How much do I need to write to get top marks?

Abstract

This article looks at the relationship between how much candidates write and the grade they are awarded in an English Literature GCSE examination. Although such analyses are common within computer-based testing, far less had been written about this relationship for traditional exams taken with a pen and paper. This article briefly describes how we estimated word counts based on images of exam scripts, validates the method against a short answer question from a Biology examination, and then uses the method to examine how the length of candidates' English Literature essays in an exam relate to the grade they were awarded. It shows that candidates awarded a grade A* wrote around 700 words on average in a 45-minute exam - an average rate of 15-words per minute across the period. In contrast, grade E candidates who produced around 450 words - an average rate of 10-words per minute. Whilst it cannot be emphasised strongly enough that performance in GCSEs is judged by what students write and not how much, the results of this research may help students facing examinations have a reasonable idea of the kind of length that is generally expected.