Guide 6 of 6 · 5 min read
Making an answer key and a marking scheme
Marking is easier and fairer when you decide the right answers and the marks before the test. An answer key and a marking scheme make that possible.
Why prepare the key early
Write the answers when you write the questions. At that moment you remember what you meant. If you leave it for after the test, you may find a question has two defensible answers, or none, and by then students have already answered it.
A written key also lets a colleague mark your papers, or lets you hand the marking to someone else, and get the same result.
The answer key page for MCQs
For objective questions the key is a simple list: question number, correct answer. Keep it on a separate sheet from the question paper, and keep it away from students.
When you finish the paper, check the key against the questions one by one. A wrong key is worse than no key, because it marks correct students down. Look at each answer once more, especially for questions you edited.
Paper Desk can add an answer key page to your paper for the MCQs, so the key is made from the same questions you typed. Mark the correct option while you write each question, and the key page follows.
An OMR bubble answer sheet
An OMR sheet is a page of small circles. The student fills in a circle for each MCQ answer instead of marking the question paper. Marking becomes a matter of laying the key over the sheet or comparing it row by row.
It helps when you have many students, because the objective part can be marked in a few minutes. It also keeps the question paper clean, so you may reuse it.
Paper Desk can produce a bubble answer sheet for your MCQs. Tell students how to use it: fill the circle fully with a dark pen, make one mark per question, and do not use correction fluid on it. Test the sheet on a few copies before the class sits.
Marking short answers
A short answer is worth a mark or two, and students can say the same thing in different words. Write down the points you are looking for, not only a model sentence.
- List the key points for each short question. For a two-mark question, one point may earn one mark.
- Accept correct answers worded in the student's own way.
- Decide in advance what to do about spelling and grammar. If the subject is not a language, do not take marks for them.
- Give no marks for a correct answer to a different question.
Marking long answers
For long questions, split the marks over the steps or ideas, matching the parts (a), (b), (c) of the question. Write the split in your scheme.
| Part | What earns marks | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| (a) | Correct definition with one example | 3 |
| (b) | Explanation with at least three points | 3 |
| (c) | Clear diagram with labels | 2 |
For numerical questions, give marks for the method and the working, not only the final answer. A student who uses the right method and makes one small slip should lose one mark, not all of them. Say in the scheme how a carried-forward error is treated.
For essays and letters, a few criteria such as content, organisation, and language, each with its own marks, are easier to apply than one overall mark.
Short answers in two languages
If the paper is bilingual, students may answer in either language. Say so in your scheme, and mark the ideas, not the language, unless the subject is the language itself. A student who gives the right points in Urdu should earn the same marks as one who gives them in English.
For subjects with many accepted spellings or terms, list the common variants in the scheme, so every marker accepts the same ones.
Keep marking fair
- Mark one question at a time across all papers. You will apply the scheme more evenly.
- Mark a few papers first, and revise the scheme if students gave good answers you did not expect. Then go back and recheck the earlier ones.
- Add up the marks twice. Totals are where most marking mistakes happen.
- Keep the scheme with the paper for when a student asks how their marks were given.
To build your paper, with the marks of each question and the totals added for you, open the paper maker. To plan the marks, see how to balance a paper, and for the questions themselves, how to write good multiple choice questions.