September From the Moderation Team article

Moderation (or re- marking) of PACE tests is conducted by the Certificates Team moderators as a control to uphold and maintain the standard of the Certificates.  We recently received the following areas of improvement for some of our families once they had completed the marking of the second moderation period PACE Tests.

While this is especially relevant to parents of students on Certificate Pathways, we encourage all families to take note and implement these areas so that you are marking the PACE Tests correctly and to ensure that when your student is at the Certificate level, they are already implemented.

General

• Students MUST use pencils on their PACE Tests. The parent (marker) should use a green pen.
  • A pencil is easier to erase therefore makes the students work neater.
  • The moderator uses a specific coloured pen to mark the PACE tests, so if the parent has used green it is easier for the moderator to determine who made which marks on the PACE test.
  • A red pen is used by the student when marking the tests within the PACE (Checkups and the Self Test). Therefore if a red (or other coloured) pen is used, it may indicate or imply to the moderator that the student rather than the parent has marked the PACE test.  Remember – STUDENTS SHOULD NOT MARK PACE Tests, NOR SHOULD THEY HAVE ACCESS TO THE TEST KEY.
• Correct grammar, capitalisation, punctuation and pluralisation should be used in ALL subjects at the Certificate level. Deduct ½ mark for each error.
• To obtain an accurate test score, please deduct any lost points from 100. For tests which have a total of 50 points, deduct any lost points from 50, then double the result.
• Remind students to follow the instructions carefully. If they have been asked to underline, they should not circle. Deduct ½ mark.
• Part Marking (explained further below)
  • Please ensure that you do not mark an incorrect or blank answers as correct. (Partial points may be given – see below)
  • A partially correct answer was deducted full points. (Partial points may be given – see below)
  • When marking, put a (x) beside the incorrect question and note how many points to deduct. For further clarity, if required, underline, put an arrow (^) or write a note/abbreviation, to indicate what the error was.
  • When marking sentences or paragraphs, all main ideas listed in the score key should be present in the students answer in order to be awarded full points. If not, deduct accordingly.

Math/Science

• Please ensure that students use the curved chi symbol χ rather the straight x in all algebraic expressions. It can cause confusion particularly if used as a multiplication sign in the same expression.
• Order in Algebra is important. Students are taught to order their answers according to alphabetical order then in descending powers of 10. For example: x comes before y and χ³ comes before χ².
• Please ensure when marking graphs, that all lines, curves, circles, shading and/or labelling are correct. If not, deduct accordingly.

Social Studies

• Senior Modern History – is structured differently to other subjects. As such, the PACE Tests assess not only their historical knowledge but also their historical thinking skills.  This results in the students answers being different to the Test Key.  Please ensure that the student has addressed each point included in the PACE Test.

Christian Studies

• Scripture must have correct punctuation, and no missing or incomplete words. Deduct ½ point for each instance.
• If using another version that is not KJV, please indicate the version in parenthesis. i.e. (NIV), (CEV) etc.

How and when to award Part marks

Within the PACEs, there are some instances where the answers are straight forward, such as a True or False question.  However, there are some instances where, while there may be a correct final answer, there may be a possibility of part marks.  These instances include questions that require multiple steps in order to obtain the correct answer or there are a couple of points that need to be mentioned within a paragraph (or longer) answer.  In these instances, it can be difficult to know how much to award to what part.  This article should hopefully, provide clarity to help both parents and students, ensure that they are not only marking correctly but the student being awarded for any part they completed correctly.

In Maths, a single question might test a few separate skills or steps, which leading to a final answer. Credit may be given for mastering some of these skills, even if the final answer is not correct.  It would be a shame to give a student zero marks when they have clearly shown some mastery along the way!

Check the final answer with the Test Key. If the answers are not exactly the same, then full marks cannot be given.

If the answers are radically different, however, don’t give zero if it is clear that the student has demonstrated a part of the correct process. You are free to make some judgement calls here, but you should be aware of the following guidelines for correcting Maths (and therefore also Science) questions:

1. If there are errors with the final answer, but the working out is at least partly correct, award part marks in proportion to how much of the working is correct. For example, for a 2 mark question, if the working looks correct but somehow the calculations resulted in a wrong answer, consider giving 1 mark. If there were two clear steps in the working, and one of the two was done correctly but the second was not, resulting in the wrong answer, consider giving half a mark for starting out right. Try to see how many steps there were, including calculating the final answer, and divide the marks up accordingly.
2. If there are calculation errors made, but the final answer is still correct, apply the same principles as above.
3. If no working or method is shown as directed by the question, even if they have the correct answer, not showing working is a cardinal error, and the student must never receive full marks. Deduct half of the possible marks for the question. For smaller questions where no working is required, allow full marks.

Remember that for PACEs between 1072 and 1096 you can purchase the Supervisor’s Solution Key.  These provide the working out for all the math problems, not just the answer.