Poems of the Decade: AS and A Level Edexcel Exam Preparation Pack

Get your students exam-ready with this A Level Edexcel Exam Preparation Pack for Poems of the Decade. This jam-packed resource will enable your students to apply understanding and perfect exam technique with a multitude of revision activities, exam-style questions, model answers and essay-building tasks.

  • Poem-by-poem revision notes and activities – honing in on the key revision points of each poem in terms of theme, poetic voice, language, form and structure.

  • A really useful resource; the author is clearly knowledgeable and has produced excellent exemplar essays, active learning tasks and persuasive analysis of the poems

    N Maloney, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

  • Heaps of unique exam-style questions not available from Edexcel – 15 for AS and 20 for A Level. Great for mocks!
    • Uses unseen poems from Poems of the Decade anthology for the comparative aspect – boundless thematic links at the teacher’s disposal!

  • Essay support section including:
    • Approaches and templates for planning essays – breaks down essay questions into logical chunks
    • Essay guidance, including how to open and structure an essay
    • Plus! Key vocabulary for using in essays

  • 14 original A Level sample essays (with detailed examiner comments) – familiarise students with examiner thinking.
    • Plus! Essay 13 and Essay 14 provided as both medium and strong responses with marking exercises – helps students understand how to improve grades

  • Student-friendly mark schemes – perfect for easy marking and self-assessment

  • Includes indicative content for all relevant activities and all exam-style questions

Ready to embed into your revision programme in class or as homework.

What do teachers say about this resource? (11495)

A fantastic resource, particularly for new teachers of the specification. It contains a wealth of information and activities. Even as an experienced teacher, I would use many of the tasks and info from this resource and would recommend it to others. The knowledge of the poems and their contexts is superbly detailed – it is a treasure trove of information for a teacher of this course.... I particularly liked the emphasis on poetic forms and the task requiring students to match the form and structure to the poem... I also felt the tasks on rhyme and rhythm were incredibly useful for getting students to consider the writer’s deeper meaning when it comes to form and structure – something they struggle with. I also really liked the tasks which required students to engage with an exemplar essay. Breaking the essay down into its assessment objectives is an effective way for students to learn the necessity of focusing on these objectives when constructing an essay... The resource encourages students to grapple with each poem in depth. It also encourages students to consider poetic forms along with rhyme and meter, which are key for doing well in this topic. It can be used to help teachers plan lessons or to provide students with key info and background on each poem. The exemplar essays also offer students a useful model for structuring their responses... An invaluable resource that would enhance my teaching and my students’ knowledge.

N Smith, Deputy Head of English & Peer Reviewer

Clear layout. Glossary of terms is very clear... Model essays are very useful. Detailed pack... Thoughtful breadth of tasks. Full answers are helpful.. The example essays are excellent - very clear... Grids work well for clearly accessible layout. Works through poems clearly. Essays are good... Excellent resource. Very clear and systematic approach.

N Phillips, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

A really useful resource; the author is clearly knowledgeable and has produced excellent exemplar essays, active learning tasks and persuasive analysis of the poems. There is a clear exam focus maintained throughout... Content is wholly appropriate for the level it is designed for. I really like that the author avoids a didactic approach and instead asks questions that challenge students to develop their own responses to the poems. This resource also helps students navigate exam responses and provides scaffolding for essay writing. As a teacher I would feel confident that using this resource would help to focus my students and target the requirements of the specification...
There is a great range of activities and they are varied... This is a fantastic resource!

N Maloney, Teacher & Peer Reviewer