Is plagiarism in GCSE English lit exam possible?

There are people on this thread who work in exams and are saying - repeatedly - that this is reportable as malpractice.

Because it is.

Since JCQ say, "Copying can involve memorisation and reproduction of text", it seems clear that directly reproducing someone else's work is plagiarism.

They also say, "A strict interpretation of the above definition would include the original ideas as well as the actual words or artefacts produced by another. Assessors should reflect the incidence of any paraphrasing in the way they apply the markscheme/assessment criteria. Students who have not independently met the marking criteria must not be rewarded in the marking." This suggests that simply paraphrasing someone else's work is not allowed.

If you are asked, for example, how Shakespeare presents Romeo’s feelings towards Juliet in the play as a whole, the answer needs to be your own work, not just a reworking of someone else's work. If you've used a study guide which gives you some pointers on this question, there is nothing wrong with using those pointers to help you write your answer. However, if you've read an article exploring this question, you mustn't simply reproduce it or paraphrase it.

surely students can memorise and revise then adapt or reproduce this [in] an exam

That is the question isn't it? Is this allowable, or must you always write in your own words? Seems (based on this thread) that it's not at all clear.

@prh47bridge
Some exams allow students to take in materials, not sure which and in those cases this might count as plagiarism. Given what I have read I think that memorising information and reproducing this in an exam is not malpractice.

I agree that the school/teacher can impose whatever rules they want for an internal exam - although I do not think that is wise as in my view they should be mirroring GCSE procedure so to prepare students. The teacher in my view is scaring pupils - surely students can memorise and revise then adapt or reproduce this an exam. Sometimes this may be appropriate sometimes it might now be

I can find your quote on a handful of websites, such as Dixons Allerton Academy, but not JCQ. It seems to be somewhat confused as it talks about compilation of research notes for use in the exam and bringing annotated texts into the exam room as possible plagiarism. In both of those cases, an plagiarism is only going to come to light when looking at the student's exam script.

JCQ say, "Plagiarism refers to a student copying work and submitting it as their own. This can involve published resources (whether in print or on the internet), AI-generated content, essays, or pieces of work previously submitted for assessments by others or manufactured artefacts. Copying can involve memorisation and reproduction of text." So, if OP's child has memorised some information then regurgitated it word for word (or nearly word for word), that very clearly falls within JCQ's definition of plagiarism.

It is clearly more likely in a non-exam setting, but the wording above suggests that it can also occur in exams.

It is a different situation though. It's possible/likely that the school may have used previous exam questions and the student has learnt a model answer. It's even possible that they were given advance notice of questions.

This doesn't happen in an actual public exam (unless the questions are leaked on social media, where it is taken seriously if it's thought students had advance access to them).

OP really needs to understand more about this situation. Has the DD just reproduced a generic essay about "the role of Lady Macbeth" because the question was Lady Macbeth related, which was always going to limit the marks they could have got, or is it a case of they learnt an answer to a specific question?

But going back to JCQ - no, it isn't malpractice according to their regulations. It would be in an NEA, but not in an exam.

OP was asking about GCSE's though. Presumably because end of Year 10 exams are (usually) treated as a kind of mock and OP talks about a U grade which is the GCSE system.

This is a Year 10 school test though - the school can apply whatever rules they want. In that context it may well not be unreasonable to give the student a U on the basis that they had just regurgitated something from a revision site (maybe they even had some advance notice of what the questions would/might be?)

The OP asked it if was plagiarism - not whether it would be considered such in a GCSE/A level exam.

If the OP is actually asking "would my daughter be penalised for doing this in her GCSEs?" - that's a different question. If does feel like this might be a grey area - even if it's not plagiarism according to the JCQ definition, is it malpractice?

I think it needed posting again. Because no matter what people think the only thing that matters is what the exam boards actually publish in their rules & regulations.

Plagiarism no. Malpractice, yes.

@Comefromaway apologies I missed your link

As a start, I’d be asking your daughter to arrange for the teacher to go through it with her. Her paper, I mean.

Yes, I linked that paragraph from JCQ upthread but it seemed to be ignored by most.

I think this answers the question more clearly.

JCQ says "By virtue of its definition, plagiarism is restricted to those examination components where students undertake examination work in unsupervised conditions, such as coursework, pre-release work, or the compilation of research notes which can be used in the examination.

Plagiarism isn't an issues in GCSE exams.

Exactly this. The examiner does not decide if it's malpractice; the exam board does.

But it gets reported every time.

@NCfor24 that was my undestanding that the exams conditions signifies "own work" and reproducing from York Notes or in another subject from a revision guide or teacher notes is fine

This is interesting as I specifically asked about this at parents evening recently. My son is autistic and at special school. He remembers facts and information verbatim. We've assumed he won't do exams but then at parents evening they said his English and English lit was coming on really well. He is engaging with the texts and really progressing. I asked how it would go down if he answered questions word for word from the likes of York Notes (if they're still a thing) or tiktok discussion etc ... His school were happy that even reproduced verbatim, the fact it was in exam conditions would satisfy that it was his own work, albeit memory and not strictly understanding.
Now, he'd be in a 1:1 situation with an invigilator plus he'd have a scribe, and we'd not be looking at getting A,B,C grades (or 9-5 grades or whatever) but does that make it any different? He shouldn't be marked easier than a more able student, but at the same time I would assume he'd get his marks from simpler questions not discussing/debate/argue the case for etc and wouldn't get a 'pass' but would still achieve a grade so to speak. Maybe that's why it's contrary to what the teachers here are saying...?
I was heartened to think he may sit a GCSE or 2 but it's not worth it if he'll be accused of plagiarism for his photographic memory anyway!

If a student provides a model answer and does not address a question then they will not be rewarded - but in that case would that really be malpractice?

Plagiarism is clearly unlikely in an MFL reading or listening exam as you are answering questions to which there will be a limited number of correct answers.

In a writing exam I guess a whole class might parrot a section of phrases learned to answer a question about what they learn at school - it's not likely tho as it would be difficult to anticipate every possible question. Yes a good student will learn some stock answers to questions that might well come up but even so.

I think the point is that the declaration is just another layer of checking - showing to the student that the work needs to be theirs and underlining this. In MFL speaking exams most boards ask the student and the examiner to sign a paper saying something similar.

In German through I would have throught most work would have been learnt by students so plagiarism wouldn't really apply but stock answers probably wouldn't answer the question fully. In other subjects we're the questions we're more discursive such as history, sociology, RE and economics it might be different but even then students will produce answers which will contain sections they have learnt

I've had students attempt to give me my OWN model answers in exams.

This is how it works as an examiner:

• familiar phrases/paragraph/storyline (you've marked hundreds, you will recognise them) - flag
• sudden odd change in style or tone - flag
• vocabulary which is entirely out of kilter with the rest of the response - flag

In literature you need to answer the question set; simply regurgitating what someone said online or learning an essay and rewriting it will not do that.

yes on all papers - here it is on Foundation German for example - hardly an area with a lot of opinions!
(although... "my favourite subject is German because the teacher is great" :)

I just wonder where teachers for example produce model answers, is that any different from using a revision booklet or a guide

If the wordings too close, it's plagiarism. Whether from memorisation or otherwise. How odd that you think it makes a difference that the source text wasn't physically present.