On the Ofqual register · 8700From £39.99/mo paying todayAQA 8700 GCSE English Language (601/4292/3) is the same GCSE taken in UK schools, studied online with a named UK tutor from age 14. You sit two 1 hour 45 minute papers in one series at a Tutors & Exams centre, plus a separate spoken language endorsement, and most learners take 12 to 18 months.
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| Qualification | GCSE English Language |
|---|---|
| Level | Level 1/2, grades 9 to 1 |
| Awarding body | AQA |
| Qualification number | 601/4292/3 |
| Exams | Exam entry and seat booking are through Tutors & Exams, and only on the +Exams plan. |
| Price | £359.99 a year or £39.99 a month when you pay today: pay for 9 months, get 3 free, price fixed for life. Prefer to try it first? Free for 7 days, then £44.99 a month or £458.99 a year. |
| Typical duration | 12 to 18 months, or faster if you study more each week |
| Age | Open to anyone aged 14 or over. Under 18s enrol with a parent or guardian's permission and support. |
| Who it suits | You need GCSE English Language at grade 4 or above for nursing, teacher training, an apprenticeship or a university application, and you want to study around work or family. |
Pay today, pay for 9 months and get 3 free, with your price fixed for life. Pay monthly and start today for £5 a month less than after a trial. Prefer to try it first? Start for £0 today on the 7-day free trial.
| Study | +Exams | |
|---|---|---|
| Pay today, yearlyBest value3 months free, fixed for life | £359.99 a yearthat is £30.00 a month | £629.99 a yearthat is £52.50 a month |
| Pay today, monthly£5 a month less than after a trial | £39.99 a month | £69.99 a month |
| 7-day free trial first£0 today, first payment on day 8 | £44.99 a monthor £458.99 a year | £79.99 a monthor £815.99 a year |
+Exams paid monthly has an expected term of 9 months, as exam fees are built in: cancel any time with no exit fee, but unused exam credit is lost. No term applies if you pay yearly.
NEC and Open Study College charge £449 to £470 for the course, paid in full or in instalments. With Lift College you can start for £0 today, and a full year of Study is £359.99 when you pay today.
| Provider | Course fee | How you pay |
|---|---|---|
| Lift College Lowest cost to start | £359.99for 12 months, Study, paid today | £0 today on the 7-day free trial. Monthly or yearly, no contract, no credit check, cancel any time |
| NEC | £470 | In full, or a £47 deposit then 0% APR finance with Omni |
| Open Study College | £449 | In full, 3 payments with Klarna or PayPal, or monthly Direct Debit |
None of these fees includes exams, and nor does our Study plan. Our guide to the best online GCSE English Language courses in the UK sets Lift College alongside the other main providers.
Start today with your named UK tutor from day one. 14-day money-back guarantee, or try it free.
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Studying more than one course? 2 courses save 5%, 3 save 10%, 4 or more save 15%.
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There is no course fee to find, no finance agreement to sign and no debt to worry about. Your first 7 days are free, then you pay for the month you are in, and every payment is covered by the 14-day money back guarantee. Prefer to pay today? Skip the trial and save up to 17%, with your price fixed for life, with the same 14-day guarantee.
+Exams on Monthly: Monthly comes with a 9-month expected term because exam fees are built in. Cancel any time, no exit fee; exam credit you have not used is forfeited and unbooked exams are void. Pay annually and no term applies.
You never sign a credit agreement with us, so there is no debt and nothing for anyone to chase. If you stop paying, you simply stop studying. No finance company, no loan and no letters.
The hardest part of studying a GCSE outside school has always been the exam. Lift College and Tutors & Exams remove it: you study online with us, and you sit the same AQA papers as any school candidate at a professional Tutors & Exams centre, with your entry, venue and invigilation arranged through the partnership.
Runs from May to June. The main series, where most learners sit both papers.
Runs in November. A second full series each year, open to candidates aged 16 or over at the start of the academic year, so it suits adult learners and resits.
On +Exams we enter you before AQA's deadline for the series you choose.
Start your free trial, meet your named UK tutor and work through the AQA specification at your own pace.
On +Exams, Lift College submits your AQA entry and books your place at the Tutors & Exams centre you choose, before the entry deadline.
Trained invigilators, a room built for formal assessment, and an AQA certificate identical to a school candidate's.
There is no minimum study time. Most learners spend 6 to 12 hours a week and finish in 12 to 18 months, or faster if you study more each week. Assignments are for feedback and do not count towards your grade; the qualification is 100% examined.
Every family studying with us can have its own parent portal. See how your child is getting on week by week, agree a study plan together and get a short summary in your inbox, without ever having to ask "have you done any work?".
The AQA 8700 specification is built around reading unseen fiction and non-fiction and writing for different purposes. Every text in the exam is unseen, so the course teaches transferable reading and writing skills rather than set texts. Open each content area to see what it covers.
Two equally weighted papers, 1 hour 45 minutes and 80 marks each
Every exam text is new to you, so each unit trains a repeatable method for reading, annotating and answering under time pressure.
Every unit ends with marked, exam style questions. Before entry you sit full timed mock papers with written feedback returned within 5 to 7 working days.
On +Exams your entry and your seat at a Tutors & Exams centre are booked for you and the fees are included.
Two written papers of 1 hour 45 minutes, each 80 marks and worth 50%. Both are sat in the same series and all texts are unseen. Paper 1 covers creative reading and descriptive or narrative writing; Paper 2 covers non-fiction reading and writing to present a viewpoint. The spoken language endorsement is assessed separately: you deliver a presentation, respond to questions and use standard English, and it is graded Pass, Merit, Distinction or Not Classified and reported on your certificate. It does not count towards the 9 to 1 grade. GCSE English Language is examined in May/June, with a second series in November open to candidates aged 16 or over at the start of the academic year.
| Paper | Length | Marks | Weighting | Content |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1: Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing | 1 hour 45 minutes | 80 marks | 50% | Section A: Reading, one literature fiction text (40 marks): four questions (1 × 4, 2 × 8, 1 × 20). Section B: descriptive or narrative writing (40 marks; 24 marks content, 16 marks technical accuracy). |
| Paper 2: Writers' Viewpoints and Perspectives | 1 hour 45 minutes | 80 marks | 50% | Section A: Reading, one non-fiction text and one literary non-fiction text (40 marks): four questions (1 × 4, 1 × 8, 1 × 12, 1 × 16). Section B: writing to present a viewpoint (40 marks). |
The same qualified UK subject expert supports you from enrolment through to your exam series.
Exam style tasks with individual written feedback within 5 to 7 working days.
Unit scores and topic strengths on your dashboard, which your tutor uses to tailor feedback.
A timed mock paper and a written summary of what to focus on before you are entered.
Learner reviews
Six of our latest reviews, as posted on Trustpilot.
Lift College is very flexible, allowing me to study GCSE Biology while working full time. The course is straightforward and include helpful tips for passing the exams.
I have just enrolled with Lift College today on a free trial. So far so good, I have accessed my course (GCSE Maths) on my platform and everything looks great. Also met my tutor who is very friendly and helpful too. Will update the reviews when I am further down the line.
Read more on TrustpilotI have enrolled on this on line course and the support/response to queries that I have received to date have been timely and effective. The college also provides a learning plan to comlete the course and mock exams, together with helpful reminders of allocated study days (you self select them and they send you a reminder to keep you on track). The modules are clear and easy to understand and a broken down into sections including question and answer sections and model answers and where applicable worked out calculations. There is a need to take notes from the online materials as there are no PDF work books to download. The assigments are completed in a text box and marked accordingly and saved into your records. Once you get used to using the learning portal (which is not too difficult) it is a fairly straightforward learning process. It is worth paying the money for this course and the level of support provided by the college.
Read more on TrustpilotI have been studying with Lift College for the past month, and so far, my experience has been positive. The team provides excellent support, and assignments are marked with helpful feedback, usually within three working days. This quick turnaround is particularly valuable as it helps me manage my studies alongside my workplace commitments.
Read more on TrustpilotExcellent customer service and the enrolment process was very smooth. Started my course three weeks ago and I’m loving it.
I recently started the CMI Level 5 course through Lift College. I was attracted to this provider due to the clean and modern design of their website. I asked the support staff a few questions before enrolling, and their responses were fast and informative. When I started the course, I was impressed by how well organised the material was and how the lessons were structured. I have taken many online courses before, including postgraduate courses from UK universities. What I expected was a few videos made using a webcam, plus several dozen PDF files that had to be read. However, the materials provided by Lift College are of excellent quality, well designed, and purpose-made. As a teacher myself with 20 years' experience, I recognised clear and deliberate efforts to help students learn more effectively. Lift College isn't just giving you a load of reading material and letting you get on with it. They have designed prompts, revision boxes, spot quizzes, and other features to ensure that learning is actively facilitated.
Read more on TrustpilotYes. Lift College's GCSE English course is the AQA 8700 GCSE English Language, open to adults with no upper age limit and no formal entry qualifications. You study online with a named UK tutor and sit the same two papers as school candidates at a Tutors & Exams centre, from £39.99 a month on Study when you pay today.
Yes. Adults retake GCSE English Language as private candidates. The November series is open to candidates aged 16 or over at the start of the academic year, so you can resit in November or May/June, and on +Exams Lift College enters you and books your seat at a Tutors & Exams centre, with the entry and centre fees included. Our guide to retaking GCSE Maths and English as an adult walks through each step.
Yes. Every learner has a named UK tutor from enrolment to exam day. Your tutor marks your exam style reading and writing tasks with written feedback within 5 to 7 working days, then marks your timed mock paper and tells you what to focus on before you are entered.
Many courses ask for it. Nursing, teacher training, apprenticeships and university applications are among those that ask for GCSE English at grade 4 or above, so check the entry requirements of the course you are applying to. Grade 4 is a standard pass and grade 5 or above is a strong pass, and a GCSE you take as an adult counts exactly as one taken at school.
No. You study GCSE English online, but both written papers are sat in person at an approved exam centre, in the same series. On +Exams Lift College enters you and books your seat at one of ten Tutors & Exams centres across England, with the entry and centre fees included.
Look for the same GCSE that schools sit, a tutor who marks your writing, and your exam entry included. Lift College teaches the AQA GCSE English Language 8700 online with a named UK tutor: two written papers of 1 hour 45 minutes, each worth 50%, with all texts unseen, plus the separately reported spoken language endorsement. You can sit in May/June, or in November if you are 16 or over at the start of the academic year, which suits adults and resits. Most learners take 12 to 18 months at 6 to 12 hours a week, and full timed mock papers come back marked within 5 to 7 working days. On the +Exams plan your AQA entry and Tutors & Exams centre fees are included and your seat is booked for you.
Yes, exactly the same. Our GCSEs are awarded by AQA and use the identical specification, grading, and exam papers as the GCSE taken in UK schools.
Open to anyone aged 14 or over. Under 18s enrol with a parent or guardian's permission and support. There are no formal entry qualifications.
A UK adviser calls you back within 2 working hours, Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm. No sales script.
New to the qualification? Start with our English Language GCSE guide covering papers, assessment and grading.
