Following the results in the 2017 GCSE English Literature closed book exam and the 2018 mocks, many students in year nine and ten are anxious that they will not be able to retain the information that is required when aiming for top marks. Students understand that having a closed book exam separates those who have reviewed thoroughly and those who have not, but do not understand how they can be expected to learn lines from 15 poems whilst also memorising the theme, characters and quotes from a novel.
Pupils have taken the matter into their own hands and have created a petition stating that the exam board should ‘Change the GCSE English Literature exam from closed book to open book’. This petition already has over 150,000 signatures and there have been other petitions made on the same basis. Whilst it will be difficult for the GCSE to be changed before the 2019 GCSE, students hope that this petition will help students in later years. Pupils in Sydenham high school have claimed that they are ‘Set up to fail as how can we be expected to memorise a whole book’ and that ‘It’s impossible to memorise all the information and it does not reflect real life skills’.
However, there is controversy over this topic due to some students, teachers and pupils finding it either unfair to change the GCSE after some have already taken the closed book exam or unfair on those pupils who are willing to memorise all materials in order to obtain the best grades. The 150,000 signatures means that parliament will consider the petition for a debate and whilst some do disagree it is clear that many students would be relieved if the GCSE English Literature exam changed from closed to open book.
Amaia Cordeschi, Sydenham High School
