Choosing and Learning Flexible Quotations (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature): Revision Note
Exam code: C720
Your WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature exams are closed-book, so you can’t take your set texts in with you. This means many of the quotations you use have to come from memory. You can’t learn the whole text, so the quotations you choose matter. Flexible quotations are short and work for lots of different questions, so a small number of them go a long way.
This page shows you what a flexible quotation is, how to choose them, how many to learn, how to memorise quotes so you can use them in the exam and what to do if you forget one, with worked examples from Macbeth.
What is a flexible quotation?
A flexible quotation is a short quotation that you can use to answer several different exam questions. A good flexible quotation:
Is short: a word or a phrase of a few words, so it is easy to remember and to fit into your own sentence
Links to more than one theme or character: so you can use it for a wide range of questions
Contains a method you can analyse: such as an image, a command or a repeated word, so you have something to say about how the writer creates meaning
For example, Lady Macbeth’s “unsex me here” is only three words long, but it can help you write about her character, about ambition, about gender and about the supernatural.
Flexible quotations also stop you forcing a learned quotation into an answer where it doesn’t fit. WJEC Eduqas examiners report that weaker answers “often tried to fit in learned quotations that lacked relevance to the question”.
How to choose flexible quotations
Follow these steps for each of your texts:
List the main characters and themes: these are what exam questions ask about
Pick short quotations for each one: choose a word or phrase, not a whole speech
Test each quotation against other characters and themes: keep the ones that work for two or more, and replace the ones that only work for one
Spread them across the text: include quotations from the beginning, middle and end, so you can show how characters and ideas change
Learn the moment each one comes from: know who says it, when and why, so you use it accurately
The last step matters because a short quotation can mislead you if you forget where it comes from. For example, you might use Macbeth’s “bloody instructions” as evidence that he is naturally violent, when the speech is about his fears of killing Duncan.
The table below shows how one flexible quotation from Macbeth can help you answer three different WJEC Eduqas exam questions. They are all Macbeth essay questions, so nothing from the play is printed for them.
Quotation: “unsex me here” (Lady Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5)
Question | How you could write about “unsex me here” |
|---|---|
June 2019: Write about Lady Macbeth and how she is presented at different points in the play. | Lady Macbeth commands the spirits to “unsex me here”, as if she can only be cruel if she stops being a woman. She seems strong, but needing the spirits’ help suggests her strength is not natural |
June 2022: Guilt is a key theme in Macbeth. Write about how Shakespeare presents guilt at different points in the play. Refer to characters and events from the play in your answer. | Lady Macbeth wants to feel no remorse, so she calls on evil spirits to “unsex me here”. The command shows she expects to feel guilty, which prepares the audience for the guilt that breaks her later |
June 2023: Lady Macbeth changes throughout the play. Write about some of the ways Lady Macbeth changes and how Shakespeare presents this. | At first, Lady Macbeth demands that the spirits “unsex me here” so that she will feel no guilt. By the sleepwalking scene, her guilt has broken her (“Out, damned spot”), so she has changed from fearless to haunted |
The quotation stays the same each time. What you say about it changes to fit the question.
How many quotes should you learn?
There is no set number, and the WJEC Eduqas mark scheme doesn’t count your quotations: it rewards quotations that are well chosen and fit your argument. As a guide, learn three or four short quotations for each main character and theme. Because flexible quotations work for more than one character or theme, you’ll need fewer in total than this suggests.
You also don’t need to remember every quotation word for word. The section on what to do if you forget a quotation, below, explains why.
How to memorise quotes for English Literature
Learning the words of a quotation is only half the job. To use it in the exam, you also need to know what it shows. Try making a revision card like this for each quotation:
Front of the card | Back of the card |
|---|---|
“unsex me here” (Lady Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 5) | When: Lady Macbeth has just heard that King Duncan is coming to stay at her castle Method: a command to evil spirits Shows: she wants to lose her womanly feelings so she can carry out the murder Characters: Lady Macbeth Themes: ambition, gender, the supernatural Links to: the sleepwalking scene (Act 5, Scene 1), where she can’t wash away her guilt (“Out, damned spot”). The feelings she tried to get rid of come back to break her |
Here is how to remember quotes and make them stick:
Test yourself from memory: look at the front of the card, say what’s on the back aloud, then check. Testing yourself works better than rereading, because it makes your brain find the answer
Revisit them little and often: go back to each quotation over several weeks rather than cramming the night before, so it stays in your long-term memory
Examiner Tips and Tricks
The best way to check that a quotation is flexible is to use it in practice answers. Pick three past questions on different characters or themes, and write one sentence for each using the same quotation.
For example, for Marley’s “Mankind was my business”, you could write: “Marley’s regret that ‘Mankind was my business’ warns Scrooge of what he will become if he doesn’t change” for a question on Scrooge, and “Dickens uses Marley’s cry that ‘Mankind was my business’ to argue that the rich have a duty to help the poor” for a question on responsibility. You’ve used one quotation for two questions, so you can adapt it to whatever the exam asks.
What if you forget a quotation?
Don’t panic. WJEC Eduqas examiners point out that “Textual references don’t have to be quotations”, so a precise reference to the moment still counts. If you can’t remember the exact words:
Use the words you do remember: even a single word, such as “spot” (from the quotation “Out, damned spot”), can be analysed
Refer to the moment instead: for example, “when Lady Macbeth sleepwalks and tries to wash imaginary blood from her hands”
Only use quotation marks for words you are sure of: examiners also stress “quotation accuracy”, so a precise reference in your own words is better than a quotation you are not sure of
Learning quotations for your WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature exam
You can’t take your set texts into any of your WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature exams, but most questions print an extract or a poem for you. The Shakespeare extract question and the Post-1914 and 19th-century prose questions print an extract. The first anthology question prints one named poem, and the unseen poetry section prints both poems. Nothing is printed for the Shakespeare essay or for the second poem you choose in the anthology comparison question. This table shows where you need quotations from memory:
Component | Section | What is printed | What to learn |
|---|---|---|---|
Component 1 | Extract question (15 marks): an extract from the play Essay question (20+5 marks): nothing | Extract question: nothing extra, because your answer stays inside the extract Essay question: quotations from across the whole play, from the beginning, middle and end: all your evidence comes from memory | |
Component 1 | First question (15 marks): one named poem Comparison question (25 marks): only a list of the poem titles | A few flexible quotations for every one of the 15 poems, plus their contexts, so you can choose the second poem that fits the question best | |
Component 2 | An extract from the play or novel | Quotations for every main character and theme: you must write about the extract and the whole text | |
Component 2 | An extract from the novel | Quotations from across the whole novel: you must write about the extract and the whole novel, and its contexts | |
Component 2 | Both poems | Nothing: you haven’t studied these poems before |
Learned quotations matter a lot in the anthology section, because you must study all 15 poems. Examiners report that stronger comparison answers used a poem the candidate knew well and “had learned key quotations and contextual details for”. Weaker answers were often not secure in their chosen poem, “perhaps not recalling many specific quotations”.
Examiner Tips and Tricks
In the Macbeth essay question, nothing from the play is printed. So learn quotations from the beginning, middle and end for each main character, and you can show how they change across the whole play.
For example, the June 2025 question said: “Macbeth changes throughout the play.” You could write: “At the start of the play, Macbeth is praised as ‘brave’, so his violence by the end of the play shows how far he has fallen.” You’ve linked two moments with one short quotation, which gives you a developed point about characterisation.
Sources
Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor (eds), 2005, The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works (Second Edition), Oxford University Press
Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol. Project Gutenberg eBook #46. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46
WJEC Eduqas. GCSE English Literature (C720) Specification, Version 4, August 2024. WJEC.
WJEC Eduqas. GCSE English Literature Component 1 Question Papers, June 2019, June 2022 (C722U10-A), June 2023 and June 2025. WJEC.
WJEC Eduqas. GCSE English Literature Component 2 Question Paper, June 2025. WJEC.
WJEC Eduqas. GCSE English Literature Component 1 Marking Scheme, Summer 2025. WJEC.
WJEC Eduqas. GCSE English Literature Examiners’ Reports, Summer 2024 and Summer 2025. WJEC.
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