GCSE English Language: updates to our assessments for summer 2026

We’re excited to announce that for the summer 2026 exams and onwards, we’re making some light but meaningful changes to increase the clarity of our exam papers and mark schemes for GCSE English Language (8700).

We’ve listened to teachers and worked with our senior examiners to inform the decisions we’ve made. The updates will improve the exam experience, helping learners of all abilities to access the questions, giving them the confidence to show their learning and answer to the best of their ability.

When will the changes take place?

The changes will affect current Year 10 students taking exams in summer 2026 and onwards. Current Year 11 and those students resitting exams in November 2025 will not see any changes to the exam papers.

What will the improvements look like?

Except for Paper 1 Question 1 which is now multiple choice, there’s no change to how students are expected to answer the questions in the exam.

We’re improving our mark schemes so that you have the guidance you need when marking your classroom assessments and you can better understand what earns marks.The changes will help you apply the mark scheme more accurately, see how your students are performing, and how they can improve.

We haven’t changed the structure of the papers. There are the same number of questions on each paper with the same number of marks and the same assessment objectives (AOs) allocated to each.

You can find a summary of changes for summer 2026 on our website.

Like you, we've been following the Curriculum and Assessment Review and responded to its call for evidence late last year. We share your concerns as English teachers, and we believe that the specification and the texts should match the modern world. The review will publish its recommendations later this year.

Our supporting resources

We want to make sure you have everything you need to prepare your students for the improved assessments. We’ve a full support package and resources lined up to guide you through the changes, including our dedicated web page which has all the information and support you need in the run up to the summer 2026 exams.

eLearning

We’re creating a free on-demand eLearning module which explains the changes and why we’ve made these improvements. The module will help you prepare your students for the exams and will be available in the summer term 2025.

Curriculum Connect

Join our free online Curriculum Connect this spring term, where you’ll get to hear about the changes in more detail, give you the opportunity to ask us any questions, and find out more about what you can expect in the coming weeks and months.

You can register for one of our Curriculum Connect: GCSE English Language (Q&A) sessions now:

• Curriculum Connect: 8700 (Q&A) – 25 March 2025, 4.00pm-5.30pm
• Curriculum Connect: 8700 (Q&A) – 1 April 2025, 4.00pm-5.30pm

If you’re teaching Post-16 we’ve tailored sessions to support your current Year 11 students and those resitting exams in November 2025. The sessions will include an overview of examiner feedback and insights from the recent November exam series, before you learn all about the 8700 assessment changes for summer 2026.

You can register for one of our Post-16 (Q&A) sessions now:

• Curriculum Connect: 8700 Post-16 (Q&A) – 29 April 2025, 4.00pm-5.30pm
• Curriculum Connect: 8700 Post-16 (Q&A) – 1 May 2025, 4.00pm-5.30pm

Sample assessment materials

To help you see how the changes will look for summer 2026, we’ve updated sample assessment materials (SAMS) and mark schemes available in assessment resources on our website. The updated SAMS (Sample set 1) are also suitable to use as mock papers for your Year 10 student cohort and will use the June 2023 Insert. Updated Answers and commentaries will be available on our website soon.

If you have any further questions, please get in touch with our English subject support team by email english-gcse@aqa.org.uk or call us on 0161 953 7504 between 8am and 4pm every weekday.