English Literature GCSE isn’t a compulsory qualification, and the number of pupils taking the qualification has been dropping since 2008. With the current state of the course, you can see why. It’s not that the exam boards set awful texts, or that the subject is dull. It’s that the means of testing are inadequate.
The course is examined in two ways; the controlled assessment accounts for 25%, and the external exams, which account for the remaining 75%. Everyone knows that GCSEs aren’t ‘what they used to be’ and yes, we all know how terribly lucky we are to get a copy of the text in our exam; but, at the moment, the major problems are controlled assessments.
In 2009, all GCSE coursework was replaced by controlled assessments. Conventionally they’re done in lesson time and pupils can, technically, sit as many as they want.
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