Procedures for the Anonymous Marking of Examination Scripts
The marking of all examination scripts written by students on all undergraduate degree, diploma and certificate courses, including all examinations taken by visiting undergraduate students, is conducted so as to preserve the anonymity of candidates. Where it is practicable, this policy extends to all candidates with disabilities and/or special needs, unless such a candidate formally waives his or her right to anonymity. The anonymous marking procedures outlined below do not extend beyond formal written examinations held at the annual and supplemental sessions; incourse assessments including endofterm tests, dissertations, and scripts written by candidates for the Foundation Scholarship examination and special examinations are all submitted under the candidate's name and student IDnumber.
Note: General anonymous marking protocols are outlined below. Additional information and instructions for the current year are routinely circulated to academic departments by the Examinations Office.
- Assignment of Examination Numbers to Students
- Assignment of Students to Examinations
- Arrangements at Examination Venues
- Collection of Examination Scripts by Examiners
- Arrangements for Candidates with Disabilities and/or Special Needs
- Anonymous Marking Protocols
- Retention of Scripts and Mark Sheets
Assignment of Examination Numbers to Students
At the start of each academic year, all students are provided with their own unique fivedigit examination number. Their examination number is recorded on their personal student record which they can view by logging onto their portal page on MyTCD.ie. A student's examination number can only be accessed by the individual student concerned. Students' examination numbers are released only to the departmental keyholder prior to the commencement of the annual examinations.
Assignment of Students to Examinations
Students are automatically assigned to the examinations corresponding to the mandatory and optional courses on which they are enrolled. Academic school, department and course offices are responsible for ensuring that students' course choices for the current academic year are correctly recorded in the CMIS Timetabling System by the end of Michaelmas term, and are updated as required thereafter.
In early Hilary term all undergraduate students should be requested to check their teaching details (compulsory and optional) as recorded on the Student Information System, and to notify the relevant schools, discipline or course office by a specified date (before the end of January) if any details are incorrect. It is on the basis of this information that examination modules are assigned and seating lists are generated. The onus is on the student at this stage to ensure that they are entered for the correct teaching modules.
Arrangements at Examination Venues
In the examination venue students taking the same paper are seated in examination number order within class*. In this way the seat number order will correspond to examination number order for a given cohort of students. The seating lists posted at the entrance to the examination venue list all candidates for a given paper by name in alphabetical order with seat number (but not examination number). A master seating list containing each candidate's name, student IDnumber, seat number and examination number is held by the chief invigilator.Students must bring their College IDcard to all examinations. Students are required to record the following information on the cover of each examination booklet used: examination number, date of the examination, degree/diploma course and year of course, title of examination paper, seat number, and number of booklets submitted. In addition, students are required to write their student IDnumber, name and signature on the flap at the bottom right hand side of the booklet. This flap should then be closed and sealed in order to preserve their anonymity. The onus is on the students to ensure that they have sealed the flap before they submit their booklets to the invigilator.
*A student's class is determined by their course (degree/diploma course) + year of course/standing + subject, eg JF History; SF TSM History of Art; JF Science, Biology, etc.
Collection of Examination Scripts by Examiners
When the examination is over, the scripts for each examination paper are sorted in seat number order. Seat number order will correspond to examination number order, which in turn matches the order in which candidates appear on the anonymous mark sheets provided to examiners (see Mark Sheets below). A paper copy of the relevant mark sheet for examiners is available on request from the Examinations Office. Examiners may not collect scripts directly from an examination venue.
Arrangements for Candidates with Disabilities and/or Special Needs
Where special arrangements have been made for a student to sit an examination in a separate venue, their scripts are available separately to the main bundle of scripts submitted by other candidates for that paper. These scripts must also be signed out of the Examinations Office. Since students with disabilities may elect to waive their right to anonymity, some examination scripts may carry the student's name openly on the cover, while others may carry only the candidate's examination number.
Anonymous Marking Protocols
The basic procedures to be followed in relation to the anonymous marking of examinations are outlined below. Schools, disciplines or course offices may decide to record marks and transmit mark sheets between examiners and keyholder in electronic format or in hard copy only or a combination of both methods. Stepbystep instructions for examiners and keyholders on the handling of marks and electronic mark sheets are provided in the booklet 'Anonymous Marking Procedures: User Guidelines' (this can be accessed by logging into the Student Information System).
- Mark Sheets - Mark sheets for each examination paper are sent in electronic format to examiners before the commencement of the examination session. These mark sheets list candidates by examination number in examination number order within class* . A paper copy of the relevant mark sheet for examiners is available on request from the Examinations Office.
*On anonymous mark sheets, class is expressed in terms of Student Records Office course and subject codes, where the standing is 1 for JF up to 4 for SS. - Procedures for Examiners - As the scripts are marked by the examiner(s), the marks are transferred to the anonymous mark sheet, which is then signed by the examiner(s), and submitted to the keyholder (see Role of Keyholder below). A copy of the mark sheet should be retained by the examiner. At this point the anonymous (provisional) marks for the paper are on record. In the event of alleged bias, a student has the right to request, through their tutor, access to this anonymous examination mark. In the case of double or second marking of examination scripts, the eventual mark agreed between the examiners should be recorded as the original anonymous (provisional) mark.Where it is necessary, in order to arrive at an overall mark for a course/module, to combine the marks for an examination paper with continuous assessment marks held by the examiner, the examiner must first submit the signed mark sheet to the keyholder. The keyholder can then release a copy of the master version of the mark sheet (including names, student numbers and examination numbers) to the examiner, who can then add assessment (or other examination) marks to the mark sheet and compute the overall mark for that component. To avoid errors, where data is transferred, matching should be done on student number, not name. The completed mark sheet is then signed by the examiner(s) and returned to the keyholder.
- The Role of the Keyholder - In the context of anonymous marking procedures, the term ‘key’ refers to a master list which contains the full name, student IDnumber, anonymous examination number, and class for each candidate for a given examination paper. In order to protect the anonymity of candidates during the marking process, the master lists or keys are received in electronic format and are kept by the 'keyholder'. The mark sheets received by keyholders are identical to the mark sheets provided to examiners except that they also have student numbers and names on them. The identity of candidates is only revealed to examiners after they have submitted the anonymous (provisional) marks to the keyholder on the anonymous mark sheets provided. Keyholders are recommended to consult the booklet 'Anonymous Marking Procedures: User Guidelines' for guidance on the preparation and management of electronic mark sheets and results files. The Head of Department normally acts as the keyholder for examinations within the Department. The Head of Department may, however, delegate this role to another member of staff if he or she deems it necessary or appropriate to do so. The keyholder is responsible for ensuring that a file copy is retained of each signed mark sheet recording the original marks awarded by examiners to the anonymous candidates. The right of external examiners to change a mark for a student is not affected by this requirement. As noted above, these marks are provisional until confirmed by the appropriate Court of Examiners. A paper record of any subsequent changes to these marks made by an external examiner, or by a Court of Examiners, must be retained in the Department.
- Duration of Anonymity - In general, anonymity should be preserved throughout the marking process unless and until the Head of Department is satisfied that it is necessary to verify a candidate's identity in the best interests of the candidate. For example, in the event that a candidate has obviously made an error in recording, or has omitted to record, their examination number on an answer booklet, the sealed flap of the examination answer booklet may be opened, but not until all questions answered by the candidate have been marked, and those marks recorded by the examiner on the mark sheet and the mark sheet returned to the keyholder. The Head of Department must ensure that a record is kept of all instances where a candidate's anonymity has been breached, the stage in the process at which this occurred, and the reasons for it.
Retention of Scripts and Mark Sheets
Retention of Scripts and Mark Sheets Both examination scripts and original anonymous mark sheets must be retained for thirteen months from the date of the meeting of the Court of Examiners which moderates the marks in question. Examination scripts and other completed written assessment materials relating to work done in an earlier year that has not been finally marked and/or moderated should be retained until the work of the final Court of Examiners has been completed. In the case of students going off books, scripts for which the marks have been moderated by the Court of Examiners prior to the student going off books are not normally retained for longer than thirteen months.