Is plagiarism in GCSE English lit exam possible?

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My dc is in yr10. Their English teacher has said they have to grade them U in their end of year test because some of their work is word for word from popular revision sites. And that she needs to ensure it's in her own words as otherwise it is plagiarism. Can it be plagiarism if it's in an exam and she's just memorised some information? It's not like it is coursework and she's copied it.

That's super interesting about tiktok

Ah quizlet. Another source of reproducible responses.

You can put quite a lot of text in Quizlet. She could have copy and pasted sentences/paragraphs from revision sites into cards.
There is huge volumes of material on some of these sites for a subject like English Lit - arguably more than in revision books, so the fact she doesn't like books is irrelevant.

Well, in which case I suggest you email the teacher back and asked for a copy of the paper first, and ask her to highlight all the plagiarism and specify how many words were plagiarised .

whether these were just a number of different quotes from a number of different websites, or one site.

Cause I'm really sorry but it's quite a serious allegation she's making. and I'd be actually well narked.

because I'm not entirely sure that she's got that much grounds here ! the teacher that is!

But you'll soon find out!

Better the teacher raising the issue than the exam board!

In an exam it would not be viewed a plagiarism as it is not copied in the same way - you can't expect any individual under exam conditions to take time to redraft etc Under exam conditions students whatever their age answer a question - if they have memorised paragraphs or essays and that fits then they write it.

I am saying that it would - it absolutely WOULD be escalated as malpractice. If you are reproducing someone else's work and claiming it as your own it is plagiarism.

When candidates sign the paper there is a disclaimer that now says "I declare this is my own work". Why would they put that there?

It has been pulled up before (see pre-prepared stories created by YouTubers for Language exams) and will continue to be.

@Evvyjb
I find it hard to believe that this would be highlighted as malpractice in an exam - coursework is different where people sign to confirm its their own work, in an exam student do not sign to say its their own work as their are invigilators to monitor that it is.

They literally do declare it is their own work. The statement is printed on the front of the question paper which the student signs.

An invigilator cannot monitor that they are not repeating a learned paragraph that they did not originate - how could they?

You do... please see the signature line...

This is on ALL answer booklets now. It is also an explicit part of examiner training. If you think something is not the student's own work, escalated as suspected malpractice.

As has already been said, when "helpful" people online decide to create one size fits all answers and encourage students to learn them verbatim it creates problems.

@Evvyjb
is this for English only? what about other subjects where opinions are asked for ie History, RE, Sociology and Economics?

It's now standard on all papers

I can see the signature is asked for but "own work" implies that you have written it - if you saying you can't reproduce another view I just wonder where the line is drawn

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.

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

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'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.

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

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.

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?

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!

@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

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

But it gets reported every time.

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.

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