Focus on Assessment
How is the Test of Writing marked?
Trained examiners award a mark to each piece of writing using two mark schemes – the General Mark Scheme and the Task-specific Mark Scheme. The General Mark Scheme summarises performance with reference to content, organisation and cohesion, range and accuracy of vocabulary, range and accuracy of grammatical structures and effect on the target reader across six bands. The Task-specific Mark Scheme focuses on criteria specific to each task
The ILEC General Mark Scheme is interpreted at Council of Europe Levels B2 and C1 and consists of Bands 0 – 6. Band 5 and 6 represent adequate and good performance at C1. Bands 3 and 4 represent adequate and good performance at B2. Band 2 and below represent an inadequate performance on the ILEC Writing paper.
The examiners’ first priority is to give credit for communication, but candidates are penalised for content irrelevant to the task.
How are the examiners organised?
A panel of expert examiners is divided into small teams, each with a very experienced examiner as Team Leader. A Principal Examiner guides and monitors the marking process, beginning with a meeting of the Principal Examiner and the Team Leaders. This is held immediately after the examination and begins the process of establishing a common standard of assessment by the selection of sample scripts for both questions in the Test of Writing. These are chosen to demonstrate the range of responses and different levels of competence. A task-specific mark scheme is finalised for each task on the paper.
Examiners discuss these task-specific mark schemes and general mark schemes and refer to them regularly while they are marking. A rigorous process of co-ordination and checking is carried out before and throughout the marking process.