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All candidates must receive the same treatment. Examiners must mark the
first candidate in exactly the same way as they mark the last.
Mark schemes should be applied positively. Candidates must be rewarded for
what they have shown they can do rather than penalised for omissions.
Examiners should mark according to the mark scheme not according to their
perception of where the grade boundaries maylie.
There is no ceiling on achievement. All marks on the mark scheme
should be used appropriately.
All the marks on the mark scheme are designed to be awarded.
Examiners should always award full marks if deserved,
i.e. if the answer matches the mark scheme. Examiners should also be prepared
to award zero marks if the candidate’s response is not worthy of credit according
to the mark scheme.
Where some judgement is required, mark schemes will provide the
principles by which marks will be awarded andexemplification may be limited.
When examiners are in doubt regarding the application of the mark
scheme to a candidate’s response, the team leader must be consulted.
Crossed out work should be marked UNLESS the candidate has
replaced it with an alternative response.
, Mark scheme notes
Underlying principle
The mark scheme will clearly indicate the concept that is beingrewarded,
backed up by examples. It is not a set of model answers.
1. Mark scheme format
1.1 You will not see ‘wtte’ (words to that effect). Alternative correct wording
should be credited in every answer unlessthe MS has specified specific
words that must be present.Such words will be indicated by underlining
e.g. ‘resonance’
1.2 Bold lower case will be used for emphasis e.g. ‘and’ whentwo pieces of
information are needed for 1 mark.
1.3 Round brackets ( ) indicate words that are not essential e.g.
“(hence) distance is increased”.
1.4 Square brackets [ ] indicate advice to examiners orexamples e.g.
[Do not accept gravity] [ecf].
2. Unit error penalties
2.1 A separate mark is not usually given for a unit but a missing or incorrect
unit will normally mean that the finalcalculation mark will not be
awarded.
2.2 This does not apply in ‘show that’ questions or in any otherquestion
where the units to be used have been given, for example in a
spreadsheet.
2.3 The mark will not be awarded for the same missing orincorrect
unit only once within one clip in epen.
2.4 Occasionally, it may be decided not to insist on a unit e.g the candidate
may be calculating the gradient of a graph,resulting in a unit that is not
one that should be known and is complex.
2.5 The mark scheme will indicate if no unit error is to beapplied by
means of [no ue].
3. Significant figures
3.1 Use of too many significant figures in the theory questionswill not be
prevent a mark being awarded if the answer given rounds to the
answer in the MS.
3.2 Too few significant figures will mean that the final mark cannot be
awarded in ‘show that’ questions where one more significant figure than
the value in the question is needed for the candidate to demonstrate the
validity of thegiven answer.
3.3 The use of one significant figure might be inappropriate in the context of
the question e.g. reading a value off a graph. If this is the case, there will
be a clear indication inthe MS.
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