GCSE English Language Resit

It can be both demoralising and demotivating to find out that you have missed out on a grade 4 in GCSE English Language by just a few marks. But here’s the good news: there are not actually that many marks between a grade 2, a grade 3 and a grade 4. Therefore, if you find yourself in the position of having to re-sit the exam again, don’t give up! By changing your approach, being prepared and thinking strategically, you can get those extra marks that will result in a grade 4 or higher this time around.

Written by: Deb Orrock

Last updated

6 November 2024

Read time

8 minutes

GCSE English Language Resit - Library Art

Contents

How to pass a GCSE English Language resit

Preparation is key

How many times have you heard someone say that you can’t “revise” for English Language? Well, nothing could be further from the truth. It is the word “revise” that is the problem. A much better word would be “prepare”. There are four main exam boards you could be sitting with: AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel and WJEC Eduqas. While the skills being assessed are the same, the structure of the exams differs slightly between the exam boards, so it is essential that you know the papers for your exam board thoroughly.

This means knowing:

How long each exam is
How many marks each exam paper is worth
What percentage of the GCSE each exam paper is worth:
- For example, with AQA and OCR, each paper is worth an equal 50% of your GCSE
- Whereas with Eduqas and Edexcel, one paper is worth 40% and the other is worth 60%
Which paper is the “fiction” paper and which is the “non-fiction” paper
In which order the questions are asked, and what skills are being assessed for each question

It is a good idea to practise completing each exam paper within the allocated time limit before you resit the exam itself. You can also download the mark scheme for the paper you are practising. This is especially useful as it will indicate the kind of content that should appear in your answers. Your teacher or tutor should also be able to provide you with some feedback on completed practice papers. Read the feedback and try again, taking it into account. Feedback is not helpful unless you act upon it!

You can find English Language past papers here:

Top tips for GCSE English Language resit

Know your timings and stick to them

It is no good getting high marks if it has taken you three hours to complete a paper, as you will only have 1 hour 45 minutes, or 2 hours (depending on the paper and the exam board) to actually complete it

Never miss a question out

If you did not get a grade 4 the first time around, this suggests that - realistically - you cannot rely on getting high marks per question to pass. Therefore, you have a better chance of passing if you are able to get at least a few marks for every question

Do not look at the mark scheme before you attempt a practice paper

You need to compare your answers to the indicative content in the mark scheme after you have finished
This is the only way to know if you are applying the skills correctly for each question

Think strategically

Thinking strategically about the exam is another way to maximise your marks. Consider whether you should complete Section A (reading) or Section B (writing) first. If you are the kind of student who tires easily in an exam or finds writing for extended periods difficult, then it may be more useful to complete Section B (writing) first, as then you get to take a little “break” as you read in Section A.

In addition, if creative writing is a challenge for you, then try preparing a story in advance. While this is not the approach for the highest grades, it can help if you are a grade 3-4 borderline student who gets stuck with what to write, how to start or how to write accurately. Look online at some of the past papers for your exam board, choose one of the titles and craft your story. Again, ask your teacher or tutor to proofread it for you for accuracy and to suggest improvements. Once your story is technically accurate (punctuation, spelling and grammar are all correct), then learn it! Re-read it over and over again, paying particular attention to things like punctuation.

The choices you are given for creative writing differ slightly by exam board. AQA, for example, will give you one image as a prompt and one title, whereas Eduqas do not use images. Instead, you are given a choice of four titles. Whichever exam board you are using, you should be prepared to adapt your prepared story to suit one of the titles. This is not so easy to do if you are using the picture prompt or writing to describe, and narrative writing is usually easier to craft and control, so the advice would be to stick to the story option rather than the descriptive option.

In the reading sections of the papers, you should carefully consider how long to spend on each question, depending on what skills the question is assessing and how many marks the question is worth. There is no point in spending too long answering a 5 or 8-mark question if this means you run out of time answering a 10 or 20-mark question. Judge how much you need to write and how long you should spend. When that time is up, move on. You can always go back and add more to unfinished answers if you have time at the end.

Change your approach

Along with the suggestions above, you may also wish to reconsider how you answer the reading questions on both papers. For example, if you spent time reading each of the texts given to you in the exams first before you even looked at the questions, then consider reading the questions first, and then the text(s). This is because if you don’t know what you are meant to be looking for in the texts, then you are reading without purpose. In addition, at least some of the questions will only ask you to consider a section of the text, rather than the whole thing, and for these questions, it is essential that you only take information from the section (otherwise you will not gain marks).

You may find following these steps useful when approaching the reading questions:

Step 1	Read the question carefully and highlight the focus of the question: This means what the question is about, not just what you have to do
Step 1	Example: How does the writer describe Charlie’s thoughts and feelings in this section? Here, the focus of the question is Charlie’s thoughts and feelings, not “how does the writer” This means when you read the section of text, you should be looking for anything that tells you what Charlie’s thoughts and feelings actually are
Step 2	Read the text and annotate in the margins: If the question is a language question, then note down the adjectives that come to mind to describe the character or place (depending on the focus of the question) If the question is asking you to evaluate, then note down your thoughts about what you read as you read These can then be the basis of your points in your answer
Step 3	Start your answer using the wording of the question: This demonstrates to the examiner that you have understood the question and what the focus is
Step 3	Example: The writer describes Charlie’s thoughts and feelings in this section firstly as confused because…
Step 4	Now make your points and prove them: You can think of these as “point and prove” statements For every point that you make, you need to prove it with at least two short, relevant and embedded quotes from the text This can be done very simply by using the sentence model: “The writer suggests that the character is lonely because when he is at home he ‘plays chess with himself’ and his ‘only companion is a teddy bear’” You can then zoom in on a particular word or phrase the writer has used, such as “teddy bear”, to explain why you think the writer has used it. In this case, it might be to suggest that the character is still quite child-like Then, make your next point using a connective such as “In addition”, or “Furthermore”
Step 4	Judging how many of these points to make is dependent on how many marks the question is worth. However, always try to make as many points as you can in the time you have allocated for that particular question This is better than just writing one or two PEE paragraphs, which are often long but do not actually tell the examiner very much Only refer to a specific technique the writer has used if you are sure of what it is AND why they have used it
Step 5	Finish your answer with a “So overall…” statement This should sum up what you have discovered in relation to the focus of the question

Check out this detailed video from one of our expert teachers on how to ace your English Language resit exams:

Above all, be resilient and have the mindset that you can pass the exam. The examiners actively seek to award you marks; you just have to be clear, coherent and precise enough in your answers for them to be able to do this. For further, more detailed, guides ordered by question and paper, please have a look at our AQA GCSE English Language Revision Notes. Good luck!

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