GCSE English Lit and Language review of marking

It looks like the private schools are far more invested in getting the reviews done which is understandable as they have to keep customers happy and want desirable grade profiles to show to prospective customers.

Still heard nothing from my DCs exam office at state school in response to DCs request for language score and access to papers.

DS was predicted 8s for both, with 40% coursework already graded at 8/9s. He ended up with an 8 for lit and a 6 for lang.

School initially recommended putting in lit for review because he was 2 marks off a 9, which we did on Thursday. Came back on Tuesday with a 10 mark increase and upgraded to a 9.

Not sure why school didn’t say anything about lang (maybe because it required teacher looking up scores as they don’t automatically get shown on results or maybe because he was 3 marks off rather than 2?). But after reading here about how it works and seeing the big uplift he got on lit we asked his teacher about a possible review, because he must’ve done really quite poorly in the exam given the coursework grades he had already got and it seems like a big discrepancy from his literature (and other essay/analysis type exams) performance. She said to put it in, so we did that yesterday.

Our school seems to take the policy similar to that of@NorthenAdventure - academic/selective indie that doesn’t look at scripts. They send for review based on boundaries and/or a grade that what seems out of place for a particular student.

On the topic of iGCSEs and coursework - I completely agree that it isn’t fair. What is available to some should be available to all. DH and I both come from very different backgrounds to where we find ourselves now with our DCs in a private school and surrounded by very pushy parents. So, we often find ourselves feeling uncomfortable with how that privilege plays out - and this is one of those times.

We're Edexcel

They haven't gone in yet as far as I'm aware. I've heard back from English Lang teacher who is going to take a look at the papers, but said it may take a few days. Haven't heard back yet from Lit.

We're not in a rush though as she has her place for next year, so I specifically said to both EO and teachers to prioritise those who need things looked at for 6th form places or because they're on that 3/4 boundary, and we're happy to wait.

I am checking the requirements for all the universities DD is likely to interested in, just in case they have a 5 minimum for Language.

@OhCrumbsWhereNow when did you submit for review? And what exam board?

I have seen a lot of DD's work - specifically English.

Mainly because she uses a laptop and so all classwork is stored on there as well as being submitted to teachers.

She is also a dab hand at surreptitious phone use, so would photograph all her test papers and send them to me so I could see the marking as well.

I was particularly interested to see them because of the huge difference between her English essays written in class with spell check and editing software and those written under test conditions without the above, and was looking into whether she should ask to have those enabled and just sacrifice the SPaG marks from the off.

It has helped with my feelings on reviews... I know that she writes good creative essays (despite the SPaG) and is generally pretty good at the unseen text stuff. And I can see how hard a marker her teacher is from the marks allocated on mocks/tests. He's no soft touch, so getting a 3 on Paper 1 is a massive outlier given she liked the exam and felt she'd done better than any mocks or class tests.

Ah yes, that is true (it's in the big document not the key dates)

I don't know what "exceptional circumstances" would be though.

@raisingthebarbell then do one at a time - marks can and do move either way so you don't want to have one go up but the other come down and negate that

@MrsHamlet unfortunately, the school won’t help and time is of the essence so we are thinking just request a mark review but unsure whether to do one or both papers with 2 marks off.

@12DaisiesTwit I would personally pay for a review in those circumstances. The discrepancy in the two grades is big enough to wonder if the lang got marked wrong.

It really does seem that nobody has trust in the exam process. Reading what some of the experts on here have described and what parents with normally high performing kids have experienced it feels like it's a game of chance.

Those of you with experience of being an exam marker where you see inadequacies in the system, have you ever considered whistleblowing to Dept of Education? Or would that be pointless?

@Examinetheexams all of the boards are trialling it, and certainly exams with multiple choice components already use it to do those parts.

I don't know of any board using AI on large scale live exams though. It's coming but it's not there yet.

@MrsHamletmy apologies for misremembering the poster.

Having searched there are a number of TES articles showing AQA were trialling AI to ‘mark the marker’ last year and it was purely at the research stage. Unsure this year exactly how AI is being trialled in exams but exam boards are definitely working on how to incorporate it into marking.

There are some fascinating articles on the impact of AI (not just in secondary assessments) and where future assessments may be heading. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/aug/22/a-levels-and-gcses-need-overhaul-to-keep-pace-with-generative-ai-experts-say

AI has significantly upped the pace and need for educational reform.

One thing is for sure, our children’s children won’t be all sitting in a hall, pen in hand, with a nail/biting wait for teachers to mark their papers.

It absolutely was not me! I think it might have been TheLivelyViper.

That's insane! I've just said yes to someone with two two grade 5s - we ask for 6 - because she loves Lit and I know she'll work hard.

English teacher and GCSE examiner here. It’s definitely worth getting a remark if you’re on the border.

The source was a previous poster @MrsHamlet ( if I recall correctly, (apologies if not) who seems to be knowledgeable about the whole review process. I believe they said that AI was being trialled in some capacity in the GCSE marking by being given instructions to apply the mark scheme to answers.

Well aren’t you a ray of sunshine?

it isn’t a waste of time. My daughter has Autism, had her heart set on biology and needs a 7 to do it. She was 1 mark off an 8 in multiple subjects and she put her heart and soul into some of them. She is very passionate about English Lit, she said she included everything she could have was tutored for months beforehand on what constitutes an 8/9. Must have written multiple papers at grade 8 before the exam. She’s quite demoralised she put in so much effort for that subject and got the same mark as all of her other GCSE’s. She wanted her hard work and her passion for that subject recognised.

just for reference - my daughter was getting 3s and 4s last year. She’s had as much as 40% time off school in some years due to her conditions. She got straight A’s and shocked all of us. But certain subjects she lived and breathed and being one mark away is rubbish. And being Autistic it’s bothering her.

Seems like they're cutting their nose off to spite their face. To lose someone who has an 8 in their chosen subject is just crazy. Our entry requirements are a 6 in English lit and 5/4 either way round for Maths and English.

My DS got a solid 5 in Lang and 8 in Lit and his school have said No to A level Lit.
We're quietly furious, but they wont budge. DS gutted. He loves Eng Lit and is clearly good at it.
Its odd how some schools accept a 5 and others request higher.
They say they're not protecting their exam results, but I cant help think thats exactly what they're doing.

This is interesting

DS got an 8 in Lit and a 5 in Lang. Predicted 7/7 so we were surprised by the discrepancy.
He wanted to do Lit at A level and has been told by school No as entry qual for their 6th form was a 6 in both.
Unsure of his mark, but will look into this.

@NorthenAdventure
Is it respected by teachers and universities? Could it be scrapped going forward?
BTEC could be a problem

Im just thinking future wise things will have to change but not sure how.

Yes, absolutely. The thing is, we're not the one making the official decision. I can say what I personally think, but I'm not the reviewer.

Can you link me to the source that says that exam boards are already using AI to mark exams please?

Personally I have no faith in the coursework process anymore. Students can cheat so easily these days. I mean, they always could, but with AI it's even more ridiculous.

But when you ask if it's respected... by whom? They don't have to declare to anyone that they did coursework. For future jobs etc thesd pupils just say they got a grade whatever in English Lang / English Lit.

If it is used to aid counting the marks that’s ok.
AI can be good for revision