Off the Topic by Paragraph Three: Composition Marks with a 'Sensible' Word Limit
A Composition item carries 10 marks: choose one of three topics and write about 200 words. Rubric: content 5, language 3, organisation 2. Script 5 chooses 'A day I will never forget' and writes 262 words. The first two paragraphs describe a bus journey and a stranded river crossing; from the third paragraph the candidate drifts into a general essay on why roads in the district should be repaired, complete with statistics and a slogan. Script 6 chooses 'My favourite season' and writes 148 words: four short paragraphs, clear structure, accurate but simple Bodo, one spelling slip. The candidates are otherwise close: Script 5 scores 71/90 on the objective and short-answer sections, Script 6 scores 68/90. The pass mark is 30/100, and the school prize depends on the top total. The head examiner instructs that word limits be 'applied sensibly'.
1. Award the composition marks for Script 5 with a full breakdown, and justify your treatment of the over-length.
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Break the 10 marks against the text that exists.
- Content (5). From paragraph 3 the script stops answering 'a day I will never forget'. Only about 90 of 262 words are on task, so content sits at 2–3, not 4: the road-repair material concerns the district, not the prompt.
- Language (3). If the prose is accurate and varied, 3; simple but correct, 2.
- Organisation (2). A clean opening, then a break of topic at paragraph 3 - 1.
- Total: 5–6 of 10.
Word limit. 'Sensibly' is not a mechanical deduction. The 62 words over the limit are precisely where the drift occurs, so over-length is already punished through content and organisation; deducting again counts the same fault twice. What markers must not do is treat the extra length as development. Write the arithmetic - 3+2+1 - on the script so the second examiner follows the reasoning rather than re-judging the impression.
2. Script 6 is 52 words short of the guidance. Do you deduct, and what total do you reach?
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No separate deduction. The rubric has three criteria and none is length; 'about 200 words' guides the development of an answer, not a threshold. Four tight paragraphs that answer the prompt can earn full organisation (2), and accurate simple language earns 2–3.
Where length does bite. Content (5) rewards development, and at 148 words the season may be named but not shown - the sights, sounds and routines that make it the candidate's favourite. On the evidence, 3–4 for content is fair; 4+2+2 = 8 is reachable if one paragraph carries a concrete personal detail.
Fairness point. Scripts 5 and 6 are within three marks overall and the prize depends on the top score, so the policy must be written before either is finalised and applied to every script: short answers are neither rewarded for brevity nor penalised for it. Announce the same rule for the next test so candidates know the ground.
3. Write the three-line policy you would add to the marking scheme and explain why a written rule is needed here.
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Three lines for the scheme, read aloud at the moderation meeting:
- Relevance before fluency: content marks are earned only by text answering the chosen topic; material that would fit another topic earns nothing, however accurate.
- Length is not a criterion. No deduction above or below 200 words; over-length is judged through relevance and organisation, under-length through thin development.
- Every composition carries a three-number breakdown (content/language/organisation) plus one comment naming the reason for the highest and lowest mark.
Why written. 'Apply it sensibly' hands discretion to each marker, and with a prize at stake the gap between two reasonable markers becomes a result. A short written rule plus one sample script marked together turns a private judgement into a shared standard - and it is defensible to a parent who asks why 5 and not 6.