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Marking mocks as a department

Ofqual’s research puts English among the hardest subjects to mark consistently, even for trained examiners. A department can still produce mock grades worth trusting if it agrees the standard before marking and checks it afterwards.

Quick guide for teachers · 4 minute read

Two experienced English teachers can give the same essay different marks, and both can defend their mark from the mark scheme. Ofqual has measured how often that happens in live exams, and the findings are a good reason to plan mock marking as a department job.

What Ofqual found

Ofqual’s 2016 report on marking consistency compared GCSE and A level components from 2013 to 2015. It found: “It is observed that the quality of marking for physics components is higher than that for the more ‘subjective’ English language or history components.” The reason is the kind of question: “For more subjective questions, there may be legitimate differences in applying the mark scheme between different examiners resulting in less agreement between examiners.”

The 2018 update, using the 2017 results for the reformed GCSEs and A levels, put a number on it. The probability of receiving the “definitive” grade, the one a senior examiner would give, ranged “from 0.96 (a mathematics qualification) to 0.52 (an English language and literature qualification)”. The report does not say which level that was, and GCSE English Language and English Literature are separate qualifications, so the 0.52 is not a figure for either GCSE. It also found that “The probability of receiving the definitive grade or adjacent grade is above 0.95 for all qualifications”. For that English qualification, a grade one away from the senior examiner’s was common, and a grade two away was rare.

Ofqual’s announcement of that research explains why. Disagreements between examiners come partly from “definitional uncertainty (uncertainty in the definition of what is to be assessed)”, and “in English language definitional uncertainty is more likely”. In English, more of the disagreement is about what is being assessed, and that is the thing a department can agree before anyone marks.

Before marking: agree the standard

Exam boards start the same way. Ofqual’s guide to how GCSE and A Level marking works (June 2026) says: “Before marking starts, senior examiners pick out a selection of student responses and agree what mark each one should receive.”

For a mock, the head of department and one colleague read a pile of scripts for each question and choose four or five that cover the range. They agree a level and a mark for each and write one sentence per script on why it sits there, in the language of the level descriptor. The whole team then marks those scripts blind, compares, and talks through the gaps until the reasons are shared.

Model answers help as anchors. The model answer packs in our schemes have answers at grades 4, 6 and 8 to 9 with notes on what earns each grade. They are our examples, not AQA’s, and work best beside real scripts from your own students.

While marking: levels first

AQA’s English mark schemes are levels-based. Read the whole answer, decide the level that fits best, and only then choose a mark within it. A marker who counts techniques or adds up points is marking a different scheme from the one examiners use. For Literature, The six levels in AQA’s Literature mark scheme sets out the level headings.

Exam boards also check examiners as they go. Ofqual’s guide explains that agreed responses are used as “seeds”, which “are then mixed in at random with the real marking, without the examiner knowing”. A department can copy this cheaply: put two of the agreed scripts, unlabelled, into each teacher’s pile.

After marking: moderate, then grade

Second-mark a sample blind, without the first marks on the script: one script from each level for each teacher is enough to show a pattern. In the moderation meeting, start with the scripts where the two marks are a level apart, and decide which reading of the level descriptor the department will use.

Then convert marks to grades with care. Ofqual’s teachers’ guide to grading says: “Grade boundaries often vary year on year, to reflect fairly any changes in how difficult the paper is.” A mock graded on last year’s boundaries is an estimate on two counts: the boundaries, and a student sitting the paper months before the exam.

Reporting mock grades

  • Report the level and mark for each question, as well as the grade. A student can act on Level 3 in Question 4, and a grade on its own tells them little.
  • Say what the grade is: an estimate from one sitting, using last year’s boundaries.
  • Note any access arrangement the student used, such as extra time or a word processor, so the grade is read with it in mind (see Access arrangements in English exams).
  • Give the next lesson to the paper. One whole-class feedback sheet per question, with an improvement task for each level, turns the mock into teaching.

Parents read mock grades too. What mock exam results tell you explains them for families, and it helps if the school’s letter uses the same words.

Sources

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