Whether you can’t wait to do it or you’re absolutely dreading it, the GCSE English speaking presentation is a part of your English language GCSE. However, what you might be wondering is whether or not it is compulsory and whether the consequences of not doing it are serious. Don’t worry, this article will answer all of these questions.
In short, if you don’t do the GCSE English speaking presentation, you will receive a grade of “Not Classified” for your spoken language endorsement. This is the same grade that you would receive if you failed to gain a Pass, even if you had done the assessment. However, the GCSE English speaking presentation is a compulsory part of your GCSEs and so you cannot just choose to not do it.
Continue reading to learn more about what happens if you miss your GCSE English Language speaking exam. This article will tell you more about when it is compulsory to do and when it’s not as well as what the consequences of not doing it are.
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Is the GCSE English speaking exam compulsory?
If you’re doing your GCSE English Language speaking assessment, you may be wondering if you really have to do it. Moreover, you may be wondering if all students across the country have to do it as well or if it is only compulsory for your school.
Doing the speaking exam as a part of your GCSE in English language is compulsory for all students. In fact, it is explicitly compulsory for students to do both the preparation for their speaking presentation as well as that they actually go through with the assessment themselves. To learn more about this, check out this page on the AQA website.
What happens if you don’t do the GCSE English speaking assessment?
We’ve already established that the GCSE English Language speaking assessment is compulsory and so you can’t just choose to not do it. However, sometimes, things can happen that might mean that you’re unable to do your GCSE English Language speaking assessment. You might be wondering what would happen in these scenarios.
If you don’t do the GCSE English Language speaking exam, you will receive a grade of “Not Classified” for this assessment. This is because the assessment is criteria-based and mainly focuses on your speaking and listening skills and so even if you did all of the preparation for the assessment, the examiner wouldn’t have anything to go on in order to give you a grade. To learn more about this, check out this guide by Pearson Edexcel.
Unlike for other GCSE exams, this appears to be the same regardless of the reason that you didn’t do the GCSE English Language speaking exam. For other GCSE exams, there are systems in place to ensure that you still get a grade if you missed the exam due to circumstances outside of your control.
Whereas, if you missed the exam due to your own actions, such as waking up late or simply ditching, you would fail the exam. To learn more about this, check out this Think Student article.
While it is unclear why this isn’t the same for the GCSE English speaking assessment, it is likely due to the lack of evidence that there would be on your spoken language skills in order to give you a grade. This is particularly in comparison to other subjects, or even parts of subjects, where you would regularly be tested and produce lots of written work.
Does missing the GCSE English speaking assessment affect your whole GCSE English Language grade?
The GCSE English Language spoken language endorsement is a component of the English language GCSE. As we’ve already established, it is a compulsory part of this GCSE. You might also be wondering if it is a compulsory part of getting your entire GCSE English Language grade.
For GCSE English Language, the exam process is split up into 3 components. This compromises of 2 written papers and the non-examination assessment of the spoken language endorsement.
The 2 written papers each make up 50% of your general GCSE English Language grade each. For more information about this, check out this page on the AQA website.
For the GCSE English Language spoken language endorsement, you will receive a separate grade to that of your GCSE English Language grade. This means that no, missing the GCSE English Language speaking assessment and getting the “Not Classified” grade won’t affect how you perform in GCSE English Language overall.
For more information about this, please refer to OCR’s GCSE English Language specification by clicking the link here.
Do you have to do the GCSE English speaking assessment if you retake GCSE English language?
In the UK, it is compulsory for students to do GCSE English Language, as well as GCSE Maths and GCSE Combined Science. If you don’t get a passing grade in either GCSE English Language or GCSE Maths, you will be required to retake these until you are 18 or until you pass. For more information about this, check out this Think Student article.
However, as the GCSE English Language speaking assessment is a component of it, you might be wondering if you will also have to retake this element of the GCSE.
For the GCSE English Language speaking assessment, you will be unable to retake it, even if you retake the main GCSE English Language qualification. For more information about this, check out this Think Student article.
Is the GCSE English speaking assessment important?
Particularly when it comes to academia, deciding what is “important” can be incredibly subjective. In the case of deciding whether the GCSE English Language spoken language endorsement is important, the answer will vary greatly from student to student as well as from more official bodies, such as schools or the government compared to students’ own opinions.
First of all, the government seem to consider the GCSE English Language speaking assessment as being important. This is due to the emphasis it was given when the government introduced it as a part of the English language GCSE for 2016 study. As well as the emphasis that school have placed on it, as a result, from then on.
Also, students, schools and maybe even employers can consider the GCSE English Language speaking assessment to be important due to the fact that it allows students to greater develop a range of useful skills. These include presentation skills, public speaking skills, researching skills and simply general communication skills.
These skills can be beneficial to students in the future, particularly as job applications will often like the applicant to have strong communication skills. However, even universities like for students to have good presentation and researching skills, which they would be able to see from the elements of their application itself.
Despite all this, students may not see the GCSE English Language spoken language endorsement as being important due to the fact that it doesn’t contribute at all to your overall GCSE English Language grade. Also, students may feel that gaining this qualification makes very little difference to them, particularly as the assessment itself doesn’t develop the student’s spoken language skills but simply assesses them. In this way, students that already have strong communication skills will still be able to put this on their applications.
This section has given you a brief answer on whether the GCSE English Language speaking assessment is important or not. If you would like to find out more about why the GCSE English Language speaking assessment is or isn’t important, check out this Think Student article.