OCR GCSE English
OCR builds its Language components around themes rather than text types, and splits several Literature questions into two equally weighted halves.
How the papers are built
Components rather than numbered papers, pairing reading of unseen material with extended writing.
| Paper | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Language Component 1 | Reading of unseen non-fiction around a theme, with an extended writing task. |
| Language Component 2 | Reading focused on the effects writers create, with a further extended writing task. |
| Literature: modern and anthology | Modern prose or drama alongside the poetry anthology, with questions commonly printed as two equally weighted parts. |
| Literature: Shakespeare and nineteenth-century prose | Shakespeare and a nineteenth-century text, answered from extracts opening to the whole work. |
What to watch for on this board
Several Literature questions are printed as part a) and part b), carrying equal marks. They are two answers, and an essay that addresses only one half forfeits the other half outright.
The Language components are themed, so the unseen texts hang together around one idea. Reading both before answering usually pays for the time it costs.
Some OCR papers drop material for copyright reasons when reproduced. Where that happens in our ingested papers, the affected questions are flagged rather than silently presented as complete.
Marking against this board
Assessment objectives are not weighted identically across boards, or even across papers within one board. An answer marked against the wrong board's weightings gets a plausible-looking grade that means nothing.
You choose your board when you sign up, and it decides which weightings your answers are graded against. Where OCR publishes a level-descriptor grid, the band your response matches sets the mark range and your marks come from that band rather than a generic percentage. What the grade was built from is shown with every result, so you can check the reasoning instead of trusting the number.
How the grade is computed covers that in full, including the limits.
Other boards
Sitting a different board? Marked supports AQA, Edexcel and WJEC/Eduqas.
Subject overviews: GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature.
Put one answer through it
The free tier needs no card. Paste an answer you have already written and see the grade, the mark band and the reasoning behind both.