A-levelEconomics Paper 3 marking scheme

Step 1 Determine a levelStart at the lowest level of the mark scheme and use it as a ladder to see whether the answer meetsthe descriptor for that level.The descriptor for the level indicates the different qualities that might beseen in the student's answer for that level.If it meets the lowest level then go to the next one anddecide if it meets this level, and so on, until you have a match between the level descriptor and theanswer.With practice and familiarity you will find that for better answers you will be able to quicklyskip through the lower levels of the mark scheme.When assigning a level you should look at the overall quality of the answer and not look to pick holesin small and specific parts of the answer where the student has not performed quite as well as therest.If the answer covers different aspects of different levels of the mark scheme you should use abest fit approach for defining the level and then use the variability of the response to help decide themark within the level. i.e. if the response is predominantly level 3 with a small amount of level 4material it would be placed in level 3 but be awarded a mark near the top of the level because of thelevel 4 content