Read our GCSE study guide review

Posted on 4 January 2019

Scholastic GCSE Study Guides

Reviewed by John Dabell, Teach Secondary 4th January 2019


GCSE 9-1 AQA Study Guides for AQAGCSE English Literature

AT A GLANCE

• A comprehensive GCSE English Literature toolkit of up-to-date
  study guides
• Uses a stepped, active approach to revision and practice
• Includes lots of expertly crafted practice questions dovetailed to
  the new exam format

Nothing can prepare students for their GCSE English Literature exams more effectively than knowing the texts inside
out, so investing some quality time in re-reading them during revision is essential. But learners need more than that. They require guidance and an active approach to revision so they can really get to know their way round the texts.


Scholastic’s new series of GCSE 9-1 AQA
Study Guides has been specifically created
for the closed book AQAGCSE English
Literature examination. The books cover
the chronology of the set texts
impressively, focusing on key events,
timeline, character trees, themes,
context, language and structure, and are
both wonderfully illustrated and
immensely readable.

This clever approach enables students
to notice how events follow on from each
other and helps them clearly identify
pivotal moments in a text, whilst deeply
considering who the key characters are,
their motivations, and what they add to
the stories.


Also included is world class targeted
revision and practice, with lots of specific
tips and tricks on how to excel in the exam.
These include punchy and purposeful
techniques that get students to ‘Snap it!
Nail it! Do it! Stretch it! Define it! and
Review it!’. Learners are supported to
understand what is required in the exam,
retain key facts, consolidate their
knowledge and understanding, and get to
grips with the detail of tricky vocabulary
and subject terminology.

If you don’t want your students to lose
the plot then these resources are most
definitely the ones to choose. They make
studying forensic, insightful and critically
reflective.

Closed-book examinations for
GCSE English Literature have been
criticised for encouraging the business of
learning by rote, but I think the Scholastic
study guides do the opposite of that. In
fact, they help pupils build arguments,
analyse, probe and read between the
lines, and develop new ways of
understanding our world and the way we
move through it.

VERDICT
* Superb groundwork for AQA
English Literature exams
* Clear and chronological to deepen
students’ understanding
* Moves beyond rote learning by promoting concept building, maths thinking and mastery
* Helps students visualise the
person behind the text
* Supports students talk about the
ways in which writers communicate
their ideas to the reader
* Gives students an appreciation
that exact words matter

UPGRADE IF…

You are looking for erudite study
guides for helping students get
under the skin of high-quality,
challenging and substantial texts.

Find out more about GCSE English Literature Study Guides

Find out more about Teach Secondary.