About marking

Marking exams and why it takes the time it does

As you will know, the time between students sitting the examinations and the results being released is about two months. Although this compares well with other awarding bodies, we do appreciate that both students and tutors want to see results as soon as possible.

We therefore thought it would be helpful to explain in detail the process and show what happens during those two months, and why we take the steps we do.

Stages for marking

  • Candidates take examination in December and June each year This can mean anything from 35,000 to 60,000 exam scripts being complete

  • Scripts despatched to markers (within 24 hours - usually same day)

  • All exam administrative documents returned to the AAT for collation (end of exam week)
  • Compulsory markers' standardisation meeting (week following exams) - this is where markers compare notes to ensure that everyone is following the same standards and assessing to the same criteria
  • Marks returned to the AAT each week and entered on to our database. Marks are then checked by a third party to assure accuracy. (January/July)
  • Reports of extenuating circumstances (for instance adverse centre conditions) is collated. If accepted these circumstances are taken into account when marking a student's paper
  • AAC feedback on papers collated. The feedback allows us to judge whether there were any particular problems with a paper or task. If the consensus is that a paper was very difficult or very easy, this feedback may affect the level of competence required for that paper
  • A sample of scripts from each marker is reviewed by the relevant Chief Assessor. This continues to ensure that everyone is maintaining the same approach and that all students are being assessed equally and fairly
  • The Exam Review Panel meets to discuss feedback from centres, marker statistics, candidate performance statistics, and reports from markers. As a result of this process, the levels required for competence are set.
  • Once that's done, all borderline scripts are reviewed (end January/July)
  • Education and Training Monitoring Panel (ETMP) meets to review quality assurance for the sitting (early February/August). This is the final check to ensure that there have been no errors or mistakes during the marking process
  • Results printed (early February/August)
  • Results packed and dispatched (mid February/August)

 

A careful and defined procedure

As you can see, there are a number of important stages that have to be completed before the results can be finalised. Over recent years the public has become very aware of the mistakes that can occur with results. It is important therefore that we have a careful and clearly defined procedure to ensure that results when they do appear are accurate, fair, and treat everyone equally.

A number of these steps do take time. For instance the review of sample papers by the Chief Assessor takes a week or more. It is important that one person does this - to maintain consistency - but by the same token the Chief Assessor must look at a good number of papers to ensure that the sample is representative.

Working towards improvement

However the AAT does recognise both student and centres' wishes for the process to be as speedy as possible. To this effect, an AAT working party has now been set up to review these procedures to see if any time saving can be made - without compromising quality and accuracy. Two ideas which are currently being investigated are:Results to be available for viewing on the Web shortly after they have been ratified by ETMP

  • Students being e-mailed their results directly soon after they have been ratified by ETMP

These ideas have a number of advantages:

  • Students and centres could get their results at least a week sooner than at present
  • Students could print off a hard copy straight away to show employers or other interested parties

These are both very large projects and the logistics will have to be considered in detail before we go ahead.

We hope this has explained the reasons why you have to wait the time you do before you get your results.

Contact us

If you have any comments or queries, please contact us.