GCSE: English Language Close Reading Cheat Sheet

1. Come prepared! Bring pens (obviously) and highlighters to your exam or revision session.

2. Read the less obvious stuff!

• If your extract is introduced through a written paragraph, read it! The examiners put it there to help you understand the text a little bit better.

3. Read the text

• Read through the extract you have been given

• Highlight interesting language choices, creative techniques, and structural techniques

• Make small notes next to each highlight so you can remember why you highlighted it later in in the exam

4. Read the question

• Most people forget to properly read the question. This is the easiest way to lose marks!

• To make sure that you take all of the information in; use a highlighter!

• Look for the key words in the question. What does the examiner want you to do?

• How many marks is the question offering?

5. Write your answer

• For essay questions, make sure you write PEE paragraphs

• Clearly quote from the text

• Keep asking yourself ‘why?’ until you have nothing left to say! Close reading is like squeezing a lemon – see if you can get all the juice out

• Make use of connectives to create a cohesive essay

For example:

Point

Similarly, Charlotte Brontë explores the theme of isolation through pathetic fallacy.

Evidence

Depicting a storm outside, ‘clouds so sombre and rain so penetrating’, Brontë establishes a dismal atmosphere within the beginning of her novel.

Explain

As a result, the character of Jane is surrounded by a chaotic, stormy landscape. This landscape is juxtaposed to the figure of Jane, who by contrast, is presented as vulnerable and alone.

Why

Consequently, the relationship between Jane and her surrounding landscape mirrors her relationship with Mrs Reed and her cousins. She is shown to be isolated both socially and geographically.

Why

Here, Brontë intends to make the reader sympathetic towards Jane.

Why

This is because she is the protagonist of the narrative.