I don't know where to turn. Help me, please.

Bits of this have been pointed out, but its hard to say unless you look at whats been done or read the examiners report.

I suppose, but we can gain bits of knowledge from what she's said. Rather, I think she probably wants to vent out her frustration, but unfortunately, I don't have much sympathy for someone, who simply memorises someone else's work.

Tbf she should know better than to copy other people's work, regardless of whether she knew what it meant or not, the task must've specified that you need to make a unique response, which in her case, wouldn't be formed.

You dont know thats what she has done. If youve just copied big chunks of text, then it would be obvious. Anyway she wasnt dodging responsibility from being wrong (it cant be dodged) just felt that if there had been a lesson early on then it was a needless mistake that could have been avoided.

Not even sure I ever got any formal lessons, just told to use a bibliography and reference direct quotes etc. I didnt leave school at 13 though.

As said before for the OP she is best focusing on exams and staying off the forums until after.

It's common practice to quote a few words though and then add a reference to a bibliography at the end. Not that hard and it should be known at GCSE level, especially for English (I'm sure OP, when reading these research articles, would have stumbled across these, making it hard to forget either).

As I have already explained, I left school at 13, and I am 45 years old. I became a professional gardener twenty years ago. I did not speak English when I arrived in London at twenty. All I learned about the English Language was from ESOL Basic to Higher intermediate classes, twenty-five years ago. Those courses did not involve essay writing. I self-taught myself English. I became addicted to crosswords.

I applied for GCSE English last year. I did a writing assessment, and I found myself accepted to attend the GCSE English Language course. I wasn't asked if I could write fictional or non-fictional essays. I have never written an essay about a book before this course.

I apologise if you find this impossible to believe in 2016. However, it is the truth.

I guess I'll have to believe you then. Why not, just retake the course next year, then? Unless you need the GCSE for some sort of job. Hopefully, someone can then help you make it better.

Thank you. I won't need to retake the course. I can still succeed despite getting no mark for one controlled assessment. I worked extremely hard, studying at home an average forteen hours per week just for the English class. Plus, I passed my foundation and higher mock exams. Although, I won't achieve a A+ anymore. I can still get minimum C medium to A.
Concerning my sanction, all I want is for the college to acknowledge what happened and to prevent it from happening again. I was ill prepared. I missed out on some fundamental elements. I self taught myself a great deal. However, I did not look at regulations.
My new carreer orientation was only planned last summer. I never thought of a Degree In Law before. My daughter's Children Centre recommended it to me because of my ability to defend myself and to advice others against some government departments, such as landlords, their contractors, social services etc. It is a good lesson for me to have learnt via the major mistake I have made. I am moving on. I only want assurance it won't happen to another self taught student like me in the furure.
Have a nice day.

I did make this point earlier on. I would have made a special attempt to explain about plagiarism. On marking the papers it must have seemed odd to have no references at all? That should have raised alarm bells for the teacher as they also have to make declarations of their own about believing it is the pupils own work.

From what I know, the part the teacher signs is that to their knowledge the work is the student's. My issue is that if AQA spotted that the work was plagiarised, it must have been obvious and thus the teacher and whoever moderated it should also have noticed?

My Controlled Assessment was seen by three teachers and the English Programme Manager. My Controlled Assessment was marked then moderated. Before moderation, it was viewed by the English Programme Manager, the same person who called me in with the AQA report for plagiarism. I asked her how come none of all the people who consulted my controlled assessment noticed plagiarism and she told me: 'How would they know?'

Who was it moderated by? Was this internal, or was it sent somewhere?

I earned 18/20, 17/20, 17/20 and 43/45 for all my other materials. None of my creative writing essays showed plagiarism.
I collected my plagiarism report yesterday. I lost my marks because out of 1250 words, 27% was taken from a student paper published on the internet. Plus, several 1%, 2%, 3% and 6% from published materials I didn't gave my sources for. Total similarity index 57%!