1. Testing and Assessment
Provided by :
How to Mark Essays?
HEC Workshop on
Testing and Assessment
January 26 – February 03, 2009
Umar Faiz

2. Essays How long have essays been used for assessment?
Earliest recorded use is some 2,000 years BC by the Chinese

3. Essay Definition
… requires a response composed by the examinee, usually in the form of one or more sentence, of a nature that no single response or pattern of responses can be listed as correct, and the accuracy and quality of which can be judged subjectively only by one skilled or informed in the subject, …

4. Essay Definition
… but even an expert cannot usually classify a response as categorically right or wrong. Rather, there are different degrees of quality or merit which can be recognized. …
attributed to Stalnaker, 1951

5. Importance of Marking Schemes
Marking varies from marker to marker
Marking should done consistently across scripts and across markers
Time consuming
The responses can vary in depth and length
Vague marking scheme can result in subjective and biased marking with low reliability
Clear and detailed marking scheme will be more objective and hence more reliable

6. Criteria of a Good Marking Scheme
A good marking scheme must fulfill two basic conditions:
Mark-Relevance
Marking-Consistency

7. Criteria of a Good Marking Scheme
Mark Relevance
Specify what performances are to be marked
Ensure that pupils receive adequate credit for all the correct aspects of their work and are not over- penalised as a result of a minor error

8. Criteria of a Good Marking Scheme
Marking Consistency
Markers must understand the marking scheme and award marks consistently
Any amendments in the marking scheme should be reflected across all test items

9. Possible criteria for essay marking
Ease of creating a scoring schema
Ability to score on various mark regimes
Ease of identification on non-scoring elements
Ease of modification should scoring error(s) occur
Consistent
Defensibility
Accuracy and precision
Cost

10. Preparation of Mark Scheme
Appreciation of the statement given in the question
Critical thinking on the statement given in the question
Unrestricted response
Constraining the response
Specification of the cognitive level
Assessment according to the defined cognitive level
Mark different aspects of the response
Negative marking i.e. for wrong content

11. Preparation of Mark Scheme
Blue Print 1.
Course Objective 2.
Content 3.
Reference 4.
Cognitive level 5.
Essay category 6.
Q. United Nations Organization (U.N.O) is the improvement of League of Nations: State your opinion. 7.
Word limit 8.
Maximum marks 9.
Tested in/ on
10.
Difficulty level

12. Preparation of Mark Scheme

13. Preparation of Mark Scheme
Q. United Nations Organization (U.N.O) is the improvement of League of Nations: State your opinion. 1
Content is about the structure the league of nations
Yes No 2
Content is about the functions of the league of nations 3
Content is about the structure of U.N.O. 4
Content is about the functions of U.N.O. 5
Identify the similarities/ differences between both the organizations. 6
Indicate the improvement/ no improvement. 7
Elaborate the statement on improvement 10
The opinion of the student is clearly stated 11
The facts presented support the opinion/assumptions/concepts/arguments 12
Arguments opinion are well organized 14
Arguments lead to the conclusion

14. Preparation of Mark Scheme
Q. United Nations Organization (U.N.O) is the improvement of League of Nations: State your opinion. 1
Content is about the structure the league of nations
S 1
S 2
S 3
S 4
S 5
S 6
S 7
S 8 2
Content is about the functions of the league of nations 3
Content is about the structure of U.N.O. 4
Content is about the functions of U.N.O. 5
Identify the similarities/ differences between both the organizations. 6
Indicate the improvement/ no improvement. 7
Elaborate the statement on improvement 8
Introduction is relevant and precise 9
The student has in-depth understanding of the topic 10
The opinion of the student is clearly stated 11
The facts presented support the opinion/assumptions/concepts/arguments 12
Arguments are well organized 13
Response displays convincing power 14
Arguments lead to the conclusion

15. Mark Scheme: More Examples
Communication
If you can understand what student has written, then they get full marks. If you understand after reading many times, then 0. No understanding is also 0.
Word use
Correct use of words, grammar and spelling, with 1 mark for 5-10 errors and 0 for more than 10 errors.
Style
If the student has appropriate style, full marls otherwise 0
Content
Depends on the question

16. Mark Scheme: More Examples

17. Acknowledgements
Isbah Mustafa
Agha Khan University – Evaluation Board