Questions about GCSE English marking

How is the grade worked out?

Your answer is read against the exam board's own published level descriptors, and the grade is then computed in code rather than asked of a chatbot. Every grade records the level it matched, the mark band it came from and the descriptor wording behind it, so you can always see the reasoning. Because the maths is deterministic, the same answer returns the same grade every time.

Which exam boards do you support?

AQA, Edexcel (Pearson), OCR and WJEC/Eduqas. Tasks, language and feedback adapt to the board you select during onboarding, and you can change it any time.

Will it write answers for me?

No. Marked marks what you write and shows you exactly how to improve. The Improve My Answer premium tool rewrites a marked answer at the next grade band so you can see what to add, but only after your own attempt has been graded.

How is this different from ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is a generalist that can produce great essays, but its grades drift, its feedback is generic, and it can hallucinate mark schemes. Marked is a marking algorithm. Grades are computed in code, feedback is anchored to AOs, and outputs are validated end-to-end.

How accurate is the grade?

It is an estimate, and we will not pretend otherwise. What we can say precisely is how it is produced: an AI reads your answer and records what it finds, then code turns those measurements into a grade using your board's own assessment-objective weightings and, where the board publishes one, its real level-descriptor grid. We publish no examiner-agreement percentage because we have no dataset that would support one.

How the grade is computed goes through this properly, including what the engine refuses to do and the limits we will not paper over.

Will it write my essay for me?

No, and that is deliberate. Marked reads what you have already written and tells you what it is worth and what would move it up. The rewriting tools work on your own paragraph, showing a stronger version of your idea rather than replacing it with someone else's. Handing in work you did not write is malpractice under every exam board's rules, and we have no interest in helping with it.

Which exam boards does it cover?

AQA, Edexcel, OCR and WJEC/Eduqas, for both GCSE English Language and English Literature. You pick your board when you sign up, and it decides which assessment-objective weightings your answers are marked against. The question bank holds 187 real past papers and 2,434 questions across those four boards.

Can I use it on a phone?

Yes. Every page is built for a phone screen first. There is no app to install at the moment, though one is planned.

Do I need to pay to start?

No card is required for the free tier. You get 5 marked submissions per week, instant 1–9 grades and core feedback. Pro unlocks unlimited marking, the full AO breakdown and the Improve My Answer tool.

Is my writing private?

Your submissions are stored only against your own account and are never used to train external models. You can request export or deletion of your submission history from the dashboard at any time.

Sitting a particular board? The board pages cover how each one builds its papers, and the question guides go question by question.

Is Marked free?

There is a free tier that needs no card. It gives you five marked submissions a week, a real 1 to 9 grade on each, and the examiner-style feedback that goes with it. Paid plans remove the weekly limit and add the answer-rewriting tools.

What happens to my writing?

It is stored against your account so you can see your own history, and it is never used to train external models. You can export or delete your submission history from your dashboard whenever you like.

Do you offer refunds?

You can cancel a subscription at any time from your account, and you keep access until the end of the period you have already paid for. If something has gone wrong, email us and we will sort it out.

Is there anything for parents?

The Family plan covers up to four students on one bill and gives a parent a read-only dashboard across all of them, plus an optional weekly email summary. It reports progress and revision consistency in plain English, with no assessment-objective codes.

Which year groups is this for?

Marked is built for Years 7–11. Foundation tasks (Y7–9) focus on building writing fundamentals; GCSE tasks (Y10–11) follow exam-board paper structures.

Can parents use it too?

Yes. The Family plan gives a parent their own read-only dashboard across every child in the household, plus an optional weekly email summary. It shows progress, revision consistency and what to work on next in plain English, with no exam jargon. Teacher and school dashboards are not built yet.

Full detail on plans is on the pricing page, and what parents see is on the parents page. Still stuck? Send us a message.