GCSE English Speaking

It determines your English speaking grade - Distinction, Merit, Pass or Fail. In my exam we were all allowed to have a script, which could help your social anxiety.

Apparently we have to read off notes
I can read a speech if I have it all written down as a script, no problem. But I can’t think on my feet and just read from notes when I’m that anxious. I know what I want to talk about, but I’m going to mess it up because I won’t be able to think of the right words

Is the speaking grade a GCSE? Like, does it matter if I fail it completely?

I’ve just found out that speaking and listening is an element of GCSE English

I have social anxiety - how am I supposed to give a speech?! I can speak English perfectly fine. It’s my first language. I don’t understand… why are they testing that?

Does it count towards anything? I’m going to make an idiot of myself…

Sorry if I seem a little freaked out lol, I’ve literally only just got an email about it and I don’t think I can do it!

Learn some breathing techniques (ie slowly breathing in and out) so that you will feel calmer. Some people don't like doing the speaking exam but it has to be done
It is a separate grade to your English Lit and Lang grades, but it will still be on your exam certificate. I don't know if it is put on UCAS applications though.

Hi there.

It may be worth asking your English teacher if you can do your presentation in front of just a few close friends instead of your entire class.

Hope this helps and that you're doing okay.
Best wishes.

I just wish we could do it one-on-one like the foreign language speaking exams (err, I assume they’re one-on-one, cause if not I’m gonna die lol). I guess if I pick something I know a lot about and actually want to talk about, that will make it easier…
Thank you

When I did my exam it was in front of my English class.

I’ve just found out that speaking and listening is an element of GCSE English

I have social anxiety - how am I supposed to give a speech?! I can speak English perfectly fine. It’s my first language. I don’t understand… why are they testing that?

Does it count towards anything? I’m going to make an idiot of myself…

Sorry if I seem a little freaked out lol, I’ve literally only just got an email about it and I don’t think I can do it!

It's graded Pass, Merit, Distinction and super easy to pass. You can usually read whatever you prepared previously. They will ask you questions at the end though.

It doesn't really matter all that much (as far as I remember it doesn't even show on your GCSE certificate). However, if you fail it completely, you technically would have failed your entire English GCSE. But your school will probably let you retake it.

If it helps you can ask if you can give the speech to the assessor only (without the class).

Yeah I know the English one will be, I just wish it wasn’t
My Spanish one should just be one other person in the room and I wish they’d do the English exams like that instead!

Wait- failing the speaking makes you fail the whole of English? Both Literature and Language? It’s completely irrelevant
When you say you can retake it, do you mean just the speech?

It doesn't have to be the whole class - talk to your school. if they know about your anxiety they can make adjustments.

Wait- failing the speaking makes you fail the whole of English? Both Literature and Language? It’s completely irrelevant
When you say you can retake it, do you mean just the speech?

It's just English Language and yes I meant retake just the speech. My school gave you 2 attempt in general (in case something minor went wrong or you wanted a better grade) or possibly 3 if you had a very good reason (e.g. couldn't show up because of a funeral or illness etc.).

But as I said, it's extremely easy to pass. Even the foreign students didn't struggle much.

It might help you to prepare in advance and practice (maybe in front of people you're comfortable with like friends or family).

One thing that I found quite tough as somebody with social anxiety and likely mild form of autism was how pushy the assessor was about eye contact the entire time. I'm not sure if your situation will be the same but thought I'd give you a heads up.

https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/AQA-8700-SL-ENDORSEMENT.PDF

No, read the above -

It's graded Pass, Merit, Distinction and super easy to pass. You can usually read whatever you prepared previously. They will ask you questions at the end though.

It doesn't really matter all that much (as far as I remember it doesn't even show on your GCSE certificate). However, if you fail it completely, you technically would have failed your entire English GCSE. But your school will probably let you retake it.

If it helps you can ask if you can give the speech to the assessor only (without the class).

we had to do the speaking in front of a few friends in our English class and the teacher. we were supposed to use cue cards, but some wrote the whole speech on cards and just read from that. I don't think it's that difficult (coming from someone with social anxiety too), I think the majority of people got a merit or a distinction - I was told that the only reason people in my particular class got a merit, was because of the way they answered the questions at the end. but, we were allowed to make up two questions beforehand and prepare answers to them and then ask two of our friends who were watching to ask them to us - this way we didn't really have to speak spontaneously! we were told our result soon after, but it was written with our English Language grade on Results Day - I'm not sure if it actually matters too much though, as long as you pass. hope this helps a little! 🙂