A-level examination boards in England, Northern Ireland and Wales use levels of response mark schemes for some of their questions. These questions require a different approach from that used when answering questions marked using a point-by-point mark scheme.
Before looking at levels of response mark schemes, let’s remind ourselves of the more traditional point-by-point mark scheme. These mark schemes contain the subject content required to answer the question as separate marking points (see Box 1). Except where an explanation is asked for, the number of marking points is often slightly higher than the mark tariff for the question. An examiner gives students 1 mark for each of the points they include correctly in their answers (in the case of Box 1, to a maximum of 3 marks). As discussed in a previous Upgrade (BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES REVIEW, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 27–29), examiners usually deal leniently with spelling and grammar when marking these questions.
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