I used lots of the brilliant Barrington Stokes books for upper KS2 & KS3 (& even sometimes KS4) students who were reluctant readers when I was tutoring. The books have a good story, simple vocabulary and manage to engage with even the most disaffected. I often made simple comprehension exercises, which I have decided to share in case they are of use to anyone else…it took a long time to read and prepare questions for all the books I had! This one is rather ‘girly’, but incredibly popular, written, as it is, by Karen McCombie. Some students progressed to her longer books after reading a few of these simplified texts.

These are for new Year 7 classes: Two vocabulary exercises. One matches pairs of words with similar meanings, like ‘class’ & ‘form’; one matches an English school word with its American equivalent, like ‘caretaker’ & ‘janitor’ . These could be pair activities, or a short 'starter’ The third is an old favourite of mine to encourage new pupils to move about and chat. It’s a grid with phrases like, ‘supports a football team’ or ‘enjoys cooking’. Each student has to find a person for whom the phrase applies. This person has to sign the appropriate square. Of course, the phrases can be changed to suit the class or school, this is an old one of mine.

One of the first horror stories, this famous and often copied tale is a good introduction to both the genre and the style of nineteenth century literature. Each of the 8 extracts is taken from a key moment and includes a range of questions, (vocabulary, language analysis, and information retrieval.) As such, I think they are similar to GCSE 9-1 papers and so might be useful for pre-GCSE students, or for tuition.

4 pairs of poems with questions designed for pupils to explore each poem, and then compare both. There’s an essay question on each pair of poems if required. The worksheets are designed for individual or pair work, to prepare KS3 students for comparative work at GCSE or to prepare KS4 pupils for unseen poetry. The questions look at meaning, structure and language. The poems are: Vitai Lampada-Sir Henry Newbolt & Play the Game-Jessie Pope; Drummer Hodge-Thomas Hardy & The Soldier-Rupert Brooke; Roundel & Epitaph On My Days In Hopital-Vera Brittain and Marching Men-Marjorie Pickthall & The Send Off by Wilfred Owen

Suitable for KS3 students, these 4 short topical texts, written as articles, have questions which include vocabulary, language analysis and information retrieval, so may be useful as pre-GCSE work. Answer sheets are provided so these could be used for homework or tuition, or maybe as an exam. A descriptive writing task is also given. Marks are allocated: 25 for writing and 25 for reading. The four topics are: the resurgence of traditional crafts; the role of paramedics; the RNLI & darts. The sheets can be edited. These sheets are similar in style to my free worksheet on the start of ‘Hard Times’

Key extracts from the story have varied styles of question: vocabulary, language, information recall, author’s craft etc. This should provide useful practice for GCSE 9-1 for KS3 students.It’s a popular ghost story, but written in a typical Dickens style to introduce the language and Victorian context to pre-GCSE students. To see style and variety of questions, please look at my free resource on the start of Hard Times

Taken chronologically from this great short story, these comprehensions are good preparation for the 9-1 GCSE. There are a range of questions: vocabulary, information recall, language analysis etc, with suggested marks. Thus would also be useful revision if the story was being studied in a Gothic or horror scheme.

A topical comprehension on the perils of plastic pollution, especially in oceans, following from the BBC programme, Blue Planet. It has a range of questions: vocabulary, information retrieval and language analysis. Together these are worth 25 marks. Suggested answers are provided separately. There is also a descriptive writing task, which is also worth 25 marks. This resource could, therefore, be useful as an exam paper, classwork task, cover lesson, homework or be used for tuition. It has been designed for KS3 using question styles similar to those found on GCSE 9-1. It is editable so can be modified to suit your requirements. Hope its useful! If it is, check out my 4 similar topical non-fiction comprehensions, on darts, the RNLI, the resurgence in crafts like sewing and knitting and paramedics. Another useful resource at a very reasonable price!

These 4 comprehensions contain various types of questions: vocabulary, information retrieval and language analysis. They could be useful for introducing a pre-twentieth century text and for introducing some of the styles of questions now on the GCSE 9-1. They could be used individually or in pairs or small groups. To see a similar resource, check out my free comprehension on the start of Hard Times

These 3 comprehensions from Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels contain a mixture of questions on vocabulary, information retrieval and language analysis. Useful as a way of introducing pre-twentieth century prose, as well as introducing the types of questions which appear on the GCSE 9-1. They could be used in pair work, small groups or as an individual task. To see the type of resource, check out my free worksheet on the start of Hard Times.

These 5 extracts are taken from different parts of this ghostly short story. They include different types of questions on vocabulary, language and straight-forward information retrieval, making them useful exercises for KS3 students preparing FOR GCSE 9-1, or to test knowledge and understanding of the text. They are similar to my free resource on the start of Hard Times.

Taken from different parts of the story, these 5 extracts contain a mixture of information retrieval, language & vocabulary style questions. Designed to focus on key sections of the tale, these extracts should help introduce KS3 students to Conan Doyle’s writing, to the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Watson, to the setting and to the content of this part of the 9-1 GCSE course. To see a similar worksheet, please see my free resource on Hard Times.

Designed for KS3, these could also be used for KS2, or even as basic revision for KS4. These 11 sheets vary from word games, to simple exercises to reinforce knowledge. They could be used for tuition, quick classroom tasks, pair tasks or homework. Most are designed to take 10-15 minutes.

To aid revision and allow students to revisit key aspects of the text, here are useful quotations on the main characters (Jekyll, Hyde, Utterson, Lanyon, Poole); the main theme of duality, (& a few on reputation) and some on setting. There are links to the chapters for easy reference.

To supplement my previous resource, here are 15 more extracts from Macbeth, with questions in the style of the 2017 exam paper to provide students with revision in the form of exam practice for the AQA Literature 9-1 GCSE The extracts are from a range of scenes and focus on characters and themes.

An extract from Act 1, scene 2 with questions on the theme of kingship, as in the exam, to provide revision and exam practice. If you need more, I’m selling 15 for £3, and as they proved popular, I’ve made 15 more, also for £3.

For the Shakespeare section of the 9-1 GCSE literature exam, here are 15 more extracts with questions, in the style of the exam paper to provide students with revision in the form of exam practice. The questions are on characters and themes, and feature a range if scenes, both well known and less so.

For EDEXCEL GCSE 9-1 Literature, the Shakespeare section, here are 15 more extracts, with questions in the style of the exam paper to provide effective revision n the form of exam practice. These questions aren characters and themes and cover a range of different scenes.

For the GCSE Literature, component 1, Shakespeare, here are 15 more extracts from Romeo & Juliet, with questions in the style of the 2017 paper, to provide students with revision in the form of exam practice. These questions are on characters and themes, and cover a range of scenes.

Using the GCSE 9-1 specimen materials as a guide, these 10 extracts from part 3 of the novel, (chapters 40-59), have both questions a) and b) to allow effective revision and exam practice of firstly, close analysis of the extract, and secondly, linking its ideas to another part of the text.