In a nutshell: Read the unseen text twice and annotate for choices, not content: on the second read, mark every deliberate authorial decision and jot its effect in the margin.
The blank text is only frightening until you have a system — and annotation IS the system.
Read once for the gist (what's it about, what's the tone?). Read again with a pen, hunting choices: a striking word, a short sentence, an image, a shift, a bit of layout. Beside each, write ONE word for its effect. By the end, your margin is your essay plan.
How to annotate
First read — the gist
No pen. What's it about, who's it for, what's the overall tone?
Second read — hunt choices
Underline deliberate decisions: word choice, imagery, sentence length, structure, layout.
Margin note = the effect
Beside each mark, write ONE word: ‘tense’, ‘warm’, ‘ironic’, ‘urgent’.
Spot the shifts
Circle where the tone, tense or focus TURNS — turns are gold for analysis.
The key move: Annotate for choice + effect, not for plot. Every underline needs a margin word saying what it DOES — that word becomes your analytical point.
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Why it matters in the exam: You have ~1h15 for SL. Good annotation front-loads the thinking so writing is fast and focused (Criteria B and C). A planned, focused response reads very differently from a first-thought-first-written ramble.
Annotate this opening for choices and effects: “The gym smelled of bleach and ambition. Rows of machines hummed. Everyone was becoming someone else, one repetition at a time.”
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Watch out: Don't annotate the PLOT (‘this is about a gym’). Annotate the choices and their effects — a summary earns nothing; a marked-up choice becomes a point.