,General Marking Guidance
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 may lie.
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 and exemplification 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.
Marking Guidance – Specific
The marking grids have been designed to assess student work holistically. The
grids identify the Assessment Objective being targeted by the level descriptors.
When deciding how to reward an answer, examiners should consult both
the indicative content and the associated marking grid(s). When using a
levels-based mark scheme, the ‘best fit’ approach should be used.
Examiners should first decide which descriptor most closely matches the answer
and place it in that level.
The mark awarded within the level will be decided based on the quality of the
answer and will be modified according to how securely all bullet points are
displayed at that level.
In cases of uneven performance, the points above will still apply. Candidates will
be placed in the level that best describes their answer according to the
Assessment Objective described in the level. Marks will be awarded towards the
top or bottom of that level depending on how they have evidenced each of the
descriptor bullet points.
Indicative content is exactly that – it consists of factual points that candidates
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, are likely to use to construct their answer. It is possible for an answer to be
constructed without mentioning some or all of these points, as long as they
provide alternative responses to the indicative content that fulfil the
requirements of the question. It is the examiner’s responsibility to apply their
professional judgment to the candidate’s response in determining if the answer
fulfils the requirements of the question.
Placing a mark within a level
Examiners should first decide which descriptor most closely matches the answer
and place it in that level. The mark awarded within the level will be decided based
on the quality of the answer and will be modified according to how securely all
bullet points are displayed at that level.
In cases of uneven performance, the points above will still apply. Candidates will
be placed in the level that best describes their answer according to the descriptors
in that level. Marks will be awarded towards the top or bottom of that level
depending on how they have evidenced each of the descriptor bullet points.
If the candidate’s answer meets the requirements fully, markers should be
prepared to award full marks within the level. The top mark in the level is used for
work that is as good as can realistically be expected within that level.
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