Mock Marking

December mocks are vital for exam practice and for the analysis of pupil's learning needs in the precious months leading up to the real exam season, but they do generate a desk-full of marking.

For maximum impact, these assessments can be also be used for formative feedback on technical accuracy, just like any other classroom assessment. To do this properly however, requires the kind of close marking that seems onerous when you have, say, three sets of papers from one (or more) year 11 classes that need a quick turnaround.

I have been using marking keys for SPaG corrections since the start of the autumn term, after being  inspired by a conversation with a colleague in my department over the summer. (Yes I know, we discussed marking in the summer holidays instead of swapping cocktail recipes. OK you got me, as well as swapping cocktail recipes.)

He was inspired in turn by David Didau's brilliant blog which you can find here.

Below is the marking key I developed and currently use - I've some ideas for improvements but would welcome comments -  which enables me to make quick annotations of all kinds of errors.

Pupils then do the real work of responding to the feedback by referring to the key and making corrections. For younger year groups, I ask them to label the annotation symbol as well to acquaint them thoroughly with common errors to look out for.

Hope it's of interest, happy marking folks.