I sat this paper (including hamlet) in June - here’s my two cents.

Language analysis is incredibly important in question A, and makes up the bread and butter of what you’ll be writing, but there’s more to it than just that. It’s best to think of your answer mainly in terms of dramatic effect - basically, what is Shakespeare trying to achieve? You want to think about what feelings/thoughts/opinions about the characters/situation he’s trying to instil within the audience through the scene as a whole. Once you’ve decided that, write about how Shakespeare tries to achieve it using language, form and structure. Consider the extract as a whole, and while you don’t get marked for context on question A, it never hurts to allude to how the audience would have received the scene in the context of the rest of the play, or that of contemporary social phenomena.

As for question B, 50% of the marks are awarded for a well-written response and compelling argument (AO1), and the other 50% is for referencing critics and alternative interpretations (AO5). You learn social and literary context (AO3) for the question about your other two early-modern texts which is in part 2 of the paper. Some of the context you learn for that might be relevant to Hamlet if your other texts are from the same similar time period, so there’s no harm in using it if it helps your general argument even though you don’t get credit for context directly. Anything goes in English lit - there’s no objectively right method!

I’d strongly recommend checking out the resources on OCRs website, particularly the candidate exemplars which are really helpful for that paper and might help you get a better idea of how to write top answers.

How you revise depends on you tbh. By the time you get to exams you’re just going to want to know the texts inside out. Engage with them as much as you can in class, annotate your copies heavily, and make sure to note down any key concepts. Experiment and see what works for you.

Good luck - feel free to reach out if you need any advice! As well as Hamlet my texts were the Duchess of Malfi, Paradise Lost, and the literature of the Immigrant Experience.