MathsΣdge

How marking works

MathsEdge marks your working, not just your final answer. That means you can earn marks on a question you got wrong, and it can tell you which line the problem started on.

What you get back

For each part of the question you get a mark, a verdict and feedback.

VerdictMeans
correctFull marks for that part.
partially correctSome marks. The method was going somewhere; something in it broke.
incorrectNo marks — but read the feedback, it says why.
unattemptedNothing was submitted for that part.

Partial credit is real. If you set the problem up correctly and slipped in the arithmetic, you keep the method marks.

What the marker read

Open What the marker read under the feedback and you get your working written out, one line per step, exactly as the marker read it off your page. Where it found a mistake, that line is highlighted.

This is worth a look every time. It is the marker showing its working: if what is listed there matches what you wrote, the marking was done on your actual answer. Two entries look different from the rest — something in square brackets like [sketch: parabola opening upward] is the marker describing a diagram you drew, and [unreadable] means it could not make that line out at all rather than guessing at it.

If your handwriting is misread

Where your writing could be read two ways, it is read the way that helps you. If a y might be a 4, or a bracket is ambiguous, or an exponent is squashed, the marker takes the reading that makes your work correct.

If it still got it wrong, use “It misread my work” under your marks. Your page goes to a different marker and is marked again from scratch. Be aware that this is a genuine re-mark, not an appeal: your score can go down as well as up, and you only get one per question.

This is deliberate. The marker is the only thing reading your handwriting, so if it misreads you, that is its mistake and not yours to pay for. Write as clearly as you reasonably can, check What the marker read if a mark surprises you, and otherwise stop worrying about it.

The model solution

After marking, Show model solution reveals full worked steps for each part. Read it even when you got full marks — it will often be shorter than what you did.

Telling us a question is wrong

Under the marking there is a comment box. If a question is ambiguous, has a mistake, or was marked unfairly, say so there. It is attached to that exact question and attempt, so it is genuinely useful — several questions have been rewritten or retired because of it.

Still stuck? Get in touch and tell us what you were doing when it went wrong.