What Students Should Learn From the Recent GCSE English Literature Examiner Reports

Laura is an English Teacher with over 15 years of experience, a former Head of Year and Head of Department, and an active Examiner for both Edexcel and AQA. Having marked over a thousand literature essays in a single exam series, she has a rare and precise understanding of what separates a Grade 6 response from a Grade 9 - and it is rarely about quotations.

Here, she uses the exam boards' own published reports to reveal what examiners are actually looking for, and what students should be doing instead.

Why Examiners Aren’t Interested in How Many Quotations You Have Memorised

By Laura Jenkins | English Literature Teacher and Examiner | Sherpa Tutor

When asked how they are going to improve at GCSE English Literature, a common response from students is “memorise more quotations”...

I know teachers commonly give it as feedback: “learn more quotations”.

I know there are popular online revision videos with titles like “top 10 quotations from Macbeth to get a grade 9”.

I know the mark schemes talk about “use of relevant examples in support” and answers being “supported by a range of judicious references” or “references are an integral part of the response”.

But I can tell you that simply memorising quotations is not the solution. 

How do I know? Because I have been an Examiner for over eight years! And I have marked literally THOUSANDS of essays! And I promise you: the exam boards are not horrible - they are not expecting us to memorise a Shakespeare play AND a 19th-century novel AND a modern text AND fifteen poems!

Still not sure? Then let’s take a look at what the exam boards themselves have to say on this.

What is an Examiner Report?

After each exam series, all examiners submit a report on how students performed. (For context, in the June 2026 exam series I marked over 1,000 literature essays - I can tell you what the highest-scoring students consistently did.) 

All these comments are then read by the Head Examiner and turned into an Examiner Report: the official feedback - direct from the examiners - on what students do well and the mistakes students make.

Examiner Reports are an absolute goldmine of information on how to do well in your exam, directly from the examiners. (If you are serious about aiming for a grade 8 or 9, prepare to get geeky about exams!)

Edexcel - a popular choice for both GCSE and IGCSE Literature - had this to say from the Examiners’ Report June 2025 on International GCSE English Literature Paper 1 (Poetry and Prose)

“...examples can be particular references to other parts of the novel such as events, episodes, character, action, and so on, that are relevant to the question. Candidates can paraphrase quotations, but exact quotations are not mandatory, particularly as this is a closed book examination.”

And then from Edexcel’s Examiners’ Report June 2025 on GCSE English Literature Paper 1 (Shakespeare and Modern Text), the very similar:

“Candidates can paraphrase quotations from memory, but exact quotations are not mandatory, particularly as this is a closed book examination.” 

AQA, the biggest exam board in England, in its June 2023 Report on the Examination for Literature Paper One said:

“References are an integral part of the mark scheme, we are looking for students to support and illustrate their understanding and interpretations by giving examples and details from the texts… [to] pick out the moments that help them the most, rather than just learning lots of quotations.”

And AQA was even more pointed in the June 2023 Report on the Examination for Literature Paper Two:

“We have written the mark scheme in the context of this exam being closed book and don’t expect you to memorise chunks of the text; that isn’t the point of studying GCSE English Literature.”

The exam boards are in agreement: just being able to regurgitate quotations is not the way to score highly. 

So if not memorising quotations, then how do we improve at English Literature? What is the secret to getting those grade 8s and 9s?

How to Score Highly in English Literature

You need to know and understand the texts! You need to have a personal opinion! Be ready to justify and explain your stance! You need to think critically!

• What is the point of Mr Wickham in ‘Pride and Prejudice’? 

• Lady Macbeth in ‘Macbeth’: is she evil and manipulative or just trying to be a good wife? 

• Why does inequality creep back into ‘Animal Farm’?

• Does Dickens want a reader to feel any sympathy for Scrooge in ‘A Christmas Carol’? 

• Who behaves the worst towards Eva in ‘An Inspector Calls’?

• Do you like Pip in ‘Great Expectations’?  

• Why does Tybalt die in ‘Romeo and Juliet’?

• Whose death is more tragic in ‘Journey’s End’?

• Is Ralph a good leader in ‘Lord of the Flies’?

There is no right answer to these questions: there is only your answer.

THIS is what the exam boards all agree on. They want to know how and why you think what you think about the characters, the plot, the actions, and the settings of your texts. 

Let’s have another look at those same Examiner Reports.

From Edexcel on GCSE Literature Part B Shakespeare responses (thematic whole text question):

“the more successful responses offered a personal interpretation supported by well-chosen textual references and a clear sense of the theme’s significance”

And Edexcel on IGCSE Literature:

“Candidates should prove to the examiner that they know the novel they have studied”

AQA had this advice to Literature students on Paper 1:

"Students who did well established a conceptual line of enquiry for their response. Not only did this give structure and purpose to the answer, but it also meant that the arguments made were more coherent, and rooted in a more holistic view of the whole text”

And AQA on Paper 2:

“Just answer the question and show us that you know the novel, or play, or poem that you are writing about by referring to moments from it or paraphrasing the things characters say if you are not sure and can’t remember exactly.”

This is good news! We can’t be wrong so long as our opinions, answers, and arguments are deeply rooted in the texts we are studying. And the truth is that when you do know and do understand the texts, embedded references plus short and precise quotations will happen naturally.

So, whether you’re working towards GCSE or A-Level English Literature, stop worrying about what quotations you need to memorise and start asking: How are characters and themes presented? And why did the writer choose to do it that way?