profanity in an exam

my friend wrote in her gcse english exam 'in essence, the author of the article is telling society to 'f** off' (sorry for the use of language)'

(she didn't censor it in her exam)

She doesn't have an account on here so she wanted me to ask, will she be disqualified? or will her use of profanity just be ignored?

Reply 1

Plantagenet Crown

20

It's hard to tell, some markers will laugh it off, but others will take it seriously and report it.

Reply 2

Manitude

20

I don't know, but I imagine if the choice of words was properly justified correctly from the context of the source material then it could be fine.

I don't think markers generally take kindly to profanities though.

Reply 3

DragonBallZ

She must be doing foundation in that case, probably in a school in Essex, wearing lots of make up loooool, but really whyyyyyyy.

Reply 4

Cryl

15

Hmm. Depends on the exam content and the examiner. Some examiner may report it, some may not. Same applies to exam content - in my English Language A Level exam, we were allowed to swear as one of the topics we covered was "taboo language".

But there was a girl in an exam for another subject who didn't know an answer to the question, so she wrote the lyrics of a song she knew. Unsurprisingly, it involved swear words. She was disqualified.

I wonder if the examiner actually knew they were song lyrics. S/he must have gotten pretty offended.

Reply 5

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by laurelei-alex

my friend wrote in her gcse english exam 'in essence, the author of the article is telling society to 'f** off' (sorry for the use of language)'

(she didn't censor it in her exam)

She doesn't have an account on here so she wanted me to ask, will she be disqualified? or will her use of profanity just be ignored?

You will be no doubt amazed to learn that examiners have a) a sense of humour and b) a sense of proportion. She won't be disqualified. Whether she will get credit for the comment will depend on whether that was, indeed, the author's intention.

Reply 6

Cryl

15

And btw OP, I suspect that your "friend" is actually yourself. Considering the fact, you only have 3 posts. -.-

Reply 7

Lady_L

10

In my GCSE English last year I was studying 'DNA', a play that has lots of swearing. I remember f*** coming up in several quotes I used. I found it unbelievable that an examiner would actually be reading my essay with swear words in.

Reply 8

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by Lady_L

In my GCSE English last year I was studying 'DNA', a play that has lots of swearing. I remember f*** coming up in several quotes I used. I found it unbelievable that an examiner would actually be reading my essay with swear words in.

Why? Do you think none of us have ever sworn or heard swearing or that it is an invention of 16 year olds?

Reply 9

Data

14

Original post by laurelei-alex

my friend wrote in her gcse english exam 'in essence, the author of the article is telling society to 'f** off' (sorry for the use of language)'

(she didn't censor it in her exam)

She doesn't have an account on here so she wanted me to ask, will she be disqualified? or will her use of profanity just be ignored?

I have seen papers returned unmarked to the exam centre because of the language in them but this was always profane language completely out of context - such as a candidate who got bored part way through a Chemistry paper and just wrote. I'm bored now so you can f*** off and have a beer as I can't be a**** to write any more. However, I think that the language you quote is used in context and so will probably be OK. Risky thing to do though.

Reply 10

Lady_L

10

Original post by carnationlilyrose

Why? Do you think none of us have ever sworn or heard swearing or that it is an invention of 16 year olds?

I just never thought I'd swear in an exam :biggrin:

Reply 11

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by Data

I have seen papers returned unmarked to the exam centre because of the language in them but this was always profane language completely out of context - such as a candidate who got bored part way through a Chemistry paper and just wrote. I'm bored now so you can f*** off and have a beer as I can't be a**** to write any more. However, I think that the language you quote is used in context and so will probably be OK. Risky thing to do though.

Threats and general creepy stuff are different issues to what's being quoted above. The worst thing that will happen in the case above is that the examiner will just see it as limited vocabulary. We English teachers are pretty unshockable, which is fortunate, really!

Reply 12

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by Lady_L

I just never thought I'd swear in an exam :biggrin:

If you do A level literature, you'll be amazed at the kind of things that crop up...

Reply 13

username1194054

1

Original post by laurelei-alex

my friend wrote in her gcse english exam 'in essence, the author of the article is telling society to 'f** off' (sorry for the use of language)'

(she didn't censor it in her exam)

She doesn't have an account on here so she wanted me to ask, will she be disqualified? or will her use of profanity just be ignored?

Why would you write "**** off" on an exam paper anyway? The lack of articulation in some people's language is dreadful. Anyway, I don't think she should be disqualified from the exam, but she certainly should not be given any credit from the 'point' she made.