What is the Pass Mark For GCSE English?

The English GCSEs are often considered incredibly important for your future. This can make passing, particularly GCSE English Language, much more important than other GCSEs. Due to this, you may be wondering just how difficult passing each of the GCSE English qualifications is. One way of looking at this is to see what the pass mark is.

The pass mark for each GCSE English qualification is different for each exam board and year. The three most common exams boards in the UK are discussed in this article. These are AQA, Pearson Edexcel and OCR. The pass mark ranges between 33 and 48% to achieve a pass in GCSE English. The table below displays the pass marks required in 2022.

*Pearson Edexcel English Language had two options in 2022. 

**AQA English Literature had three options in 2022 (NM, PM and PN).

Continue reading for more about the pass marks and passing grades for both GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature. This article will give you a better understanding of the grades that students get for these subjects and how these may differ due to different exam boards.

What is the pass mark for GCSE English Language?

In order to pass any GCSE, students will need to get a grade C/ 4 or above. To learn more about this, check out this article by Think Student.

The exact pass mark for GCSE English Language will depend on several factors. This is because the pass mark is calculated from grade boundaries, which will be based on different pieces of data, including how well students have performed in the paper itself.

Other than that, it will depend on which exam board the GCSE English Language course is with. This is because each exam board has different papers and may also differ in the total marks on each as well as in the difficulty of questions.

What is the pass mark for GCSE English Literature?

For GCSE English Literature, it is very similar to GCSE English Language when referring to both the passing grade and how the exact grade is calculated. As mentioned above, all GCSEs have a pass mark of a grade 4 or grade C.

The exact pass mark will depend on the grade boundaries, which will be calculated like all GCSEs from a range of factors including how students have performed, how difficult the questions were set at, the previous GCSE exams and other data. To learn more about this, check out this Think Student article.

Which exam boards are used for GCSE English Language?

For GCSE subjects, there are 5 exam boards that students can take their exams with. These are AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR, WJEC/ Eduqas and CCEA. While all of these offer GCSE English Language, the main ones are AQA, Pearson Edexcel and OCR, and these are the ones that will be focused on in this article.

For AQA GCSE English Language, students take 2 papers, each of these are worth 50% and last 1 hour and 45 minutes. Both papers are worth 80 marks, so 160 marks in total, with the first paper being on creative reading and writing and the second paper being on writers’ viewpoints and perspectives. To learn more about this, check out this page by AQA.

The Pearson Edexcel GCSE English Language papers are set up slightly differently to that of AQA. Students will once again do 2 papers, with one being focused on fiction and the other one focused on non-fiction.

However, the first paper lasts 1 hour and 45 minutes and is worth 40% of the GCSE with 64 marks but the second paper is worth 60% of the GCSE and lasts 2 hours and 5 minutes with 96 marks. To learn more about this, check out the Pearson Edexcel GCSE English Language specification here.

The exam set up for OCR GCSE English Language is very similar to that of AQA. Students will once again take 2 papers that are each 50% of the GCSE and last 1 hour and 45 minutes each.

The main difference is that the non-fiction focused paper is the first paper, and the fiction and creative writing paper is the second paper. To learn more about this, check out this page by OCR.

All of these GCSE English Language exam boards also have a spoken language assessment for students to do. However, this component doesn’t contribute towards the GCSE itself and instead students will get a Pass, Merit or Distinction grade for it on top of their GCSEs.

Which exam boards are used for GCSE English Literature?

For AQA GCSE English Literature, students take 2 papers, the first paper is worth 40% and lasts 1 hour and 45 minutes. The second paper is worth 60% and lasts 2 hours and 15 minutes.

The first paper has a maximum of 64 marks and is focused on Shakespeare and a 19th century novel. The second paper has a maximum of 96 marks and is focused on modern texts and poetry. To learn more about this, check out this page by AQA.

For Pearson Edexcel, the exam set up is once again slightly different. Students will once again do 2 papers and the same topics as for AQA are done across these, but these are each worth 50% of the GCSE and are worth 80 marks.

The first exam lasts for 1 hour and 45 minutes is focused on Shakespeare and post-1914 literature. The second exam lasts 2 hours and 15 minutes and focuses on the 19th century novel and poetry. To learn more about this, look here for the Pearson Edexcel GCSE English Literature specification.

The exam set up for OCR GCSE English Literature is once again slightly different to the others. Students will once again take 2 papers that are each 50% of the GCSE. However, these both last for 2 hours rather than having different lengths like with AQA and Pearson Edexcel.

The first paper is focused on the modern text and the 19th century novel, whereas the second paper is on the Shakespeare text and poetry. To learn more about this, check out this page by OCR.

What is the pass mark for each GCSE English Language exam board?

Due to the differences between the exam set up of the courses, the pass mark between them will differ slightly. This is especially as the papers are worth different number of marks and students have different lengths of time to complete them.

Look at the following sections to see the pass marks for 2018, 2020 and 2022 for each of the previously mentioned exam boards. These three years allow you to see the difference between the pass marks before, after and during the pandemic.

What is the pass mark for AQA GCSE English Language?

For summer 2022, students needed to get at least 70 marks in order to pass with a grade 4. To learn more about this, check out this guide by AQA.

For November 2020, students needed to get at least 68 marks to get a grade 4 and pass. To find this information, check out this guide by AQA.

For summer 2018, to get a grade 4, students needed to get at least 76 marks. To learn more about this, click here to find 2018 AQA grade boundaries document.

What is the pass mark for Pearson Edexcel GCSE English Language?

For summer 2022, students needed to get at least 77 marks to get a grade 4 and pass GCSE English Language. However, if they took the GCSE English Language 2.0 course, they needed to get 68 marks to pass with a grade 4. To learn more about this, check out this guide by Pearson Edexcel.

For November 2020, students needed to get at least 75 marks in order to be able to get a grade 4 and pass. To learn more about this, check out this guide by Pearson Edexcel.

For summer 2018, students also needed to get 75 marks to get a grade 4 and pass. To learn more about this, check out this guide by Pearson Edexcel.

What is the pass mark for OCR GCSE English Language?

For summer 2022, students needed at least 67 marks to get a grade 4 and pass. To learn more about this, check out this guide by OCR.

For November 2020, students needed to get at least 60 marks on GCSE English Language in order to pass with a grade 4. For more on this, check out this guide by OCR.

For summer 2018, students needed at least 67 marks in order to get a grade 4 to pass. To learn more about this, check out this guide by OCR.

What is the pass mark for each GCSE English Literature exam board?

In the same way as for GCSE English Language, there are noticeable differences between the exam set ups of each exam board. This once again means that in order for them to be fair for students, the pass marks need to be in-line with the exam that the students have taken themselves. Due to this, each exam board has its own pass mark for its own exam, and these are recalculated each year.

In the following sections you will be able to compare the different pass marks of each of the exam boards, AQA, Pearson Edexcel and OCR, for GCSE English Literature. You will also be able to compare the pass marks of different years, in this case being 2018, 2020 and 2022.

What is the pass mark for AQA GCSE English Literature?

For summer 2022, the exams were slightly adapted so that the maximum number of marks was 130 rather than 160, there were also 3 options that students could have taken. For the NM option, students needed at least 50 marks to get a grade 4. For the PM option, students needed at least 49 marks to pass with a grade 4.

For the PN option, students needed to get at least 48 marks to get a grade 4 and pass. To learn more about this, check out this guide by AQA.

For November 2020, students needed to get at least 61 marks in order to pass with a grade 4. For more on this, check out this guide by AQA.

For summer 2018, students once again needed at least 61 marks in order to get a grade 4 and pass. To learn more about this, check out this guide by AQA.

What is the pass mark for Pearson Edexcel GCSE English Literature?

For summer 2022, the exams were also slightly adapted so that the maximum mark was 120 rather than 160 and there were 2 options that they could have taken. Students needed to get at least 51 marks in order to get a grade 4 and pass for both the 2N and 2P options. To learn more about this, check out this guide by Pearson Edexcel.

For November 2020, students needed at least 63 marks to pass with a grade 4. To learn more about this, check out this guide by Pearson Edexcel.

For summer 2018, to get a grade 4 and pass, students needed at least 67 marks. To learn more about this, check out this guide by Pearson Edexcel.

What is the pass mark for OCR GCSE English Literature?

For summer 2022, once again the 2022 exams were slightly adapted so that the maximum mark was 120 rather than 160. To pass with a grade 4, students needed to get at least 39 marks. To learn more about this, check out this guide by OCR.

For November 2020, students needed to get at least 49 marks to pass get a grade 4 and pass. To learn more about this, check out this guide by OCR.

For summer 2018, students needed to get a minimum of 55 marks in order to achieve a grade 4 and pass. For more on this, check out this guide by OCR.

Which GCSE English do you need to pass?

English language and English literature are both extremely important GCSE’s. They are separate qualifications to each other, and both require their own skills. GCSE English Language is more important. You must pass this to move on with further education.

Check out this Think Student article to find out more about why they are two separate GCSEs.

English literature allows you to study great works of fiction, which can be enjoyable and educational. This is because GCSE English Literature often allows you to question the structure of society and the world we live in. Great works of fiction, such as Shakespeare, allow you to understand relationships and key issues in society.

GCSE English Language teaches you to write and speak properly. You can analyse how language can be used to convey different meanings and be interpreted in different ways. You are also able to write your own creative and non-fiction pieces. This could be useful for a future job. Therefore, GCSE English Language is the GCSE which you have to pass in order to get a job. English literature is important; however English language prepares you for the real world.

To find out more information on the debate between English language and literature, check out this Think Student article.

Can you retake your English GCSEs if you fail?

To put it simply, yes, you can retake both GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature if you fail them on your first attempt. However, the policies surrounding these will depend on which of the English GCSEs you have failed and on your age.

GCSE English Language is a compulsory GCSE. This means that if you fail it, you will need to retake the exam again and again until you pass it or until you turn 19. If you do this at sixth form or college, this retake will be free as the cost will be covered by the government.

However, GCSE English Literature is not compulsory and so you won’t have to retake it. This also means that while you can still retake it as many times as you’d like, there will likely be a fee involved as you will be a private candidate.

To learn more about taking GCSEs as a private candidate check out this Think Student article. To learn more about retaking your GCSE English qualifications and the costs involved, check out this Think Student article.

How to revise for your English GCSEs

Reaching the pass mark for your GCSE English qualifications is the goal but it can feel impossible. One way to make it a bit easier is to revise or more specifically to revise well.

There are many different revision techniques, and you will need to figure out which ones are best for you. However, for GCSE English especially, there are a couple of revision techniques that will often work better than others.

Check out the following tips to learn how to do this for your GCSE English revision. The information below is based off the Think Student articles here and here which can teach you more about revising for GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature respectively.

1.  Use practice papers to revise for GCSE English

The best way to familiarise yourself with the exam and how it is set up is to practise doing it again and again. Practice papers are a great revision method for any subject but for GCSE English they can be an excellent way of developing the techniques and skills that you will need for the exam.

For GCSE English Language is especially as you will need to answer questions on and then analyse texts that you’ve never seen before. This can make it feel overwhelming as you may not know what to expect or how to approach the text. In this way, the past papers are an excellent revision method as they allow you to get used to this and hone your technique for approaching unfamiliar texts.

While you would have seen the texts for GCSE English Literature, practice papers can help you to develop your technique to answer the questions. If you do them open book, unlike what you’d experience in the exam, it can help you to feel less overwhelmed and you can practice putting together a model answer for yourself. Doing them closed book allows you to test yourself with what you know and practise using this to put together answers.

2. Use videos to revise for GCSE English

As GCSE English Language is a compulsory GCSE and GCSE English Literature is often made compulsory by schools, there is a wide variety of resources that you can find on the internet to help you revise them. One of these is via YouTube or alternative platforms.

On YouTube, there are many English teachers who make videos on different parts of the GCSE English exams. This means that in your revision, you can find videos on your weaker points and things you may have not understood in class and have someone else explain them to you.

While you can go to your teacher and ask them for help, and this is probably what you should be doing first of all, having someone different explain the same thing in a slightly different way can often make all the difference. Plus, due to the nature of a YouTube video, the teacher can get through everything and explain in more detail as they’re not limited in how long the lesson is and the other things that need to be done.

For GCSE English Language, YouTube videos may give you more insight into how to approach questions and how to aim for the top levels. Whereas for GCSE English Literature, you can get in-depth analysis on different characters, different themes and maybe even scenes of a play or chapters in a book.