Edexcel GCSE English Language Tutors Online

Edexcel GCSE English Language is code 1EN0, with a qualification number of 601/4836/6, written for first teaching from September 2015 and first certification in May/June 2017. It is a linear course consisting of two externally examined components and one endorsement for Spoken Language, and students must complete all assessment in the same series.

The two examined components are not equally weighted. Component 1, Fiction and Imaginative Writing, is coded 1EN0/01, lasts 1 hour and 45 minutes, carries 64 marks and is worth 40% of the total GCSE. Component 2, Non-fiction and Transactional Writing, is coded 1EN0/02, lasts 2 hours and 5 minutes, carries 96 marks and is worth 60%. The longer paper is also the heavier one, so time and marks move together rather than apart.

Both components follow the same two-section design. Section A is reading and Section B is writing, and the writing tasks are linked by a theme to the reading material. On Component 1, Section A asks questions on an unseen 19th-century fiction extract and Section B offers a choice of two writing tasks linked by a theme to that extract. On Component 2, Section A asks questions on two thematically linked unseen non-fiction extracts and Section B again offers a choice of two writing tasks linked to them.

The third component is the Spoken Language Endorsement, coded 1EN0/03. It is assessed internally under controlled conditions and externally monitored by Pearson, and it is worth 0% of the total GCSE. There are no marks for it. Candidates must give a prepared spoken presentation on a specific topic in a formal setting, listen and respond to questions and feedback, and use spoken English effectively, and they are awarded a grade of Pass, Merit or Distinction.

That endorsement is not decorative. The result is reported separately from the English Language result and recorded as a separate line on the certificate, and a pass, merit or distinction is only recorded when the student also achieves a 9 to 1 grade for the GCSE. A student who reaches the endorsement standard but not the GCSE grade has both results issued, but no certificates are issued, and the endorsement result may be transferred even where the GCSE grade is unclassified.

The objectives are weighted unevenly and are printed to one decimal place. AO1 is 9.4%, AO2 is 13.1%, AO3 is 8.8% and AO4 is 18.8%, while AO5 is 30% and AO6 is 20%. AO4, evaluating texts critically and supporting that with textual references, is the largest single reading objective by a wide margin, and AO3, comparing writers' ideas and perspectives across two or more texts, is the smallest. Pearson notes that some of the figures have been rounded up or down.