What's the Problem with GCSE Latin?
29th April 2026 15:52
Over the last few years, I have tutored several students in GCSE Latin - in fact I have had more demand for this subject at this level than any other!
I think that in some cases, the reason has been simple: the student has been encouraged to take Latin for GCSE against their own wishes. If a student doesn't enjoy Latin, or doesn't feel that they have a particular aptitude for it, I think it is probably advisable not to take it any further than necessary: it is not in any sense an "easy" GCSE, and requires a great deal of memory. These days, there is no need to take Latin for the purposes of studying medicine or law, and neither is there any advantage in having a Latin qualification in terms of subjects. Having said this, if a student is prepared to study hard, Latin is a fantastic GCSE to take - it provides a unique opportunity to understand the language and literature of Ancient Rome in a way that isn't possible through studying Classical Civilisation, for example - that is, texts and cultural descriptions in translation.
To my mind, one of the main difficulties which students is the sudden speed at which GCSE Latin moves. At the end of the first year of GCSE study, students find that the pace has been so much faster than that which they were used to that they are unable to adjust, and enter Year 11 in a state of confusion! There are several new grammatical constructions to be learnt for GCSE, and they require thorough teaching in a style which often is not encouraged by popular courses such as Cambridge Latin Grammar, which are usually used as the basis for study in Year 9 and 10. Courses such as these really bring Latin and its context alive, and I think they are generally excellent, but they do tend, in my opinion, to introduce grammar in a slightly unsystematic way, which means that often students end up translating more by instinct than anything else, and have a hazy knowledge of basic grammar. I would never suggest that Latin teaching returns to chanting grammatical principles - but I think that, if a slightly more structured approach to grammar were to be re-introduced into year 9 and 10 Latin, it would make higher level translation far easier for GCSE students when they get to that stage.
GCSE Latin also contains a substantial literature element - both verse and prose literature. These are usually fantastic passages, from Vergil or Cicero, for example - perfect for understanding rhetorical techniques, and for linguistic analysis, skills which are transferable to other subjects such as History and English, and are indispensable in preparation for A-level humanities subjects. However, these texts do require quite a lot of effort from the student, as the translations must be known inside out, and they are usually quite extensive. Therefore, a potential GCSE Latin student should have a natural aptitude for memorisation (or at least a drive to spend many hours learning by heart!), and this is something which I think isn't always made clear to students when they are choosing their GCSEs. I would always advise taking a look at a GCSE Latin past paper before choosing to study it, and also to take a look at the number of words that need to be learnt on the official vocabulary list - these are all available on the OCR website.
OCR are bringing in a new syllabus for GCSE Latin for first teaching in 2016, and from the sample papers, I can see that the qualification has been revamped in what I feel to be a positive direction. Rather than 4 separate papers (2 of which were almost identical translation papers), there will now be only one language paper, and a rather attractive option, "Literature and Culture", which replaces the "Sources for Latin" paper. In the language paper, there is a greater grammatical emphasis, and it will no longer be possible for students to gain very high marks while being shaky on grammatical foundations. Hopefully, this will encourage better teaching of grammar basics in year 9 and 10, which would mean that there isn't such a leap to GCSE in future.
So, in conclusion, I would never want to discourage any student from studying a subject which is so close to my heart, but I would suggest that you make sure you that you know exactly what is involved first! If you love Latin, and have a good ahead of what lies ahead, I am sure that GCSE Latin is for you!