THE KERFOX BLOG
The word the mark scheme wants, and why.
What the exam boards actually credit, from their own examiner reports. What the research on revision actually found, at the size it found it. Every claim names the document it came from, so you can go and look.
THE MARK SCHEME WORD
Active site, binding site or receptor: the word AQA is waiting for
An enzyme has an active site. An antibody has a binding site. A cell has a receptor. AQA’s examiner reports name the wrong one, four times, on three papers.
THE MARK SCHEME WORD
Denatured, not killed: the enzyme word the mark scheme refuses
AQA’s GCSE Biology mark schemes credit “denatured” and carry the line “do not accept enzyme(s) killed”. The line, the reason, and the words that are allowed.
THE MARK SCHEME WORD
Less dense, not lighter: six words one chemistry paper refused
AQA’s report on the June 2023 A-level Chemistry Paper 3 refuses six answers by name and gives its reasons. Each ruling, and the word to write instead.
A NAMED MISCONCEPTION
Why rereading your notes feels like revision and mostly is not
Rereading wins if the test is in five minutes and loses by a week. The experiment that showed it, the survey of what students do, and what the feeling measures.
THE MARK SCHEME WORD
Electron pair donor: the word “pair” is the mark
AQA’s June 2018 Chemistry Paper 2 report says students who called a nucleophile an electron donor lost the mark. The missing word, and what else was refused.
HOW TO STUDY
The same hours, spread out: how far apart to space revision
Four hours across four days beats four hours in one evening on any test more than a day away. The evidence, the best gap, and why the worse option feels better.
STUDY AND WELLBEING
An extra hour of revision costs about eight minutes of sleep
Five hundred students kept diaries for a fortnight. Studying more than usual cost little, and it hurt the next day only when the hour had come out of sleep.
HOW THE PAPER IS MARKED
How a six-mark chemistry question is actually marked
A levels-of-response answer is marked twice: for its shape, then for its content. What AQA’s examiners said a Level 3 answer looks like, and what holds it back.
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