When thinking about papers being marked most people tend to think of individual examiners sitting at home surrounded by stacks of papers. Technology has allowed this to be a thing of the past for most subjects. In maths the marking takes place on-line and has done for some time. There are advantages and disadvantages to this. On-line marking minimises how much travel by post papers will do. Papers are no longer physically sent by post to examiners, and therefore no longer returned by post from the examiners to the exam board. The papers are returned by post from each school at the end of the exam to the exam board. This should be the only journey by post that the papers do, therefore minimising the risk of papers being lost in the post.
Papers are marked by item (question). An examiner contract will include a range of questions, but rarely all questions from a paper. This means that no single examiner is marking the entire scripts of any individual school, or indeed any individual student. A student’s paper is likely to be marked by several examiners. This increases accuracy in marking as it leads to more consistent marking overall. It also increases accuracy as the exam board can make regular checks on the marking. Before on-screen marking the examiners would post samples of their marking to the exam board for checking. This inevitably slowed down the process of quality assurance.
Can there be disadvantages to this system? In my view, the main issue to note is that an examiner will not hold an entire exam paper in their hand. So, if there is anything unusual about how a student writes their numbers, the examiner cannot check other questions for comparison. Of course, if there is any ambiguity about the student work, the question can be sent to review to the team leader, at the click of a button. However, it is always advisable to avoid complications in the marking of your exam paper. Check that your digits are clear. The main ambiguities tend to exist with how people write 1’s, 4’s and 7’s. Check that they are not too similar and that they are distinct from one another.
In August students will receive their maths exam grades. Although they will receive a single final mark, this mark will be the result of the combined effort and expertise of many examiners.
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