GCSE coursework in 2026: The main subjects that still have it

If you took GCSEs before the 2015 reforms, coursework (and later 'controlled assessment') was part of most subjects. History essays, English Literature portfolios, geography fieldwork write-ups: a big chunk of your grade came from folders you built up over two years, and that world is largely gone.

After the 2015-2018 Ofqual reform, most GCSEs in England moved to 100% exam. The Department for Education's Get the facts: GCSE reform guidance put it plainly: assessment is now 'mainly by exam', and Non-Examined Assessment (NEA, the modern name for coursework) survives only where a written paper genuinely cannot test the skill. That leaves a handful of subjects, mostly practical and creative ones, where NEA still counts.

This guide walks through exactly which subjects still have NEA in 2026, roughly how much it's worth on the main English boards, and where students and parents most often get it wrong.

The word 'coursework' hangs on in staffrooms and parent WhatsApp groups, but the official term is Non-Examined Assessment. NEA is any part of the qualification that isn't sat under exam-hall conditions. It's usually done in lesson time under controlled conditions, marked by the teacher, and moderated by the exam board.

Three things often get confused with NEA and shouldn't be:

• Required Practicals in GCSE Sciences. Students do them in class, but the marks come from written papers that test the practicals. No practical mark counts towards the grade directly.
• Fieldwork in GCSE Geography. Pupils go out on field trips, but they're examined on it via a written paper, not a coursework folder.
• Spoken Language endorsement in English Language. It's reported separately as pass, merit or distinction and doesn't affect the 9-1 grade.

If you're being marked on something you produce outside a formal exam, and that mark contributes to your final grade, that's NEA.

The honest shortlist for the main English boards (AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC Eduqas) in 2026, with the caveat that weightings vary a little between boards, so treat this as the starting point and check the specific specification your school uses.

GCSE Art and Design, including its Photography and Textile Design titles, is the one subject area with no traditional written paper. On AQA's 8202 specification, the grade splits into a Portfolio worth 60% and an Externally Set Assignment worth 40%; both are NEA. The Externally Set Assignment includes a 10-hour period of supervised time to produce a final piece, which is the closest thing Art has to an exam.

Photography and Textiles follow the same 60/40 pattern under the wider Art and Design umbrella at most boards. If your child is picking Art, expect long hours on sketchbooks and preparatory work, not revision cards.

GCSE Design and Technology sits at 50% written exam, 50% NEA on AQA's 8552 specification. The NEA is a design and make project, typically around 30-35 hours of supervised work spread over Year 11. Students choose a contextual challenge released by the board each June, then design, prototype and evaluate a product.

Food Preparation and Nutrition (AQA 8585) also splits 50/50. The NEA is in two parts: a food science investigation earlier in Year 11, then a longer food preparation assessment where students plan and cook a three-dish menu in a three-hour final session.

GCSE Physical Education (AQA 8582) works differently again: 60% written exams across two papers, 40% practical performance. Students are assessed in three activities: one team, one individual, and a third from either list. There's also a written analysis and evaluation task inside the NEA element. If you're weighing up PE as an option, our guide to AQA GCSE Physical Education walks through what to expect in more detail.

The performing arts sit in a middle band. AQA's GCSE Drama (8261) is 40% written exam plus 60% NEA, split between a Devising component worth 40% and a Texts in Practice performance worth 20%. Music and Dance follow similar mixed patterns, typically around 60% NEA made up of performing and composing or choreography, with a 40% written paper testing set works and analytical understanding.

The details differ by board more here than in most subjects, so if music or dance matters to your GCSE choices, read the specific specification your school teaches from before assuming any percentage.

NEA doesn't mean 'homework at home'. Under Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) rules, NEA is completed under set levels of control that vary by subject. Key parts are usually done in school under teacher supervision, and the teacher must be able to confirm the work is the student's own. That normally means:

• Students work under teacher supervision, with clear rules about what help they can and can't receive.
• Access to notes, textbooks and the internet is restricted or logged, depending on the task.
• Work is signed off in stages and stored securely between sessions.
• The teacher marks it against the board's mark scheme, then the exam board moderates a sample.

That last step is where the moderation bites: even though your teacher does the initial marking, the board can adjust marks across the cohort if the sample suggests the school has been over-generous or over-harsh.

This is where most confusion sits, because these subjects used to have coursework and older guides still say so.

• History: 100% exam. No coursework, controlled assessment or NEA counts towards the 9-1 grade.
• English Literature: 100% exam. The pre-reform coursework folder is gone.
• English Language: 100% exam for the graded qualification. The Spoken Language endorsement is separately reported.
• Geography: 100% exam. Fieldwork is done and then tested via written questions on the exam paper, not written up as coursework.
• Computer Science: 100% exam for the current 2026 cohort. Ofqual stopped the programming NEA counting towards the grade from 2018, after tasks were shared online, and since 2022 programming skills have been assessed in the written exams. Schools still teach practical programming, but no coursework mark counts.
• Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Combined): 100% exam. Required Practicals are examined via written questions on the papers, not marked as NEA.

If you want the specifics of how sciences are tested despite having no coursework, our guide to AQA GCSE Physics required practicals shows how the written papers pull questions straight from the practical list. And GCSE English Language covers what does and doesn't count in the 9-1 grade.

GCSEs in Wales and Northern Ireland are separate qualifications, run by WJEC and CCEA respectively, and they didn't take the same 100% exam turn. Welsh GCSE English Language, for example, still retains an oracy component that's assessed in school. If your child is sitting Welsh or NI GCSEs, don't assume the English board picture above applies. Check the specific WJEC or CCEA specification.

Cognito is built around the exam side of GCSE, which is where most subjects now sit almost entirely. If your child is revising written papers in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths, Combined Science, English or Business Studies, you can find their specification-matched course under /courses/gcse with video lessons, quiz elements and past-paper-style questions.

For NEA-heavy subjects like Art or Drama, no revision app can substitute for the practical work. What we can help with is the written component: essay technique for the theory paper in Drama, or written analysis for PE.