29 July,2025
Table of Contents
Marking scheme for an essay is criteria that describe how marks are provided to an essay. An essay has a various aspect, and each aspect is kept under consideration while marking it.
Here is a small distribution of marks in an essay:-
This is the standard way of the distribution of marks for your essay. That means for scoring good marks your essay should be clear, it should be delivered correctly, language should be formal, and grammar should be up to the mark.
Marking scheme is a criterion that instructs you to plan to mark accordingly. Various subjects have a different marking scheme. A subject like mathematics has to mark scheme in such a way that it provides marks for steps also. Whereas in subjects like science have targets for the diagram and their labelling. While in social science depends on the answer and its presentations.
Need for understanding marking scheme:-
These are the benefits that you can enjoy if you are aware of what is marking scheme for your subject.
There in terms of marking scheme, every essay has a set pattern of marking scheme. Mainly there are two types of marking scheme for your essay.
Here are two types of marking scheme:-
In this form of marking, one needs to follow a particular structure of marking. Examiners have to follow a set of rule that is motioned in the scheme itself.
Examples-
| Learning Outcome | High Marked | A | B | C | D | E | F | Low Marks | Comment (optional) |
| Similarity with the published sources of atmospheric pressure information. | Evidence has been selected from proper resources, online journals and reputed websites | Two sources were not relevant and were irrelevant to the context | |||||||
| Good analysis regarding the topic | Reasonable analysis and evaluation of the given topic. selected sources complimented the essay at the best. | Justification of the sources is not appropriate | |||||||
| Application of MLA style citation | The citation was correctly done in bibliography. Images were captioned correctly. | A little effort made to adhere the MLA citation. |
In such a marking scheme, there is no such rule set to be followed. One can comment according to the performance of the students. But then the responsibility in this section raises a lot. You should have an explanation for your marking.
Examples-
| Student Number: | ||
| Assessment Criteria Each of the sub-categories will be graded as very good, good, competent, poor, very poor | ||
| Planning | ||
| 1) Establish the concern of the client. | ||
| 2) Acknowledge the facts relevant to those concerns. | ||
| 3) Identify the laws from those facts | ||
| Implementation | ||
| 4) Mention the effect of any relevant primary or secondary legislation after identifying them. | ||
| 5) Mention references of cases under appeal | ||
| 6) Select the stated facts and comments from experts and other references like textbooks or any other relevant publications | ||
| Advice and presentation of results | ||
| 7) Relate your facts with the appropriate legal principles and draw a conclusion accordingly. | ||
| 8) Conclude your result with a logical structure without grammatical and spelling error | ||
| Research Plan | ||
| 9) Prepare a bibliography to give credits to the authority for your answer. | ||
| 10) List out all the resources that were used and demonstrate with the research and state that if you relied on them. | ||
| Competent/ Not Yet Competent (Delete as appropriate) |
These are the two marking style as well as their example. Hopefully, you would have an idea about how to plan your essay according to both the style.
Every country has a different marking scheme according to its education system. Here are some countries and their grading systems:
The universities in India come under a commission known as UGC or University Grand Commission. Each private university should be affiliated from UGC else the degree has no validation.
Here is the marking scheme of Indian Universities:-
Maximum Marks: 100
Minimum Marks: 00
Minimum Marks Required to Pass: 40 or 30 (according to the various universities)
| Marks | Division |
| 70% Above | Distinction |
| 60% Above | 1st Division |
| 50% – 60% | 2nd Division |
| 40% or Above but below 50% | 3rd Division |
| Below 40% – 35% | Fail |
Hence, you need to score accordingly for respective division and result.
As India, England too has a set of marking scheme for essay writing. They follow ‘honors’ patterns.
Have a look on the marking pattern of England and Wales Universities:-
| Marks | Honors |
| 70% or Higher | 1st Class Honors |
| 60% – 69% | 2nd Class Honors |
| 50% – 59% | 2nd Class Honors (Lower Division) |
| 40% – 45% | 3rd Class Honors |
| Less than 45% | Without Honors or Degree with “PASS” |
Therefore, if you want to study in the university of England and Wales, then you have to prepare yourself according to the above mention marking scheme.
At the United States, universities follow GPA (Grade Point Average) system as a marking scheme for essay. They evaluate the marks and then convert them into GPA and then decide the division that students have scored.
Here is the marking scheme of universities of the United States:-
| Grades | GPA | Undergraduate | Graduate |
| A | 4 | Excellent | Excellent |
| B | 3 | Good | Average |
| C | 2 | Average | Passing |
| D | 1 | Passing | Fail |
| F | 0 | Fail | Fail |
How to covert marks into GPA:-
| Marks | GPA |
| 70 – 100 | 4.0 |
| 60 – 70 | 3.0 |
| 50 – 60 | 2.0 |
| 40 – 50 | 1.0 |
| Less than 40 | Fail |
With the help of above method, you can calculate your GPA and have an idea what and how did you score.
As you have read above, the marking scheme for essay writing various from country to country. But the constant thing is the parameter to analyze the quality of a good marking scheme.
Here are the characteristics of a good marking scheme for essay:-
Evendistribution of marks is very important for a good marking scheme. Scores should be divided according to the question’s nature. If the question is objective type, you can award one marks each to the questions, and id it is comprehensive then you might award three marks each. If it is an essay, you can grant five to ten targets.
While planning a marking scheme one should keep all types of student in mind. An average student, as well as a below-average student with the topper ones, should be able to score at least passing marks. Marking scheme should not be deliberately designed in such a way that it should promote the skills of a good student.
Students should be made aware of the facts that which objective will contain what marks. This draws transparency in the marking scheme. They can analyze their mistake and will try and improve it.
Marking scheme for essay writing should be practical enough to be relatable in the present time. It should improvise and motivate the student to improve and strive back hard.
These are some characteristics of a good marking scheme. Though various other universities may have a slight difference from the above aspect, most of them do agree on the same ground.
When in terms of marking scheme for essay writing, there is a section which the marks are distributed.
Here are the points in which the marks are allotted:-
| Headers | Marks% | Explanation |
| Idea | 20% | · Highest marks are award if and only if the idea is novel. · Ideas of significant questions are also considered. |
| Knowledge | 20% | · After generation of idea one should have enough knowledge about it. · There should be relevant points and excellent summary. |
| Discussion | 20% | · Relevant argument should be there. · Clear and independent thoughts to discuss on the topic. |
| Organization | 10% | · Use of relevant diagrams. · Use of proper heading and a perfect structuring of essay should be done. |
| Supporting Material | 10% | · Reference should be added in a proper format. · There should not be any irrelevant referencing in the essay. |
| Writing style | 20% | · Writing style should be perfect. · Tone of the essay should be formal. · There should be no grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. · Try to choose concise writing. |
This was the marking style for an essay. With the help of above mention description, you will be able to write an essay that will be efficient enough to score a good grade.
Wrapping up! An essay is an essential part of a curriculum. Essays are very scoring, all you need to know is the right pattern and the marking scheme of the essay. There are several samples of marking scheme for essay, from which you can have an idea about it.
Hopefully, this would have helped you with your essay writing. All the best!
I am Jack Williams, a Biochemist by profession. However, I developed a flair for writing while working on my Bio dissertations at university. So, I decided to take his passion to another level by stepping into the field of English essay writing. Ever since I have not only been learning the essentials of English writing but also been sharing my learning with students. My blog posts are intended to help not only students learn the technicalities of essay writing but also enable them to face related changes head-on. When I am not researching in my lab or sharing my valuable learning, you can find me playing soccer with my buddies or painting something that touched my heart and inspired me.
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