About

Hello!

I am Hannah - the face behind Mark My English. 

As a teacher, I would often hear pupils announce, "You can't revise for English".  And they had a point, to an extent. There's no doubt that you can spend revision time learning quotes and going over the difference between juxtaposition and an oxymoron, but when there is no 'right answer', how do you know your essay technique is on point? How do you know if you're hitting grade 6 criteria, for example? And what about English Language? You'll be faced with a text you have never seen before, so how are you expected to prepare for that?

It is all about practise.

Your teachers will be the first port of call, of course, and you'll no doubt sit mock papers and get detailed feedback from teachers, who have probably spent the best part of a few weekends marking it all.

But what about the rest of the time?

There is no doubt that the best way to prepare for an English exam is to practise your exam technique. The more you practise, the better and more concise your answers will become. You'll get used to identifying the best quotes from an extract you've never seen before and analysing them in the level of detail required for a top mark. You'll start spotting the subtle aspects of a text's structure and why the writer has chosen to shift the focus of their text in a certain way. And your writing will improve as you practise using a wider range of vocabulary and punctuation or adapting the structure of your work to make it more cohesive.

But, as is well-known, teachers do not have much time on their hands to mark additional work. So, this is where I can help. I have been a secondary school English teacher for over 15 years and have been an examiner for 14. Not only do I have extensive experience marking my own pupils' work, but I have worked as an official examiner for both English Language and English Literature for Edexcel, AQA, OCR and, most recently, WJEC. I know exactly what is required to achieve the top marks for each question in the exams.

All the past exam papers for GCSE are included in the 'Paper Bank' on the website. Pick a paper, download it, and, when you're ready, complete it. You can do this under timed conditions to get a 'feel' for the real thing, or you can take your time, answering each question in detail while you practise and refine your technique. Then, send it to me and I'll provide the following:

• Detailed feedback, in plain, written English, on each question you have answered.
• That feedback will identify the strengths of each answer and explain where you have picked up marks.
• It will also identify weaknesses, highlighting where marks have not been picked up and any aspects of the mark scheme you have not addressed.
• You will be shown exactly where on the mark scheme your answer lies and clear instructions on how to improve your answer to reach the next level.
• Model answers to reveal how to attain full marks for each question.
• An overall grade based on the grade boundaries for the paper you chose to complete.
• I will then be available to you via email if you have any questions or if you want further clarification on the feedback you have received.

Please contact me using the link above if want any further information, or if there is anything you would like to discuss.

Thanks for reading!

Hannah