GCSE English Language resit: the October half term intensive
AQA GCSE English Language · November 2026 resit · Monday 26 to Saturday 31 October · four hours a day, online · £600
Come and meet the teacher first
Welcome session — Saturday 17 October 2026, 5:00pm. Online, around 45 minutes.
Choosing how to spend half term is a big decision, and it should not be made from a web page. So before booking the course, come along to a relaxed welcome session, meet the teacher, hear exactly how the six days work and what the week will be like for your child.
Bring every question you have. Nothing is too small, and there is no pressure to book anything on the day. Course sign-up opens afterwards, once you have had a proper look at what it involves.
About the tutor
- Over two decades teaching English, all of it in London, across schools and further education.
- Has held both middle and senior leadership roles.
- Extensive experience preparing students for GCSE English Language.
- Qualified teacher status, and author of the Pass GCSE English workbook series.
- The course is built for AQA specifically. Every mark tally in it is AQA’s.
Where the marks actually are
GCSE English Language is 160 marks across two papers. Reading and writing are weighted equally, at 40 marks per section per paper.
| AO | What it rewards | Where | Marks | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AO1 | Identify, interpret and synthesise information | P1 Q1, P2 Q1, P2 Q2 | 16 | 10% |
| AO2 | Analyse language and structure | P1 Q2, P1 Q3, P2 Q3 | 28 | 17.5% |
| AO3 | Compare ideas and perspectives across texts | P2 Q4 | 16 | 10% |
| AO4 | Evaluate texts critically | P1 Q4 | 20 | 12.5% |
| AO5 | Writing: content and organisation | P1 Q5, P2 Q5 | 48 | 30% |
| AO6 | Writing: vocabulary, sentences, spelling, punctuation | P1 Q5, P2 Q5 | 32 | 20% |
| Total | 160 | 100% |
Writing is half the qualification. AO5 and AO6 together are 80 of the 160 marks, and AO6 alone is 20%. It is the largest single assessment objective and the one that needs no new subject knowledge at all.
So half the teaching time is writing. AO6 is never taught as a grammar or punctuation lesson — that does not move marks. It is corrected on the student’s own writing, straight after they have written it.
The six days
Every day, students are set a writing task to complete in their own time. It is marked and comes back with feedback, so each of the six days builds on the last.
The focus in every session is live feedback aimed at what to do differently next time. Not a grade, not a list of what went wrong — specific, workable changes that move the answer up the mark scheme, given while the writing is still fresh and while there is still time to act on it.
| Day | Focus | Marks at stake |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 Mon 26 Oct | Paper 1 Question 5 — descriptive and narrative writing. Openings, holding one image, structuring 45 minutes so it does not run out. | 40 (AO5, AO6) |
| Day 2 Tue 27 Oct | Paper 2 Question 5 — transactional writing. Article, letter and speech; building an argument that does not run dry. | 40 (AO5, AO6) |
| Day 3 Wed 28 Oct | Paper 1 Question 4 evaluation — the question most students half-answer — with Question 3 structure. | 28 (AO4, AO2) |
| Day 4 Thu 29 Oct | Language analysis: Paper 1 Question 2 and Paper 2 Question 3. Analysing rather than listing features. | 20 (AO2) |
| Day 5 Fri 30 Oct | Paper 2 Question 4 comparison, plus the retrieval and summary questions lost to carelessness rather than ability. | 32 (AO3, AO1) |
| Day 6 Sat 31 Oct | A full paper under exam conditions, then marked and walked through question by question with the mark scheme open. | 160 (all AOs) |
There is a lot of feedback, and not all of it fits into the session. Anything not covered live is written up afterwards and emailed to the student, so every piece of work comes back with comments on it.
What the course asks
- Live on Microsoft Teams. Four hours a day, Monday 26 to Saturday 31 October. A device with a camera and microphone, and a quiet place to work.
- All resources are provided as PDF files and sent in advance. They must be printed before the course starts — students write by hand, because that is what they will do in the exam.
- A writing task every day, done in the student’s own time, on top of the four hours of teaching.
- The six days need to be given over to the course. Students planning to fit it around other commitments will not get the benefit.
- Cameras on. This is a working week, not a webinar.
Summer scripts
If the student sat the exam in the summer and still has the marked scripts or reviewed copies, they are the single most useful thing to bring. It makes it possible to see exactly where the marks went rather than guessing from the grade.
There is a question about this at sign-up — please say whether the scripts will be available before the course starts, so there is time to look at them.
Price
£600 for the full six days. Twenty-four hours of live teaching, six marked pieces of written work, and written feedback on all of it, at £25 an hour.
The course is paid in full at the time of booking. There are no instalments and no deposits.
Key dates
- Around 4 October — AQA entry deadline. Check with your child’s school or college that they are entered for the November series. Only a centre can make an entry, and most enter resit students automatically — but it is worth confirming rather than assuming.
- Saturday 17 October, 5:00pm — welcome session, online.
- Wednesday 21 October — deadline to pay and secure a place, so resources arrive in time to be printed.
- Monday 26 to Saturday 31 October — the course.
- Tuesday 3 November — AQA Paper 1. Thursday 5 November — Paper 2.
Save a place at the welcome session
Please sign up in the parent or carer’s name. Sign-ups are not taken directly from students under 18.
There is a notes box at sign-up — please use it to say whether the marked summer scripts will be available before the course starts, and anything you would like covered on the day.
The Teams link is sent by email after sign-up.
Any questions before then? Email hello@passgcseenglish.co.uk — one person answers these, so you will get a real reply.