The Moderation Process

Moderation is the process of ensuring that everyone is marking to the same standard. It's a principle of fairness, after all, you wouldn't be pleased if you thought the school down the road was giving their candidates extra marks, would you?

1) The MS1 form
Centres send their coursework marks to OCR on the top copy of the MS1, and the middle, self carboning, copy, goes to the moderator. While OCR scan their copy, moderators must manually transfer the marks to a tally sheet, from which they select their sample.
Problems: It needs to be legible! So often teachers don't press on hard enough, or write on it with the forms on top of each other so that the self-carbon paper has several marks and it's difficult to tell which is which. The moderator need the numeric mark - humans don't easily read markscan lozenges. And the teaching group, to help select a fair sample across all teachers.
OCR doesn't ask for it, but you moderator will love you if you send a spreadsheet printout of the marks. Especially if you sort it in rank order!

2) Deadlines The sooner you get your MS1s to the moderator, the sooner (s)he can request a sample. The normal deadline is May 15th. Now bearing in mind the time taken by the postal service, and the fact that half-term generally falls about two weeks after, you can see how fast we need to move. The moderator generally has only 3-4 weeks to complete the moderation, so any delay makes this difficult to meet.
If you haven't been asked for your sample within a week of May 15th, consider contacting the board, as there could be a postal or internal mail problem.

3) The sample
The moderator will request a number of projects, depending on the size of the entry, usually between 10 and 20. Make sure they are presented neatly, but not in ring binders etc, and that they have the correct coversheet, with marks shown, pages numbered and referenced.

4) Moderation
On opening the samples, most moderators will make a preliminary assessment to prioritise their work. Most moderators do about 20 centres, so you can imagine the time needed.
Sub-sampling: Initially, half the sample is looked at. If the marking is satisfactory, the moderator is happy and can proceed to write the report. If it's outside the tolerance (see below), the rest of the sample must be examined.
If the work is well referenced, with page numbers and annotation, then it's generally a simple matter to check that the marks awarded have been given correctly and the markscheme has been correctly interpreted and applied. A moderator can see what marks have been given and either agree, or determine where the markscheme has been misinterpreted. However if a centre does not do this, then it almost needs re-marking, which takes longer. The moderator is more likely to give the benefit of the doubt if (s)he can see what you have awarded the mark for.
There is a tolerance for marking - we're all human and there are bound to be little differences in opinion - even moderators and examiners don't always agree completely. On project 2 it is 4 marks, on project 1 it is 4 marks across both projects. That's how accurate you need to be! If the majority of the differences are within this, then the centre's marks will not be changed.
If the marking is outside that tolerance, then it will probably be scaled. If there is a large variation, the moderator may ask for a second sample. However there are a number of reasons for requesting a second sample, and this alone does not mean the marks will adjusted, although it is a possibility.

5) Order of merit
The rank order of students is of vital importance. Moderators cannot change this. This is why it is important for centres to moderate internally, to make sure all teachers mark to the same level. Moderators can adjust the marks for a whole centre, but if it is found that marking is so inconsistent that the rank order is violated, then they must send the work back to the centre to be re-marked. The extra work for both sides tends to cause resentment, so this situation is to be avoided as much as possible.

6) Adjustment and report
When the moderator has looked at a suitable number of samples, a decision is made on whether to adjust marks, and how to make the adjustment. Usually it involves a graduated scale, carefully selected to avoid changing the order of merit. The recommendation is made on a form, while the moderator also writes a report to the centre on their findings. This should be informative and help the centre to improve next time - make sure you read and act upon the report which comes back with your coursework, as moderators are less sympathetic next year if recommendations have not been implemented.

7) Team leader & principal moderator
The moderator's report and recommendations are sent to a team leader, who decides whether to authorise them or to change them. This is why moderators cannot tell centres about adjustments; they're not secret as such, but may be subject to change by the board. Team leaders may pass on findings to the principal moderator, and they meet with the subject officer to decide grade boundaries. At this stage they will have selected exemplar projects - these are, in general, not those that display perfection, but those around the grade boundaries. This is why some projects may not be returned to you with the rest; they are used by the board for standardisation.



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