UKLO markers
We depend heavily on volunteers who mark the Advanced entries for Round 1.
We have two kinds of volunteer:
- individual volunteers
- ‘markathons’ (where a group of students and staff marked collectively).
- To find out about running a ‘markathon’, click here.
For a list of markers and markathons in previous years, click here.
How does it work?
The following instructions apply equally to individual markers or to markathons, except where indicated.
- Early in February we assign you as marker to one or more schools, and email them your contact details, i.e. your email address and your home mailing address.
- The schools sit the test during the first complete week of February. After the Advanced test, the teacher scans the scripts for security, then, by the end of the week:
- the teacher emails you both the scans and a completed list of competitors’ names. The scans are just for emergency use, i.e. in case scripts get lost in the post, so you normally won’t start marking until the actual scripts reach you.If you don’t get an email from one of your schools, you notify the Marker coordinator Jessica Brown.
- and the teacher mails (first class) you both the scripts and a stamped self-addressed envelope for the return of your scripts (which you normally won’t return otherwise ). Again, if your scripts don’t arrive, notify Jessica sooner rather than later.
- At about the same time we email you the documents you need:
- the test paper
- the correct answers
- the marking scheme.
- You mark the scripts as soon as you can, but in any case within a week of receiving them. You record your marks on the standard name-list which the school will have sent you, and which is in fact a sophisticated Excel spreadsheet which converts your ‘points’ into the final marks that we use for classifying candidates. When you’ve finished, you email your spreadsheet(s) to Jesssica. [Note for markathons: we strongly recommend you to use volunteers to enter the marks while the markathon is taking place; otherwise you may find yourself with a very long and boring job for which you haven't allowed time!]
- You keep all the scripts until we tell you that you can either return them to schools (using the envelope they sent you) or dispose of them. But before then we may ask you to scan and email us certain scripts which we have selected for our shortlist. Please tell us if scanning presents a serious problem for you.
Extra information
For a collection of sample material for marking (and some marked examples), click here.
For an archive of previous Marker newsletters, click here.
