Preparation of IOC

[SB26]

So i've read the tips for IOC post on this forum as well as different websites around the internet for tips and stuffs, they are really helpful but i would just like to ask something also ( might be a stupid question lol but anyways...)

So i'm preparing for my IOC and i have a lot of notes and stuffs, in terms of materials for IOC it's not my concern, but what i'm concern about is that how can i cramp and jam all these resourceful notes and stuffs from each chapter/act/scene into my mind from A to Z 100% without forgetting them, to be specific the text i'm studying is Shakespare's The Merchant of Venice and a bunch of Sylvia Plath's poems...

I know it sounds stupid and tedious but still i hope someone can give me some insights to this issue, thanks in advance.

[Emmi]

You don't really need to know the texts 100%. It's much more effective to learn the general things about the texts, such as overall plot, themes, and important symbols. The IOC will most likely be on a significant passage or poem, so you can probably narrow it down to turning points in the plot, key soliloquies and monologues, or poems with a lot of content, and focus on those. Your teacher won't give you a passage that has very little in it, they'll give you something that has lots to talk about so you can get to the required time limit easier. With the Merchant of Venice (I did this for my free choice section), look at things like Shylock's speeches, Portia's speech with the box selection, and things like that. Look at characterization and themes. For the poems, look for common similarities in Plath's work, things that can tie poems together if you were to get two or three of them, etc.

The IOC's really not too bad, you'll do fine with preparation.