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English Literature flashcards

32 cards covering every topic of the 8702 syllabus (For first teaching 2015). Study one topic or mix them all, turn each card, and mark yourself honestly.

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Topic 1: Shakespeare and the 19th-century novel

How is AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 1 set out?: 1 hour 45 minutes, closed book, 64 marks, 40% of the GCSE. Section A Shakespeare and Section B the 19th-century novel, each starting from a printed extract and moving out to the whole text.
Which Shakespeare plays are set for AQA 8702?: Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing and Julius Caesar.
How many marks is the Shakespeare question worth?: 34: 30 for the response plus 4 for AO4 (vocabulary, sentence structures, spelling and punctuation).
How should a Shakespeare answer use the printed extract?: Start from the extract and reach outward to the play as a whole, so the two feel like one argument rather than two halves.
What does "Fair is foul, and foul is fair" establish at the start of Macbeth?: The witches' paradox sets up a world where appearances deceive and moral values are inverted, a theme that runs through the play.
Why note staging in a Shakespeare answer?: The play is drama, so how a line might be delivered or staged is analysable evidence, not just what it means on the page.
Which 19th-century novels are set for AQA 8702?: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Frankenstein, Pride and Prejudice and The Sign of Four.
How many marks is the 19th-century novel question worth?: 30, marked on AO1, AO2 and AO3. There are no AO4 accuracy marks on this question.
How should you organise a quotation bank for the novel?: Chronologically across the novel, so you can trace how a character or theme develops, which outscores single-scene answers.
How does Dickens introduce Scrooge as "solitary as an oyster"?: The simile presents him as closed, hard and isolated, yet hints that something valuable may be hidden inside, preparing for his transformation.
How should context be used in a novel answer?: Woven into the analysis of a quotation (for example Victorian attitudes to poverty), not saved for a standalone paragraph.

Topic 2: Modern texts and poetry

How is AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 2 set out?: 2 hours 15 minutes, closed book, 96 marks, 60% of the GCSE. Section A modern texts (34), Section B the poetry anthology (30), Section C unseen poetry (32).
What does Paper 2 Section A require?: One essay from a choice of two on the studied modern prose or drama text (post-1914), 30 marks plus 4 for AO4 accuracy. There is no printed extract.
Name some modern texts on the AQA 8702 list.: There are twelve, centre-chosen, including An Inspector Calls, Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm.
What should a strong modern-text paragraph combine?: What a character does or says, the theme it connects to, the context that shapes why it matters, and the writer's method, moving between them fluidly.
What does Paper 2 Section B require?: A 30-mark comparison of a named poem from your anthology cluster with a second poem of your own choice from the same cluster. The named poem is printed.
What are the clusters in the AQA poetry anthology?: Poems Past and Present has three clusters of 15 poems: Love and Relationships, Power and Conflict, and Worlds and Lives. You study one.
Why does comparing poems by theme alone cap the mark?: AO2's higher bands need comparison of form and structure as well as language and theme, for example a rhyme scheme that breaks down against restless enjambment.
What is a pairing plan for the anthology question?: Two or three poems you could confidently compare with any other poem in the cluster on shared themes such as loss, power or identity, prepared in advance.
What does Paper 2 Section C require?: Two compulsory questions: analyse one unseen poem (24 marks), then compare it with a second unseen poem (8 marks).
What is a repeatable first-read routine for an unseen poem?: First read: subject and tone. Second: structural shape (stanzas, rhyme, line length). Then find two or three language choices that support or complicate the first impression.
What should the 8-mark unseen comparison focus on?: How the two poets' methods (language, structure, form) compare in presenting a shared subject, not just what each poem is about.
What is the effect of a regular rhyme scheme breaking down?: The form can enact a loss of order or control that the speaker feels, so the structure itself carries the meaning.

Topic 3: Skills

What are the four assessment objectives in AQA GCSE English Literature?: AO1 read, understand and respond, with an informed personal response and textual references; AO2 analyse language, form and structure using terminology; AO3 the relationship between texts and their contexts; AO4 vocabulary, sentence structures, spelling and punctuation.
What is the difference between summary and interpretation?: Summary says what happens. Interpretation states a testable view of what it suggests, such as what a decision reveals about a character's values.
Why use tentative language such as "may suggest" or "could imply"?: Meanings can often be read more than one way, and offering a second possible reading is a mark of higher-level work.
Language, form and structure: what does each cover?: Language: word choice, imagery, sound, tone. Form: the type of text and its conventions (play, sonnet, novel). Structure: how it is organised, including order, shifts, openings and endings.
What does context mean in English Literature?: The circumstances that shaped a text or how it is read, such as its time and society, the writer's background and the audience. Use it only where it explains an idea in the text.
Where are AO4 accuracy marks awarded in AQA 8702?: On the Shakespeare question (Paper 1) and the modern-text question (Paper 2), 4 marks each, for vocabulary, sentence structures, spelling and punctuation.
How should quotations be used in a literature essay?: Short, precise and embedded in your own sentence, then explained: point, evidence, explanation. A quotation is not an explanation.
Which comparative words help a poetry comparison?: "Whereas", "in contrast", "similarly" and "both poets", used to compare ideas and methods throughout, not only subject matter.
Why must a closed-book quotation be recalled exactly?: There is no text to check against in the exam, and analysis of a specific word choice falls apart if the words are wrong. Learn a focused bank precisely.

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Written for AQA GCSE English Literature (8702), syllabus 8702 (For first teaching 2015).

Cards by Marlbridge Academic Team. This deck has not yet been reviewed as a whole by a subject teacher. Report an error.

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