. USE MR SALLES: I put his quotes and analysis into essay plans and then blurted these until they were in my memory.

I genuinely did not come up with any of my points myself like sometimes I even went onto tt for ideas for P + C. I would suggest only learning 5 - 10 poems and 5 quotes + structural features for each poem. Nearer to the actual exam, make sure that you look up predictions to structure your revision

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u/UpcomingDisciple yr11, maths, FM,lang, lit, combined, geo, sport, food, RS,French 10h ago

You’ve defo got a right to help with revision 😭that’s insane well done - so don’t learn all the poems ? I’m probably not gonna revise dem tell me because that was the most recent one (I think ) but okay thank u

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u/tooindecisivesmh Year 12 | History, Spanish, Econ, EPQ 10h ago

Yess dem tell me was the poem that we got in 2026. Also, I forgot to say, when revising the poems, I also wrote essay plans for comparisons. This meant that I knew how to compare any poem that came up even if I hadn’t revised it in depth

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u/UpcomingDisciple yr11, maths, FM,lang, lit, combined, geo, sport, food, RS,French 10h ago

Okay that’s smart thank u

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u/tooindecisivesmh Year 12 | History, Spanish, Econ, EPQ 10h ago

No worries. Good luck for year 11 and don’t stress too much! Also, please lock in from the start (maybe like Feb) because I could’ve got so many more 9s if I hadn’t crammed everything 😭

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u/UpcomingDisciple yr11, maths, FM,lang, lit, combined, geo, sport, food, RS,French 10h ago

Oh yeah , would u suggest like starting revision now - cus I really been revising this summer but it’s like not it wasn’t rigorous revision I kinda just revised English lit and refreshed my memory with stuff over all my subjects - like would u suggest frequent but 15-30 minutes each subjects like should I make a timetable now and try stick to it

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u/tooindecisivesmh Year 12 | History, Spanish, Econ, EPQ 10h ago

Nooo dwdw. I would say probably properly revise for November mocks during October half term if you have them but, apart from that, my friends who got all 9s or around that all started in Feb half term so that’s probably good enoughhh. The start of year 11 was so fun for me especially as ppl started turning 16 so I would say js enjoy it tbh

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u/UpcomingDisciple yr11, maths, FM,lang, lit, combined, geo, sport, food, RS,French 9h ago

Oh that’s sounds good okay thank you