How do I decide which quotations to memorise for the exam?

Whether you’re preparing for your GCSEs, A Levels or an exam at university you’re always going to have to choose which quotations from your set texts you want to have committed to memory before the exam. As with most things, choose quality over quantity. Often the temptation is to have as many as possible and while it’s certainly useful to have enough memorised to back up any points you make, trying to cram too many in can mean you’re less likely to remember them all or end up wasting time in the exam trying to decide which one to use. There are often lots of great quotes that would work well as evidence— doesn’t mean you have to learn them all! Instead, choose specific quotes and keep them snappy— lines, sentences, and short phrases, even single words can work well (just make sure you don’t only memorise single words!). Think about the key themes of the text and aim to find quotes that link to multiple themes at the same time. For example, I studied Paradise Lost at A Level and one of the quotes I chose was ‘From his slack hand the garland wreathed for Eve/ Down dropped, and all the faded roses shed.’ It links to most of the key themes and ideas explored in the poem (the concept of the fall—hamartia, felix culpa etc— and specifically Eve’s role, which links to ideas around gender, nature and the garden, Adam and Eve’s relationship…). It’s also a sentence that’s really rich in literary techniques so very easy to analyse and explain how the point you make is rooted in the text itself. Analysing your chosen quotes and the techniques used in them (really spend time thinking about this) is also a part of memorising them and will make it so much easier when you do come to use them in your essays. When you start writing practice essays you’ll soon start to see which examples are particularly useful for you and the ones you should make it a priority to memorise.