Extended Response Technique (6–12 Mark Questions)

Extended response questions — typically worth 6, 8, 9, or 12 marks — are where GCSE grades are won and lost. A student who nails the short-answer questions but struggles with extended responses will find it very difficult to reach the top grades. Conversely, a student who performs well on extended responses can afford a few slips on shorter questions and still achieve highly.

These questions are assessed differently from short-answer questions. Understanding how they are marked is the key to writing answers that reach the top levels.

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How Extended Responses Are Marked

Extended response questions almost always use levels-based marking (sometimes called "banded marking"). As we covered in Lesson 1, this means the examiner does not tick off individual points. Instead, they:

1. Read the entire answer
2. Decide which level the answer belongs in
3. Decide where within that level the answer falls

A typical 12-mark scheme looks like this: