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Marking Guidelines for Higher History

In Higher History the external assessment instruments consist of an examination and an extended essay.

The examination comprises two externally set papers (Paper I and Paper II).  The extended essay should be based on an issue of the candidate's own choice drawn from any of the prescribed contexts as detailed in the Conditions and Arrangements and is submitted to SQA for assessment.

In setting Higher History examination papers, the key principle is that of  fairness. Examiners attempt to set papers to allow candidates to display the knowledge and skills they have acquired, not to trap them into revealing gaps.

Similarly, in marking scripts for all elements of the examination, the key principles reflect the same purposes:

Reward achievement

• to recognise and reward the knowledge and skills demonstrated by the candidate, not to judge where the response falls short of an abstract "ideal" answer.

Consistency

• to apply the marking standards in the same way to each script, so that performances of equal merit receive the same reward.

To support markers, the examiners produce different styles of marking instructions for the essay-based components (the Extended Essay and Paper 1) and for the source-based element (Paper 2).

Design of the Marking Instructions

Essay-based work

Marking instructions for essay-based work are not content specific. The characteristics of a good essay are the same, regardless of the period being studied or the theme of the question. In any case, to include factual content in marking instructions for essays would run the risk of leading markers to take it too literally. This penalises candidates whose teachers had used alternative illustrative material, for example including local evidence in some areas of the syllabus (eg examples of suffragette activity in the north east of Scotland have been seen in answers to questions on women’s rights). It would also carry the possibility of markers giving too much weight to the factual content at the expense of recognising the analytical skills shown by the candidate.

The Marking Principles below, therefore, focus on the skills tested by this form of question and response. For illustrations of these skills please click on the links after them. The skills are, broadly, the ability to:

• identify the issue presented in the question, together with the main factors that should be considered in making a judgement about that issue; click here
• select and communicate appropriate evidence from recalled knowledge about the issue;
• use this evidence to formulate, develop and sustain a coherent line of argument - click here
  reach an appropriate conclusion which shows evidence of analysis of the issue - click here

In addition, the Extended Essay is designed to select an issue that interests the candidate, so that (s)he can research it more deeply than is possible in the time available for class teaching. This contributes to the development of planning and organising skills, the output of which is the 200 word plan used in the writing up session.

The marking instructions focus, therefore, on typical features of essays at different levels of performance, to each of which a range of marks is allocated that reflects the set scores for the award of A, B or C grades. It is important to realise that these are typical features, and that many essays will not match every feature appropriate to a particular award. For example, an essay might contain most of the features in the descriptor of a C pass essay, but some may be absent; another may have many of the features in the descriptor of a B grade essay, but also some of the higher level features contained in the A descriptor. It is for you to decide which of the levels most accurately reflects the overall achievement.

The marking process

You are encouraged to assess each essay by making a series of decisions:

1. Does the essay contain sufficient of the characteristics described in the marking instructions to justify the award of a pass mark?
2. If so, does it have enough of the features of the higher band awards to take it above the C pass level?
3. Again, if so, does it match enough of the qualities of an A pass essay to justify that award?
4. Once the appropriate band has been identified, where within the range of marks available should the essay be placed? Does it just demonstrate enough of the relevant features to reach that band, or does it have additional qualities to take it higher up the range of marks, part or all of the way to the top mark available within the band?

By using this process, what appears at the outset to be a highly subjective exercise can be seen as containing an internal logic that helps to promote consistency in decision making.

In the Extended Essay, you are asked to check that the essay is accompanied by the 200 word plan. The plan itself is not marked, but is used as evidence that the essay has been produced in accordance with the Arrangements document. You should satisfy yourself that it is not excessive in length, applying penalties to over-long plans.

Source-based work

Questions in the source handling paper test a range of skills. For illustrations of these skills please click on the links after them. The skills include the ability to:

• comment on the provenance of a source and on any bias it may contain; click here
• extract relevant information from the source(s);
• interpret the source(s) by identifying the overall view expressed in it (for example, whether the author supports or opposes a particular policy or course of action) and provide points of detail to justify the interpretation;
• compare two sources for viewpoint or interpretation; click here
• place the source(s) in their historical context through the application of recalled knowledge.

Here, the marking instructions can be much more specific in terms of the expected content of the response. For each question, they are divided into two sections.

In the first, examiners indicate the evidence they would expect candidates to take from the source. Where relevant, this includes the overall viewpoint of the author as well as detailed points.

This section is followed by descriptions of performance at three levels, with mark levels depending on the number of marks available for the question:

The marking process

Again, the decision for you is to decide into which of these ranges the answer should be placed, then where within the range to award the marks. Half marks may be awarded (eg 2.5/5, 3.5/6) but you are discouraged from using halves at the extreme ends of the mark range. When the marks are totalled, any resultant half mark is rounded up.

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