How strict do people think marking is?

[Hera]

It's not going to be a problem in a multiple-choice 11plus exam though is it?
What does the OP question actually mean - i.e. whose marking for what purpose?

I guess I was mainly referring to 11+. Our papers are all in a standard format so may well be a problem for us!

[bravado]

It's not going to be a problem in a multiple-choice 11plus exam though is it?
What does the OP question actually mean - i.e. whose marking for what purpose?

I guess I was mainly referring to 11+. Our papers are all in a standard format so may well be a problem for us!

Essex Maths papers aren't multiple choice, although it would appear that for the most part, the unit is already entered in the space for your answer.

[mystery]

Ah right - can the school setting the standard format paper tell you what their marking policy is? I wouldn't expect a child to lose all points though just because a unit of measurement was missing ....... that seems a little pedantic and will not enable them to easily see who the able candidates are. Really at this point they want to see who is best at maths, not who is best at remembering to put the units on the end surely? Marks for units would actually prevent them seeing this across the cohort.

I'm not saying that it isn't important to put the units on, but it's not a measure of maths ability or intelligence - more like careful teaching and diligence.

[First-timer]

Essex Maths papers aren't multiple choice, although it would appear that for the most part, the unit is already entered in the space for your answer.

I don't have any to hand, but I think the more recent Essex Maths papers didn't include units and marks were lost if the candidate did not include them in the relevant answers. It can be tempting to give marks where units have been missed or where part of a question has been calculated correctly (half marks when the marking scheme makes no allowance for this). Personally, I prefer to mark strictly. Parents often report lower than expected marks in the real exam and I wonder how much of this might be due to inflated marking during practice.

[mystery]

Mmm - yes marking strictly in class is one thing, but knocking marks off in a test of ability for not putting on the units is quite another. It's actually pretty foolish.

Let's say there are 100 maths questions. Child A gets all the answers right (in the numerical sense) but misses off the units in very answer. Strict mark = 0%

Child B gets 50% of the answers right (numerically) and puts units in correctly too. Strict mark = 50%

Which child would you rather have in your Essex grammar school? If this is really the Essex 11plus marking policy it should be binned asap!

[bravado]

Looking at my CSSE pack, both 2010 and 2011 Maths offer some units of measure on the answers - the child fills in the numerical answer:

2010 - Questions with units entered...4, 7, 10, 11, 16, 18, 22, 24a, 25, 26

2011 - " " " " 12b, 13a

Rather bizarrely, the answer sheet for several questions that should require a unit of measure, ie how many grams of sugar remain, gives the number, without unit.

[mystery]

Are those real past questions, or practice material?

Does someone mark by hand in Essex? Sounds punishing; I thought it was multichoice everywhere except in individual schools with lowish numbers entering the tests.

[First-timer]

Looking at my CSSE pack, both 2010 and 2011 Maths offer some units of measure on the answers - the child fills in the numerical answer:

2010 - Questions with units entered...4, 7, 10, 11, 16, 18, 22, 24a, 25, 26

2011 - " " " " 12b, 13a

Rather bizarrely, the answer sheet for several questions that should require a unit of measure, ie how many grams of sugar remain, gives the number, without unit.

Thanks for that. It's been a while since I looked at the recent papers and I'm not able to check at the moment.

[ToadMum]

Are those real past questions, or practice material?

Does someone mark by hand in Essex? Sounds punishing; I thought it was multichoice everywhere except in individual schools with lowish numbers entering the tests.

The practice packs that we can buy from the CSSE office contain actual Maths and English papers sat (available from the beginning of February) the previous autumn, plus a "CSSE-type" VR paper. Papers from the year before that are also available for a few months after that, presumably "while stocks last".

The Maths and English papers are set by ne of the CSSE schools. I have always assumed that they are marked by hand; difficult to see how they could be marked otherwise. The VR is machine-read.