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.

• Write in points - Although, we, literature students, are always told to write in paragraph format. For other Humanities subjects, you should always write in points rather than in paragraphs. It is visually more appealing to the examiner and creates an impression that you wrote a variety of arguments in your answer and covered different aspects.