Exam marker has the A* job that ticks every box
It takes five minutes to mark a GCSE physics paper, says a top examiner, but around 15 minutes more for every English paper. Education Editor Abbie Wightwick gets an insight into the world of the exam marker...
It takes pupils years to study for – but a top examiner says he spends on average five minutes marking a GCSE physics paper.
After 23 years in the job WJEC principal examiner Bob Davies says he can accurately mark the papers at top speed as he gives an insight into the world of exam marking.
And he adds that pupils and teachers are working harder, with expectations going up, and says he loves his job and seeing how pupils perform.
When it comes to time spent marking, new examiners and those marking lengthier exam answers such as English will take longer, averaging around four papers an hour for English and seven for science, Mr Davies estimates.
And while few people enjoy taking exams Mr Davies, who marks 600 and checks a further 1,000 each year, says he enjoys marking them.
“I am very highly trained and when I am in the flow I mark a paper in five minutes on average for a 60mark paper.
“With each paper you have to get familiar with the mark scheme so things speed up.
“Some papers are 100 marks and they take longer but 60-mark papers are short answer.”
Mr Davies, head teacher of Rhymney Comprehensive until last December, says he loves his job and wants to help pupils do well, but is never tempted to add a mark even if someone is one mark off a C or A*.
Examiners must abide by strict rules and their work is subject to sample checks and requests for remarks, which Mr Davies says has increased with schools under constant pressure to raise standards.
He won’t give marks for witty answers, although he says they do raise a smile while he is wading through a pile of papers or exams marked online.
“You do get some funny answers. I have seen ‘my teacher was away when we did this’ and ‘sorry Mr Examiner, I apologise you have to read what I have written on this paper today’.
Across the UK 34,000 examiners mark eight million qualifications for two million 15- to 19-year-olds each year.
The WJEC has 5,000 examiners for its exams, all of whom are experienced teachers trained specially to set, moderate and mark exams.
Exams in more than 70 subjects and more than 1,000 English- and Welsh-medium exam papers are marked by WJEC.
Once an exam paper has been sat, a team of examiners start their period of marking at once.
“I have also had a child who must have just had an RE exam because when asked what AC (alternating current) stood for in a physics exam they wrote ‘after Christ’.
“You also get people writing about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs when there are questions about the life cycle of stars. They go through the red giant and the white dwarf and then some go on to talk about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”
These types of answers are in the minority, says Mr Davies, who, after
WHO MARKS EXAMS?
WJEC examiners attend a face-to-face day training conference, led by the principal examiner for their subject. This course covers all aspects of marking, going through each question individually and showing how to apply the accompanying mark scheme.
Examiners are then grouped into teams and allocated a team leader who gives guidance and support during the three-week marking period.
Grade boundaries are set once all papers are marked. more than two decades in the job, believes pupils and teachers are now working harder.
“I don’t think exams have got easier but they are different from when I took them. You just learned things by heart when I was at school but now you have to apply your knowledge.
“Everybody is definitely working harder. It’s fair to say there is much more stress on children and teachers. Expectations have gone up.”
Starting out as a teacher in 1977 and becoming an examiner in 1994, Mr Davies, who also writes and moderates papers for the WJEC, says he does notice there are some topics pupils find hard each year and this is fed back to schools and teachers.
“I just love my job from getting exams set to seeing how pupils perform and seeing the grades they get in the end.”
And his advice to students as the summer exam season approaches is not to cram the night before, but to revise little and often.
When candidates get to the exam room they must read the question carefully to ensure they answer correctly, try to stay calm and not rush, he advises.
“I don’t think I should be feared by anyone. My advice is, listen to your teachers. There are also a lot of exam resources on the WJEC website.
“When I was a head, before any exam I always told pupils: ‘It is not a race to see who finishes first. Take your time to read the question’.
“I advise against cramming the night before because the way the brain works you will forget it next day.”