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English isn’t hard. Two rules get 9s.
Rule one
Produce genuinelyGood Writing
Rule two
Meet every one ofThe Criteria
The examiner’s criteria are published.
Almost nobody reads them.
Mark scheme GCSE English · every exam board
The top band
Nine words for a grade 9
Every mark scheme rewards the same nine things. They are published, and almost nobody reads them.
| What it says | What it means |
|---|---|
| Perceptive | You notice what most readers walk straight past, and you say why it matters. |
| Detailed | You analyse and evaluate with precision. Every claim is exact, and the reader always knows what you mean. |
| Critical | You know what you think, and you have thought about it carefully. The same borrowed ideas everyone else writes earn nothing. |
| Effect | Naming the technique earns nothing. The mark is for how it steers the reader’s attention, feelings, thoughts or actions. |
| Structure | How the writing is built is part of how it works, not decoration on top of it. |
| Convincing | Evidence is only half of it. The reasoning that joins your evidence to your point has to hold as well. |
| Context | The world the writer lived in — its politics, its society, its religion — is what gave birth to the ideas in the text. |
| Evaluation | A verdict on how well it was done, supported by the text. Praise is not evaluation. |
| Accuracy | Vocabulary, sentence forms, spelling and punctuation carry marks of their own. |
The words in the left column are the boards’ own, quoted from their published assessment objectives and level descriptors. The page is ours.
English Language
Six things are marked.
AO1
Find what matters, and read between the lines
Implicit is where the marks are. Explicit is where most answers stop.
What the mark scheme says
Identify and interpret explicit and implicit information and ideas. Select and synthesise evidence from different texts.
AO2
Explain how the writing works
Naming the technique earns nothing. The effect does.
What the mark scheme says
Explain, comment on and analyse how writers use language and structure to achieve effects and influence readers, using relevant subject terminology to support their views.
AO3
Set two writers against each other
Two summaries side by side is not a comparison. The mark is for the sentence that holds both at once.
What the mark scheme says
Compare writers’ ideas and perspectives, as well as how these are conveyed, across two or more texts.
AO4
Judge how well it was done
Evaluation is a verdict with evidence, not praise.
What the mark scheme says
Evaluate texts critically and support this with appropriate textual references.
AO5
Write with control
What the mark scheme says
Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts.
AO6
Write accurately
Worth a fifth of the whole qualification, on its own.
What the mark scheme says
Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation.
English Literature
Four things are marked.
AO1
Argue a reading, and prove it
Understanding the text earns nothing on its own. The mark is for the argument you build from it.
What the mark scheme says
Read, understand and respond to texts. Maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response. Use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations.
AO2
Explain how the writing works
Naming the technique earns nothing. The effect does.
What the mark scheme says
Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate.
AO3
Place it in its world
Context is not a history lesson bolted on. It is why the writer made that choice.
What the mark scheme says
Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written.
AO4
Write it accurately yourself
Marked on some papers only — check which of yours carry it.
What the mark scheme says
Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation.
Knowing the criteria
is not meeting them.
Find out which of them your child already meets.
Everything above is theory
