Extended EnglishStudy sites for GCSE and A Level English
Cambridge IGCSE Literature in English · Prose set text
Fire on the MountainA guide to Desai’s novel

The marking desk

Get feedback on your writing

Paste in an analytical paragraph or a full essay on Fire on the Mountain. You will get back the kind of notes a teacher writes in the margin of handwritten work: what is working, where to push further, and questions for your redraft. Never a mark, never a grade.

How this desk works

Your writing is read against what Cambridge IGCSE Literature in English examiners value: close knowledge of the novel, an understanding that reaches beyond the surface, an eye for how Desai uses language, structure and form, and a considered personal response of your own. But you will never see a number. Research and every good teacher agree: when a grade appears on the page, students read the grade and skip the comments. Here there are only comments.

Write first, always. This desk will not write paragraphs for you, and it will notice if you ask. Bring it your own sentences, however rough, and it will help you make them better.

If the connected feedback service is switched off, the desk automatically runs a self-review instead, checking the bones of your paragraph or essay and giving you prompts to strengthen it. It never awards marks or grades in either mode.