Macbeth: Target 9 for GCSE

Explore challenging themes, such as: corruption, duplicity, guilt, madness and masculinity … and more!

Prompt students to investigate, research and discuss what interests them most about this fascinating play. Challenging activities and guidance that require students to be highly analytical, exploratory and conceptual, encouraging them to think and work at the top end of the GCSE assessment criteria.

It would help a busy teacher with planning a course of study

C Allison, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

The resource covers the key areas of the book, all referenced to AOs, including: context, setting, characters, language, structure, form, motifs, ideas and interpretations.

Engaging and thought-provoking activities aim to:

  • prompt the recall of important points
  • aid comprehension and reinforce clear, advanced understanding
  • enable students to apply their knowledge of the novella to a new situation or an unseen extract
  • support implicit and explicit analyses
  • encourage individual interpretations and stimulate new, creative and individual ideas

An excellent resource for the upper end

S Griffin, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

A close focus on exam success demonstrates the best ways to achieve top marks:

  • Exam hacks, key terms and essay questions throughout
  • Essay planning and academic writing skills guidance
  • Annotated high-level sample essays

Plus! Further reading list and key terms glossary

What do teachers say about this resource? (10933)

I liked this resource. It is well designed to help students and teachers use it. There was a mix of activities that both challenge the students and aid in comprehension of the text itself, as well as the historical and literary context. There are also a number of activities to help improve essay writing skills for the exam.

The notated essay activities are very helpful for the students to understand how to use their knowledge effectively. And the suggested answers for teachers is a very useful inclusion. Additionally, the creative tasks are helpful to expand the understanding of themes and character.

I like the way individual work and then group discussion are linked together. This allows time for students to personally reflect on the question before testing their conclusions with others.

There are also a number of Extension tasks that can be undertaken to enhance learning.



I think this resource is well connected to the exam specification throughout. There are the Marking Scheme descriptors at the start, with key words in bold. The Tips that are used throughout will also benefit the student come exam time.

D Richardson, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

Some very good, useful sections.

The writer clearly has excellent subject knowledge.

I liked the wide variety of activities in all the sections. Both the Pre-Reading and During Reading sections were very thorough.

The During Reading sections would be particularly helpful in developing their skills for A02 and the Form and Structure section contained some very thought-provoking activities.

A very useful section on putting together a quotation bank.

The Advanced Glossary/Keywords is also very helpful.

G Sharp, Retired teacher. Now an online tutor focusing on GCSE (all specifications). Assessment Specialist for OCR. & Peer Reviewer

Definitely aimed at the higher achieving student.

The activities are very well designed and would be stimulating for some students.

The wider reading references are very interesting.

Many of the activities can be set as extension or independent work which should stimulate the higher achieving student. It is focusing on analysis which is very important to get the higher grades and it would help a busy teacher with planning a course of study.

The "voice" of the resource is friendly and informed.

It is very informative and I think would really help a new, inexperienced or busy teacher plan a course appropriate for that level of achievement.

C Allison, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

An excellent resource for the upper end of the ability range. It would challenge and stretch candidates and encourage individual response.

It encourages pupils to look beyond the obvious, to look at different ways of reading the text and to be genuine critics.

[The resource] would be useful for the AOs in all exam boards.

S Griffin, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

I liked the range of activities and regular use of glossaries to broaden vocabulary.

There were a lot of effective points of context explored and opportunities for independent learning.

There are lots of points which will help students develop a wider appreciation of text and context beyond the exam.

C Testa, Head of English & Peer Reviewer

I particularly liked the critical approaches (metaphysical, political, realistic etc) and some of the activities designed beyond the text could be useful.

I also liked the fullness of the glossary and the pre-reading activities – particularly the Language of Tragedy section.

The resource can be used as a starting point for challenge – the critical theories, wider textual connections and the pre-reading activities are excellent for homework tasks, holiday projects or for tasks to integrate flipped learning into the GCSE classroom.

I like the presentations and layout of the resource. The structure of each section is easy to follow and can easily be dipped into by a class teacher when necessary. I like the mix of images ( contemporary and contextual) as they help to reinforce the connection between Shakespeare as a writer of the past, but also of his relevance and importance to the 21st century. 

N Shirman, Head of English & Peer Reviewer