Learn from others: Browse anonymised top 3 and middle 3 mock exam results. No candidate numbers shown.
Click on column headers to sort the table.
| Question | Topic / Title | Max Marks | Class Avg | Performance % | RAG Rating |
|---|
Click on column headers to sort the table.
| Question | Topic / Title | Max Marks | Class Avg | Performance % | RAG Rating |
|---|
Overall: The cohort of 27 students achieved a class average of 40.8/80 (51%) with a pass rate (Grade 4+) of 67% (18 of 27 students). The strongest performance was in the multiple choice and short-answer sections, with Q7b (Institute for Government view, 89%), Q7a (Blair view, 93%) and Q1b (discrimination, 100%) all scoring very well. The weakest area by far was Q7c (Source Agreement, 13%), suggesting students struggled to identify points of agreement between the two sources. The higher-tariff extended writing questions (Q7d and Q8) also showed significant room for improvement.
"Which view do you agree with more?" (12 Marks)
Hover over the highlighted text to see the examiner's commentary.
"The ages of responsibility should be increased." (15 Marks)
In the early 1900s, life in Britain was very different. Many babies died before their first birthday, and life expectancy was much lower than it is today. Since then, better healthcare, cleaner living conditions and improved diets mean that more babies survive and people live much longer.
Two main factors drive population change. The first is the balance between births and deaths. When more babies are born and fewer people die, the population grows and its average age may fall. When there are fewer births and people live longer, the population becomes older overall. The second factor is migration – the balance between immigrants (people coming to live in the UK) and emigrants (people leaving to live elsewhere).
People migrate for different reasons. Economic migrants move to seek work, higher wages and a better quality of life for themselves and their families. Refugees are forced to leave their home country because of war, persecution or natural disasters. An asylum seeker is someone who has asked for permission to stay in the UK because they say they are a refugee, but who is still waiting for a decision.
Because people are living longer, the UK now has an ageing population. This can mean more people living with disabilities and a greater need for government spending on pensions, healthcare, and care and support for older people.
Blue: points quoted from the source. Green: own knowledge that is not in the source. A full-mark answer has three of each.
The source explains that “better healthcare, cleaner living conditions and improved diets mean that more babies survive and people live much longer”EXAMINER: Source point 1: quoted in inverted commas and used to answer the question.. Using my own knowledge, the creation of the NHS in 1948 gave everyone free healthcare, which helped reduce infant deaths and increase life expectancyEXAMINER: Own knowledge 1: accurate, relevant, not in the source, and linked back to the question.. At the same time, the UK’s birth rate has fallen below the ‘replacement level’ of about 2.1 children per woman, so fewer young people are born to replace older generationsEXAMINER: Own knowledge 2: accurate, relevant, not in the source, and linked back to the question.. The population also changes through migration, which the source describes as “the balance between immigrants”EXAMINER: Source point 2: quoted in inverted commas and used to answer the question. and emigrants.
An ageing population creates challenges because there is “a greater need for government spending on pensions, healthcare”EXAMINER: Source point 3: quoted in inverted commas and used to answer the question. and care. As there are fewer working-age people paying tax for each pensioner, the state pension age is rising from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028 to help control the costEXAMINER: Own knowledge 3: accurate, relevant, not in the source, and linked back to the question.. This shows how an older population puts real pressure on public money.
Instead of writing: The population is changing because more people are coming.EXAMINER: One cause, stated without explanation, and the ageing-population part of the question is ignored.
| Level | Marks | Descriptor |
|---|---|---|
| Level 3 | 5–6 | Covers both why the population is changing (births/deaths, life expectancy, migration and types of migrant) AND the challenges of an ageing population. Applies at least two well-developed pieces of own knowledge, e.g. the NHS (1948) improving health and life expectancy; a birth rate below the replacement level of about 2.1 children per woman; fewer working-age taxpayers per pensioner; the state pension age rising to 67 between 2026 and 2028; pressure on social care; the 1951 Refugee Convention. |
| Level 2 | 3–4 | Clear answer explaining at least one cause of change and at least one challenge from the source. Applies at least one piece of own knowledge, such as the founding of the NHS or the rising state pension age. |
| Level 1 | 1–2 | Simple answer that identifies one point from the source (e.g. ‘people live longer’). Relies almost entirely on the source. |
| Level 0 | 0 | No rewardable material. |
Features of a good answer:
© 2025 GCSE Citizenship Podcasts. All Rights Reserved.