11 Bulletproof Tips to Score Highest Marks in English literature Exams

In my academics, there is one thing that I learnt the hard way. Before enlightenment, I used to believe that being very knowledgeable is prerequisite to score the highest marks. 

Later, with experience, I learnt that Presentation plays a greater role in disciplines of Language & Humanities. Here, in these fields, subjectivity is the norm with multiple point-of-views.

These are my findings which will help you fetch more marks in literature exams:-

• Remember the themes - The important aspects of a literary text, apart from the story, are the prominent themes associated with the text. For example, Albert Camus' The Stranger has Absurdism as a philosophical theme of the novel. It is a must to mention it in an exam essay related to the novel. 

• The conventional structuring of your essays or long answers should be kept in mind.
• Introduction: Begin with a few lines about the author, the novel, themes, then deal with the demand of the question.
• Body: Use different paragraphs for different ideas and arguments. Write factual as well as argumentative content in the section. Don't write in points unless needed. 
• Conclusion: Summarize what you have just written in a few lines. No new information should be added in this section.

• Use numerous quotations (from texts) and comments from noted critics:

Matthew Arnold defined criticism as "a disinterested endeavor to learn and propagate the best that is known and thought of in the world".

Note: To impress the examiner, make sure the examiner can find the quote with ease, so write quotes with a different-coloured pen or underline it.

•  Whenever you are studying for an exam, look out in your books and internet for those quotes which depicts the main theme of texts. e.g.

Useful tips: you can begin your answer with a quote- prepare those quotes from a text which could be fit into any question from the text.

• Write with different pens to highlight the important part. Underline what seem crucial.

• Create diagrams to describe categories, if possible. Other reasons are it occupies more space on a page than mere plain words, creates more impact, and gets the examiner's attention. 

• Beautiful handwriting - Whether you believe it or not, having good handwriting makes the task of checking papers smooth for the examiner. 

• Write with neatness with fewer words in a single line (spacious).

• Paraphrase a critic if unable to quote word to word.

• Avoid using complex vocabulary and lengthy sentences.

• Other disciplines' students have the liberty to write points, but literature students are always told to write in paragraph format. So, we can use subheadings for paragraphs,