TopMyGrade

Home · GCSE · English Literature · AQA · Notes

AQA GCSE English Literature revision notes

Concise notes per spec point, written in plain English with worked examples. AI-generated, admin-verified.

  1. AOAssessment Objectives (regulated by Ofqual)
  2. AO.1AO1 — Read, understand and respond to texts; use textual references (quotations) to support and illustrate interpretations
  3. AO.2AO2 — Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using accurate subject terminology where appropriate
  4. AO.3AO3 — Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written
  5. AO.4AO4 — Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation
  6. P1Paper 1 — Shakespeare and the 19th-century novel
  7. P1.ASection A — Shakespeare (one set play, closed text, 30 marks + 4 marks AO4)
  8. P1.A.JC*Julius Caesar* — power, persuasion, republicanism; the assassination, the funeral orations, Philippi; Brutus, Cassius, Mark Antony
  9. P1.A.MAC*Macbeth* — ambition, guilt, kingship, the supernatural, gender; key scenes (the dagger, banquet, sleepwalking); characters Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Banquo, Macduff
  10. P1.A.MM*Much Ado About Nothing* — courtship, deception, honour; the masked ball, the church scene, the watch; Beatrice and Benedick, Hero and Claudio
  11. P1.A.MV*The Merchant of Venice* — justice, mercy, prejudice; the bond plot, the casket plot, the trial; Portia and Shylock
  12. P1.A.RJ*Romeo and Juliet* — love, fate, conflict, youth and authority; the prologue, balcony, Mercutio's death, the tomb scene; characters Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio, Tybalt, the Nurse, Friar Lawrence
  13. P1.A.SKShakespeare exam approach: extract-based question with whole-play essay; tracking themes through the extract and beyond; integrating context and AO4
  14. P1.A.TT*The Tempest* — power, magic, colonialism, forgiveness; Prospero's island; Caliban and Ariel; the masque
  15. P1.BSection B — The 19th-century novel (one set text, closed text, 30 marks)
  16. P1.B.ACC*A Christmas Carol* (Dickens) — redemption, social responsibility, poverty, time; Scrooge's transformation; the four spirits; Victorian London context
  17. P1.B.DJH*Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde* (Stevenson) — duality, repression, science vs religion; Victorian London; Utterson as narrator
  18. P1.B.FRA*Frankenstein* (Shelley) — creation, isolation, ambition, monstrosity; Romanticism and Galvanism; Walton's frame narrative
  19. P1.B.GE*Great Expectations* (Dickens) — class, ambition, guilt, love; Pip's three stages of expectations; Magwitch, Estella, Miss Havisham
  20. P1.B.JE*Jane Eyre* (C. Brontë) — independence, class, religion, gender; Jane at Lowood, Thornfield, Moor House and Ferndean; Bertha Mason
  21. P1.B.PP*Pride and Prejudice* (Austen) — marriage, class, prejudice, irony; the Bennet sisters; Mr Darcy and the rejected proposal
  22. P1.B.SK19th-century novel exam approach: extract + question across whole text; tracing motifs and characterisation across the novel; the role of social, historical and literary context
  23. P1.B.SS*The Sign of Four* (Conan Doyle) — empire, detection, Victorian anxiety; Holmes and Watson; the Agra treasure
  24. P2Paper 2 — Modern texts and poetry
  25. P2.ASection A — Modern prose or drama (one set text, closed text, 30 marks + 4 marks AO4)
  26. P2.A.AOMM*Anita and Me* (Meera Syal) — race, identity, friendship, growing up; Tollington, the 1970s, Meena and Anita
  27. P2.A.AT*Animal Farm* (Orwell) — totalitarianism, propaganda, corruption of revolution; Boxer, Snowball, Napoleon; the Russian Revolution allegory
  28. P2.A.AVO*A View from the Bridge* (Miller) — masculinity, justice, the American Dream; Eddie Carbone's tragedy; Alfieri as Greek-style chorus
  29. P2.A.BBL*Blood Brothers* (Russell) — class, fate, nature/nurture; Mickey and Edward; the Narrator's superstition framework
  30. P2.A.IC*An Inspector Calls* (J. B. Priestley) — social responsibility, class, gender, time; the Birling family; Inspector Goole; cyclical structure and the final phone call
  31. P2.A.LOTF*Lord of the Flies* (Golding) — civilisation vs savagery, the loss of innocence; Ralph, Jack, Piggy, Simon; the conch and the beast
  32. P2.A.PG*Pigeon English* (Stephen Kelman) — childhood, faith, urban violence; Harri's narration; the pigeon's voice
  33. P2.A.SB*The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde* / *Telling Tales* anthology / additional set texts: theme of identity and ethics
  34. P2.A.SKModern texts exam approach: choice of two essay questions per text (no extract); planning thematic responses across the whole text; integrating AO3 lightly and AO4 throughout
  35. P2.BSection B — Poetry anthology (one of two clusters, closed text, 30 marks)
  36. P2.B.LRLove and Relationships cluster — 15 poems including *When We Two Parted* (Byron), *Love's Philosophy* (Shelley), *Porphyria's Lover* (Browning), *Sonnet 29* (Browning), *Neutral Tones* (Hardy), *Letters from Yorkshire* (Dooley), *The Farmer's Bride* (Mew), *Walking Away* (Day Lewis), *Eden Rock* (Causley), *Follower* (Heaney), *Mother Any Distance* (Armitage), *Before You Were Mine* (Duffy), *Winter Swans* (Sheers), *Singh Song!* (Nagra), *Climbing My Grandfather* (Waterhouse)
  37. P2.B.PCPower and Conflict cluster — 15 poems including *Ozymandias* (Shelley), *London* (Blake), *The Prelude extract* (Wordsworth), *My Last Duchess* (Browning), *The Charge of the Light Brigade* (Tennyson), *Exposure* (Owen), *Storm on the Island* (Heaney), *Bayonet Charge* (Hughes), *Remains* (Armitage), *Poppies* (Weir), *War Photographer* (Duffy), *Tissue* (Dharker), *The Emigrée* (Rumens), *Checking Out Me History* (Agard), *Kamikaze* (Garland)
  38. P2.B.SKAnthology exam approach: comparison question naming one poem with the other freely chosen from the cluster; comparing methods (form, language, structure) and ideas; embedding context briefly
  39. P2.CSection C — Unseen poetry (24 marks)
  40. P2.C.SKUnseen poetry exam approach: TIPCAS / SMILE / FLIRT planning frameworks; close reading techniques; building a personal interpretation under time pressure
  41. P2.C.UP1Q27.1 — analyse a single unseen poem in response to a focused question (e.g. how does the poet present X?); 24 marks
  42. P2.C.UP2Q27.2 — compare a second unseen poem with the first by methods only (8 marks); shorter, focused on form/language/structure not theme