Common Student Mistakes
Ten faults account for most of the marks lost in Literature. Every one of them can be corrected in a fortnight.
The ten faults, and their remedies
1. Retelling the story instead of answering
The fault: the answer narrates events from the beginning. The examiner already knows the text.
The test: does each paragraph begin with a point, or with an event? If your paragraphs begin Then he goes to…, you are narrating.
The remedy: rewrite only the first sentence of each paragraph so that it makes a claim. The rest of the paragraph usually improves by itself.
2. Naming a technique without explaining its effect
The fault: The poet uses imagery and alliteration here. True, and worth almost nothing.
The remedy: after every technique you name, write one sentence beginning "The effect on the reader is…" Do this every time until it becomes automatic.
3. Making claims without evidence
The fault: The mother is the strongest character in the play. Perhaps — but why should the examiner believe you?
The remedy: a rule with no exceptions: no paragraph without a short quotation or a precise reference.
4. Quoting too much
The fault: four lines quoted, one line of comment. Your page fills with someone else's words, and the marks are for yours.
The remedy: cut every quotation to ten words or fewer. If you cannot, quote two separate short pieces instead.
5. Answering the question you prepared, not the one asked
The fault: a memorised essay on the character is delivered when the question asked about the relationship.
The remedy: write the question at the top of your plan and, after each paragraph, glance at it. If the paragraph does not serve the question, it is not helping you.
6. Treating characters as real people
The fault: She should not have left her husband. This is a moral opinion about a person who does not exist.
The remedy: ask instead what the writer wants us to feel about her leaving, and which words produce that feeling.
7. Confusing the narrator with the author
The fault: assuming that the I of a poem or story is the writer, and that everything the narrator says is true.
The remedy: ask whether the narrator can be trusted. Sometimes the gap between what the narrator believes and what the reader sees is the whole point of the text.
8. Writing in the past tense about the text
The fault: He went to the house and then he said…
The remedy: use the present tense for what happens in a text: He goes to the house and says…, the writer shows, the poem suggests. Use the past only for real historical events.
9. Introductions that say nothing
The fault: In this essay I am going to discuss… There are many things to say about this character.
The remedy: delete the announcement and begin with your answer. Your introduction should end with a position that could be disagreed with.
10. Conclusions that only summarise
The fault: In conclusion, I have discussed the three points above.
The remedy: a conclusion must judge. It should contain something the introduction did not — the decision you reached by writing the essay.
The single most useful exercise
Take one of your own marked Literature answers. Cross out every sentence that only says what happens in the text.
Look at what is left. That is your actual answer, and its length usually explains your mark better than any comment written on the page.
Now rewrite one paragraph, obeying two rules: begin with a point, and include one short quotation with its effect explained. Students who do this once a week for a month generally see the difference in their next mark.