How To Read Literature-in-English Texts For WAEC and NECO Exams
Reading Literature texts can be an enjoyable and enriching experience, but it is a different ball game when it comes to reading for exams. In doing this, one is compelled to read critically with a high level of concentration.
Texts in WAEC and NECO Exams include drama, prose, and poetry. To score good grades in the exams, prospective candidates need to prepare well.
Preparation for these exams involves understanding what exactly to do while preparing for the exams when you already have all the texts. This would go a long way in preparing soft landing for the candidates.
As we all know Literature texts require intensive studying; the materials need to be deeply studied in preparation for the exams. One is not reading for fun here, but for examination.
We must first look critically into the nature of the questions; and the types of questions that are asked. This would invariably direct us on the preparation we need to embark on.
A Literature student must have all the texts recommended by the examining bodies. Literature is purely a subject of textbooks.
Without these texts, the subject becomes difficult for both the teachers and the learners in the classroom. We are not referring to the various summary texts here.
No summary text can cover all the events in a recommended Literature text. Those summary texts are good for revision after you have read the real texts and are preparing for the exams.
After you have purchased the recommended texts, the first thing to do is to study the life history of the authors. This is because a good number of these authors write about their life experiences, hence you would have the idea of what to see in their works.
For example, if we study the life history of Buchi Emecheta, the author of Second-class Citizen, we would see that the prose text is her autobiography. If the life history is studied before reading the text, one would have a very easy read and understanding of the text.
Where an author comes from has many things to say about the work of such an author. For example, 95% of authors from South Africa subject matter is apartheid.
While most of the authors or poets from Sierra Leone write on the civil war in that country between 1991-2002. Oumar Farouk Sesay, the writer of the poem “The Song of the Women of my Land” is a good example here.
The life history of the writer of a text is very important, be it a drama, prose, or poetry. They don’t write in isolation.
The next thing is identifying the areas covered by the questions; and the types of questions that are asked in the exams from the Literature texts.
We will first consider the drama and prose texts in this write-up. The questions asked from these genres are similar.
The areas covered in the questions are the themes, settings, characters, and the roles of the characters as well as their significance. It also covers the dramatic techniques if it is a drama and narrative techniques if it is a prose text.
All these literary terms are explicitly explained in Background Knowledge to Literature. They make up what is referred to as the plot of the novel or drama text.
These questions might not be asked directly; the candidates are expected to interpret the questions and decipher what they are expected to do in such a situation.
The aforementioned literary terms will be our focus when reading the texts chapter by chapter or scene by scene as the case may be. How do we now achieve this?
When reading or going through Literature texts, we must hold our pencils. The moment we identify any of the literary terms earlier listed, we use our pencil to underline the area or write it out somewhere on the page of the book.
Let’s say I am reading “The Lion and the Jewel” by Wole Soyinka and I identify the theme of modernity. I will just write “theme of modernity” by the side of the page.
Or I am reading “Fences” by August Wilson, and I am on a page where “Cory” is displaying his character. I will just write by the side of the page, “characters of Cory.”
I may also be on a page where flashback or any other technique is used in “Unexpected Joy at Dawn” by Alex Agyei-Agyiri. I will just write it with my pencil by the side of the page.
These work like magic because, whenever one is looking for the usage of the literary terms from any of the texts, you only need to scan through the books and look for the jottings by the side of the books.
Especially when one is given an assignment or preparing for any of the exams. It would be very easy to locate answers to any related questions on literary terms and other questions since one needs to cite examples from the text to back up one’s points.
Another vital usage of the pencil is to underline the perceived difficult words and expressions. You then look for the meanings that make the reading and understanding smooth.
Mind you, it’s not every difficult word and expression in the text you will be searching for, so the reading will not be boring for you. Especially if you are reading the text for the first time.
In the course of doing all these, the plot reveals the settings and other information needed about the text.
After you have finished reading the book following the aforementioned guidelines, you can then engage in discussion about the texts with your colleagues and ask questions from your teacher.
This would go a long way in confirming what you read in the texts and shed light on the gray areas.
The solution to the appreciation of poetry or how to understand poetry is in this teaching video, “How to Demystify Poetry.”