Marking Simplified

There’s nothing more exhilarating than a pile of marked papers.

And there’s nothing more overwhelming than a pile of unmarked test papers.

Testing and accurate marking are necessary to hold students accountable and give them the feedback they crave. Here are some tips to lighten your marking load and help you finish the school year paperwork-free!

In General:

Plan Ahead

When creating your test, set up the questions to make the marking move quicker. Use more short-answer or multiple-choice questions. (Click HERE for more tips on creating tests.)

Small increments

Tackle five to ten tests at a time.

Section by section

Create a sample answer sheet and cut out the answers to each section. Put the answer key near the students’ answers to rely less on your memory.

Magic Marker

Hire an assistant or a colleague to help with grading.

For Essays and Long Answers:

Use symbols or colors to provide quick feedback instead of writing lengthy comments.

Criteria for Success: By clarifying expectations in advance, you can reduce the time you spend deliberating over grades, and students will be less likely to dispute their grades.

For Rating Sheets

Use Excel or Google Spreadsheets to calculate averages. (Click HERE for help with this.)

Report Card Comments

Use sentence stems or ready-to-use phrases to build a custom comment for each girl.

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