Y9 Exam Support Information
Your Spring Term English exams - w/b 09 February 2026
Exam 1: Reading
-
It will have 3 sections: multiple choice, short questions and longer response,.
-
It will focus on Lord of the Flies and Poetry.
Exam 2: Writing:
-
You will be given an image and will write a short description
-
You will need to focus on language and structural choices
Content to revise:
|
Lord of the Flies |
Poetry |
Descriptive Writing |
|---|---|---|
|
Plot Character of Jack Character of Ralph Theme of leadership. Theme of power. |
Understanding ideas in poems. Language choices a poet uses. Structural choices a poet uses. |
Descriptive language choices: How to use sensory language How to paragraph effectively. How to use a variety of punctuation |
How can I revise for this exam?
You will need to revise at home and will use some of the strategies you are learning during tutor revision sessions.
This includes the six strategies for effective learning:
- retrieval practice,
- spaced practice,
- dual coding,
- interleaving,
- concrete examples,
- elaboration
Your homework on Educake will link to skills you need to revise.

What does this look like?
Retrieval practice
Create a timeline of events for the novel - Lord of the Flies.

- The boys are stranded on a desert island.
- Ralph meets Piggy and is chosen to be 'chief'.
- Jack decides he will oversee hunting.
- Ralph and Jack argue and the group splits.
- The littluns become scared of a 'beast'.
- The boys create a signal fire which burns out of control.
- Jack finally kills a pig.
- Simon is killed.
- The conch is smashed and Piggy is killed.
- The boys are rescued.
Using elaboration
Choose a theme and create a mind-map about it, using quotes from the book and add your notes to each quote.

Use MILES to help unpick Unseen poems
| M | Meaning |
| I | Imagery |
| L | Language |
| E | Emotion/Feeling |
| S | Structural choice |
Spaced practice
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind
Yes, and how many years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see?
-
What is the poet’s message?
-
What language choices do they make?
-
What structural choices have they made?
We go to MILES to help unpick unseen poems
| Dual Coding | ||
|---|---|---|
| M | Meaning |
|
| I | Imagery |
|
| L | Language |
|
| E | Emotion/Feeling |
|
| S | Structural choice |
|
Writing Skills to revise:
- Practise using figurative language – write sentences using similes, metaphors and personification.
- Practise using sensory language to create a setting
- Look at an image and compile interesting vocabulary choices to describe the image.
- Review how and when to use different types of punctuation.
Write a description as suggested by the images below:
- plan 3 paragraphs for each
- Include similes, metaphors







