English Literature

1. Really familiarise yourself with your set texts - get to grips quickly with key themes, and then on subsequent read-throughs you will identify all of the techniques the writer uses to explore these themes - which is the essence of writing an essay

2. Read lots of books around the syllabus because you'll end up having to choose your own comparison for your coursework, so reading a range of books with similar themes increases your chances of choosing the book you're most comfortable with

3. Think with a more flexible, abstract approach - you'll have to tackle verse and prose in a more thematic, contextual way rather than a stanza or a paragraph at a time

3. Get yourself acclimated to different types of literature

Teachers will often give links to websites or articles before lessons so that you can read through them and come into the next lesson with a further understanding of the themes and simply broadening your horizons to help with your analysis