How to study your prescribed novel
This note covers general skills -- your actual exam will be based on a specific novel chosen for that year, so this is not a substitute for reading your assigned text closely. Read the novel fully at least once for the story, then a second time taking notes chapter by chapter on major events, and how each main character develops.
Narrative point of view
A first-person narrator ("I") is a character within the story, so we only know what they know or notice -- their account can be biased or limited. A third-person narrator is outside the story; "third-person omniscient" knows every character's thoughts, while "third-person limited" follows just one character's perspective closely.
Example 1: A novel is narrated by a young girl who describes events as she experiences them, sometimes misunderstanding adult conversations happening around her. Identify the point of view and explain one effect of this choice.
This is first-person narration. One effect is that the reader's understanding is limited to what the young narrator notices and correctly interprets -- creating gaps or misunderstandings that the reader may see through even when the narrator doesn't, adding irony or poignancy to the story.
Characters and themes
The protagonist is the character the story centres around, though not always a purely "good" character. Look for how the protagonist changes (or fails to change) by the story's end, and what obstacles (internal or external) they face. A theme is a central idea the whole novel explores -- like ambition, betrayal, identity, or the effects of colonialism -- often revealed through repeated situations, symbols (motifs), or the consequences characters face for their choices.
Answering prose questions in the exam
Common question types include: character analysis, theme discussion, and questions about narrative technique or a specific passage's significance. As with drama, always ground your answer in specific details from the novel -- named characters, events, and their consequences -- rather than general statements that could apply to any story.