Why many university student poor in english? how university can help them?

Help with GCSE English Lit exam?!?

• My GCSE English lit exam is on Tuesday, and I really want to get an A* but I'm worried that I've been taught the wrong thing. I'm a straight A and A* student in all of my GCSE subjects, I'm straight A* in English and I have my heart set on studying English Literature at a top university. At easter my English teacher moved away unexpectedly, and my class got dumped with a supply teacher to get us ready for our exam. My instinct tells me she's not the best teacher, she was quick to dismiss ALL of the tips our old teacher gave us, and now I'm extremely confused. Our exam is on Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, and also unseen Poetry. I'm mostly worried about the OMAM questions. Basically in both the whole text and the extract questions I'm unsure of how to evaluate my points. I have always done this by explaining the effect on the reader and the mood/atmosphere created, but my new teacher is now telling me to NEVER comment on the reader and just write about Steinbecks intention... Is this correct? Also, how important is context in this exam? I would really appreciate some help from someone who is experienced with this exam, and can give me some advice on how to revise to get an A* on this exam. In the mock I got an A, a mark of an A* I think. Any help would be appreciated, thanks a lot :)

• Answer:

  Don't worry. You've been getting the top grades so far so you should be fine. You need to write about the author's intention and therefore the effect it had on the reader.