The Student Room Group
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>

I work for an exam board, AMA!

Scroll to see replies

Original post by Mister P
Unless you accept the questionable conclusion that year on year cohorts are getting more and more adept at passing exams, you have to question why we have grade inflation.
Grade boundaries are set, as I said, using statistical distributions, but clearly something else is at play that I in my lowly position can only speculate on. I speculate that it's something to do with having the kind of government that tells us 'all schools should be above average', but as I say, that's just the speculation of someone very low-ranking in the grand scheme of things.

Cohort strength is important - obviously at A level the only data is KS2 as they did not sit GCSEs. I assure you it is not as simple as a bell curve ...
Original post by LilGoat7
What qualifications are required to become an examiner? I'm interested in becoming one but I'm not sure what training/exams I will have to go through, so would appreciate a step by step process. Thank you!


People working for exam boards are very diverse. Some are statisticians, some are academics in the field of education in a particular subject, some are retired teachers, and some, like me, are the seasonal workers employed temporarily to mark scripts.
So, it depends on what you want to do. To play a role in writing questions, as I understand it, you'll have had to have risen through the ranks of examiners through proven performance in something like my role, moving up to the process of moderation and so on.
But if you just want payment for marking scripts on a seasonal basis, I was only required to hold one years' experience teaching an equivalent course.
Do they offer you biscuits at work? :holmes:
Original post by Muttley79
Cohort strength is important - obviously at A level the only data is KS2 as they did not sit GCSEs. I assure you it is not as simple as a bell curve ...

So you're assuring me of something I had already conceded. Okay.
I'm not party to high-level discussions between Ofqual and exam boards, nor between government and Ofqual. I doubt you'll get anyone on this forum who is.
I'm not claiming to be anything I'm not, but people are asking things in the thread I can offer answers to.
You're no doubt as aware as I am about things like ALPS or FFT data. Education is driven by statistical analyses of scant data gleaned on pupils years ago, often by statisticians who go nowhere near a classroom. Exam boards also carry out their own tests and have their own data. Perhaps the OP can enlighten us.
@sickofthis - I got your DM, but can't reply back, I'm afraid.
I'm a teacher and examiner in a STEM subject, so marking of anything beyond a few sentences is limited, I'm afraid.
However, examiners are told to seek to award credit where possible, including, I would assume, sequencing of arguments, supporting with evidence and drawing conclusions, so even if you didn't in retrospect feel you'd answered the question, if you were using your skills developed on your course, you should still receive credit.
Good luck, I hope things work out well for you this summer.
(edited 1 year ago)
Original post by Mister P
@sickofthis - I got your DM, but can't reply back, I'm afraid.
I'm a teacher and examiner in a STEM subject, so marking of anything beyond a few sentences is limited, I'm afraid.
However, examiners are told to seek to award credit where possible, including, I would assume, sequencing of arguments, supporting with evidence and drawing conclusions, so even if you didn't in retrospect feel you'd answered the question, if you were using your skills developed on your course, you should still receive credit.
Good luck, I hope things work out well for you this summer.

So does that mean that if you wrote something which answered a question correctly, but it wasn’t on the mark-scheme/specification, there’s potential to pick up marks if the examiner thinks that it was still correct?
Original post by minnierocks
So does that mean that if you wrote something which answered a question correctly, but it wasn’t on the mark-scheme/specification, there’s potential to pick up marks if the examiner thinks that it was still correct?


Not as a rule in a STEM subject. I'm not sure about e.g. history, which has its own skills set being examined.
What’s the the highest someone could realistically get on a purely written exam? Like English language
(edited 1 year ago)
Original post by Mister P
People working for exam boards are very diverse. Some are statisticians, some are academics in the field of education in a particular subject, some are retired teachers, and some, like me, are the seasonal workers employed temporarily to mark scripts.
So, it depends on what you want to do. To play a role in writing questions, as I understand it, you'll have had to have risen through the ranks of examiners through proven performance in something like my role, moving up to the process of moderation and so on.
But if you just want payment for marking scripts on a seasonal basis, I was only required to hold one years' experience teaching an equivalent course.


thanks for your response, would i have to be teaching the course at a school or would it be sufficient to do so at a tuition centre? if only school then how could i go about looking for temporary placements? thank you
Original post by LilGoat7
thanks for your response, would i have to be teaching the course at a school or would it be sufficient to do so at a tuition centre? if only school then how could i go about looking for temporary placements? thank you

I applied a few years back now, but as I understand it, it was teaching the course full time. Why not get in touch with each board explaining your position?
Otherwise, there are always long-term teaching supply roles going!
Sounds silly, but are the scripts manually scanned in? I accidentally wrote my question numbers in all the pages of my answer and am stressing that the computer will just read them as jumbled up and I'll lose marks. Will AQA notice this before marking?
Original post by _Kestrel_
For humanities A-Level subjects, particularly things like English Literature and Philosophy/Religious Studies, how important is creativity and 'uniqueness' in a candidate's response in order for them to get into the A* band? I have been told by both my religious studies and English teachers that a flair of creativity and 'out of spec reading' is required in responses in order to secure an A*, otherwise you are shoved into the A band with all the other 'excellent but very similar' papers the examiner has to mark. This seems to contrast with STEM and some other humanities (e.g. geography and law, for example) where knowing the spec inside out and sticking to the A0s seem to be the best formula for an A*.


This is quite a difficult question to answer. To an extent, I think it depends on the subject and exam board. I've read some very 'generic' responses that have scored highly, and some more 'flowery' answers that have scored highly, too.

Original post by _Kestrel_
Also how often are exam papers marked incorrectly, to an extent that is incorrect by more than one grade? I once read a real TSR horror story of someone getting a U when they were a consistent A* student! I believe they did get a remark and were happy with their actual grade, something went on with admin on the exam board's end.


It's very rare, but unfortunately it does happen. It happened to me twice during my A-Levels, which is practically unheard of, for a different exam board than the one I work for now. It is extremely rare for it to be more than one grade wrong, though.

Firstly, for an AS paper, the final page worth of marks wasn't added, which meant that I received a B instead of an A. For an A2 paper, the exam board divided marks into content and analysis or something like that, and one of those (I forget which) wasn't added onto my score. So, my paper went up by 17 UMS in the remark. My school had never seen anything like it and changed exam boards afterwards because of it.
Original post by 04MR17
Do they offer you biscuits at work? :holmes:


We get free breakfast on Mondays (today I had a sausage bap, an apple, and orange juice) and free ice cream on Fridays (last week I had a Cornetto). When we go out to train teachers or host events, we get expenses covered, and the food is often really good. We also get unlimited hot drinks but unfortunately no biscuits. Our café is pretty great, though. I might take some photos of the snacks on offer if there's interest!
Original post by RaggedSlugger22
How do you approach marking exam responses that may be correct (or could be considered to be correct) but aren't in the mark scheme?


The examiner would probably go to a more senior examiner (our structure is examiner, team leader, and then a various number of senior examiners all the way up to a chair - there's like 4 levels) and it would go up until they find a solution. We always aim to be fair, and we are more understanding this year in particular.
Original post by yeet_21
What’s the the highest someone could realistically get on a purely written exam? Like English language


100 is completely possible. Some people get it. I personally got 100 on 2/4 of my History papers at A-Level, so I can confirm it happens.
Original post by Sandtrooper
We also get unlimited hot drinks but unfortunately no biscuits. Our café is pretty great, though. I might take some photos of the snacks on offer if there's interest!

YES! :biggrin:
Do you get paid for it?
will there be more leniency in marking this year in both essay subjects and stem subjects?
Original post by yeet_21
is overnight isolation real


Yes. Me and 4 other classmates friends were made to isolate at a local hotel overnight because we had an A Level exam clash, so we weren't allowed to mix or speak to anyone as we had to sit an ALevel Spanish paper the morning after everyone else. This was before we all had smartphones in 1998

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you