--- title: "The Kerfox blog - mark scheme words, revision science and how papers are marked" description: "What AQA, OCR, Edexcel and WJEC actually credit, from their own examiner reports, and what the research on revision found at the size it found it. Every claim names the document it came from." image: "https://www.kerfox.app/og.webp" url: "https://www.kerfox.app/blog" --- [Kerfox](https://www.kerfox.app/) 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. 1. [ 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. 7 September 2026 ](https://www.kerfox.app/blog/active-site-is-not-the-answer) 2. [ 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. 7 September 2026 ](https://www.kerfox.app/blog/denatured-not-killed) 3. [ 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. 7 September 2026 ](https://www.kerfox.app/blog/less-dense-not-lighter) 4. [ 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. 7 September 2026 ](https://www.kerfox.app/blog/why-rereading-feels-like-working) 5. [ 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. 7 September 2026 ](https://www.kerfox.app/blog/electron-pair-donor) 6. [ 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. 7 September 2026 ](https://www.kerfox.app/blog/same-hours-spread-out) 7. [ 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. 7 September 2026 ](https://www.kerfox.app/blog/an-extra-hour-of-revision) 8. [ 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. 7 September 2026 ](https://www.kerfox.app/blog/how-a-six-marker-is-marked) There is a feed at [/blog/feed.xml](https://www.kerfox.app/blog/feed.xml). One post a fortnight, and nothing sold to you in between.