Three Marks, Two Readers: Scoring an Inference Question
Ms. Rao is marking 28 scripts from a Class 10 practice test. The unseen passage (320 words) describes a coastal village where a girl maps plastic waste. Question 4 carries 3 marks: 'What does the writer suggest about the villagers' initial attitude to the girl's project? Support with two details.' The rubric awards 1 mark for a precise attitude word and 1 mark for each relevant supporting detail from the passage. Student A writes: 'The villagers did not like the project. They thought it was a waste of time. Later they helped.' Student B writes: 'At first the villagers were sceptical: the writer says they laughed and asked whether counting bottles would fill the fishing nets. But by the third week the same hands that had mocked her were sorting caps by colour.' Ms. Rao has 40 minutes to finish marking and 10 minutes to plan feedback. She notices that B's second detail describes a change, not the initial attitude, and that A's answer contains no quotation or close reference. Both students are otherwise strong readers.
1. Award marks to A and B using the rubric, and justify each award by quoting the exact demand of the question.
Read the worked answer
A: 1/3. The rubric asks for a precise attitude word plus two details. 'Did not like' is a general emotional label, not a precise inference, so it earns the attitude mark only at the borderline; I would award 1 because it is broadly on the right track. No detail is quoted or closely paraphrased: 'thought it was a waste of time' is the student's inference, not a detail anchored in the passage, so the two support marks are not earned.
B: 2/3. 'Sceptical' is precise and matches the passage's ridicule (1). The first detail - laughing and asking whether counting bottles would fill the fishing nets - directly supports initial scepticism (1). The second detail - sorting caps by colour in the third week - is accurate but describes a later change, not the initial attitude. The question's key word is 'initial', so this detail cannot earn the second support mark. If B replaced it with another early response, the answer would reach 3.
2. Write the two-sentence feedback you would give B, naming the precise problem and one concrete action.
Read the worked answer
Your attitude word 'sceptical' is exact, and your first detail is well chosen. Your second detail describes the change in week three, not the initial attitude; replace it with a phrase from the first two paragraphs that shows what the villagers said or did before the project started.
3. Student A asks why 'did not like' cannot earn the attitude mark. Explain using the passage's language and the difference between a general impression and a precise inference.
Read the worked answer
A general impression ('did not like') could apply to almost any disagreement; the passage's language is more specific - ridicule, disbelief, a joke about nets and bottles. A precise inference names that specific shade of attitude and then anchors it in the text. 'Did not like' also cannot be checked against the passage: it is the student's summary, not the writer's suggestion. The mark scheme rewards precision plus evidence, so the vague label earns at most the attitude mark, and here it is borderline.