General Marking Guidance
• All candidates must receive the same treatment. Examiners must mark the first
candidate in exactly the same way as they
... [Show More] mark the last.
• Mark schemes should be applied positively. Candidates must be rewarded for
what they have shown they can do rather than penalised for omissions.
• Examiners should mark according to the mark scheme not according to their
perception of where the grade boundaries may lie.
• There is no ceiling on achievement. All marks on the mark scheme should be used
appropriately.
• All the marks on the mark scheme are designed to be awarded. Examiners should
always award full marks if deserved, i.e. if the answer matches the mark scheme.
Examiners should also be prepared to award zero marks if the candidate’s
response is not worthy of credit according to the mark scheme.
• Where some judgement is required, mark schemes will provide the principles by
which marks will be awarded and exemplification may be limited.
• When examiners are in doubt regarding the application of the mark scheme to a
candidate’s response, the team leader must be consulted.
• Crossed out work should be marked UNLESS the candidate has replaced it with
an alternative response.
Types of mark
• M marks: method marks
• A marks: accuracy marks
• B marks: unconditional accuracy marks (independent of M marks)
Abbreviations
• cao – correct answer only
• ft – follow through
• isw – ignore subsequent working
• SC - special case
• oe – or equivalent (and appropriate)
• dep – dependent
• indep – independent
• awrt – answer which rounds to
• eeoo – each error or omission
No working
• If no working is shown then correct answers normally score full marks
• If no working is shown then incorrect (even though nearly correct) answers score
no marks.
With working
• If there is a wrong answer indicated on the answer line always check the working
in the body of the script (and on any diagrams), and award any marks appropriate
from the mark scheme.
• If it is clear from the working that the “correct” answer has been obtained from
incorrect working, award 0 marks.
• If a candidate misreads a number from the question. Eg. Uses 252 instead of 255;
method marks may be awarded provided the question has not been simplified.
• Examiners should send any instance of a suspected misread to review. If there is
a choice of methods shown, mark the method that leads to the answer on the
answer line; where no answer is given on the answer line, award the lowest mark
from the methods shown.
• If there is no answer on the answer line then check the working for an obvious
answer.
Ignoring subsequent work
• It is appropriate to ignore subsequent work when the additional work does not
change the answer in a way that is inappropriate for the question: eg. Incorrect
cancelling of a fraction that would otherwise be correct.
• It is not appropriate to ignore subsequent work when the additional work
essentially makes the answer incorrect eg algebra.
• Transcription errors occur when candidates present a correct answer in working,
and write it incorrectly on the answer line; mark the correct answer.
Parts of questions
• Unless allowed by the mark scheme, the marks allocated to one part of the
question CANNOT be awarded to another.
International GCSE Maths
Apart from question 6, 14, 21, 24 and 25, the correct answer, unless clearly obtained by an incorrect method, should be taken to imply a
correct method
Q Working Answer Mark Notes
1 (a) 0.45 1 B1
oe eg
9 45 , ,45%
20 100
(b) eg 1 – (0.25 + 0.2 + 0.2) (= 0.35)
or 1 – (“0.45” + 0.2) (= 0.35)
or
300 (0.25 0.2 0.2)( 195) + + =
3 M1 allow use of their “0.45” from part
(a),
check the table
eg 300 × “0.35” or
300 "195" − M1 for a complete method
105 A1
cao (award
105
300
M2 only)
Total 4 marks
2 (a) eg 6 × 2.4 + 5 × 3.5 2 M1
31.9 A1 oe
(b) (W = ) 5.9n or (W = ) 5.9(n – 1) + 2.4
or (W = ) 2.4n + 3.5(n − 1)
2 M1 for 2.4n + 3.5n or 5.9n seen
5.9n – 3.5 A1 oe but must be in simplest form
eg –3.5 + 5.9n
Total 4 marks
3
5 × 12 (= 60) or
15 7 2 23 12 5
+ − + +
x
=
oe or
"43" 12 5
x
+
=
3 M1 for a method to find the total of the
5 numbers or setting up an equation
in
x
“43” comes from 15 + 7
– 2 + 23
x + 15 + 7
− 2 + 23 = “60” or x +
“43
” = ”60”
or “60”
– (15 + 7
– 2 + 23)
M1 for forming an equation with their
60 or for a complete calculation to
find the value of
x
“43” comes from 15 + 7
– 2 + 23
17 A1
Total 3 marks
4 eg 0.45 × 180 (= 81) oe
OR
15 1 or 0.0833...
180 12
=
OR
( )
15 100 8.3(33...)%
180
=
4 M1 for a method to find the number of
students studying German
OR the number of students studying
French as a fraction or decimal of
the total students
OR a method to find the percentage
of students studying French
81 may be seen as part of an
equation
eg 180 – 15 – “81” (= 84) or “81” + 15 (= 96)
OR
1 45 7 1 or 0.466...
12 100 15
− + =
or
1 45 8 or 0.533...
12 100 15
+ =
OR 100 – (“8.3” + 45) (= 46.6(66…) or 46.7%) [Show Less]