What it looks like
An example from Education.
The 1944 Education Act was known as the Butler Act, after R.A. Butler, and was passed during the Second World War. It also raised the school leaving age to 15. It led to a system in which children were selected for grammar schools by the eleven-plus exam.
The 1944 Education Act led to a system in which children were selected for grammar schools by the eleven-plus exam. Studies of the period found that middle-class children were more likely to win grammar school places — an early sign that selection by “ability” could reproduce class advantage.
Why markers write it
Off-topic material usually comes from good intentions: you learned it, it’s accurate, and it feels wasteful to leave out. But markers mark against the question, and every sentence that doesn’t answer it is a sentence that could have. In a tight word limit, a paragraph of background can be the difference between a developed argument and a thin one.
How to fix it in your next essay
- 1Test every paragraph against the questionAsk: if I cut this, would my answer be weaker? If not, cut it or cut it down.
- 2Turn background into a linkIf context is needed, keep only the sentence the reader needs, and say why it matters to your answer.
- 3Plan from the question, not your notesDraft your plan from the question’s key words first, then take from your notes only what fits it.
How much it costs
Off-topic material isn’t usually penalised directly, but it earns no credit and uses up words, so in most UK schemes the cost shows up as thinner analysis elsewhere.
Other ways markers say it
- “Irrelevant”
- “Not relevant to the question”
- “Digression”
- “Tangential”
- “Is this needed?”
Often written alongside
Common questions
- Is background information off-topic?
- Not if it’s brief and the reader needs it. It becomes off-topic when it runs longer than the analysis it’s meant to support.
- How do I know what’s relevant?
- If you can say in one sentence how a point helps answer the question, it’s relevant. If you can’t, it probably isn’t.