Exam Strategies Poetry

Multiple Choice Questions Read the poem and annotate Think with your pen! Try and establish which answers are not correct Then choose the correct answer

Multiple Choice Question Types 1. “Throw away” questions Obviously incorrect 2. Partially, but not fully correct Don’t be swayed if it’s not fully correct 3. True, but doesn’t answer the question Reread the question several times 4. Two questions that ‘could be’ the answer Look closely, one is the ‘best’ answer One is probably more precise or accurate

Poetry Analysis Techniques TPCASST Focus on the white space Where do the shifts happen in the poem? Annotate the poem Think with your pen! Focus on the beginning and the end These are often the most important parts

Paragraph Response Include the title and author in your topic sentence Select appropriate quotes and explain them to prove your point Using quotes and not explaining them makes it look like you don’t know what the poem is about Use multiple examples from the poem to prove your point If you only use one or two it looks like you didn’t fully understand the poem!

Paragraph Response Remember that this is an analysis section To write a paragraph and not specifically refer to the poem means you didn’t analyze anything If you don’t understand the poem, don’t tell the marker that!