From Concurring Opinions (hat tip: TechnoLlama):
It’s that time of year again. Students have taken their finals, and now it is time to grade them. It is something professors have been looking forward to all semester. Exactness in grading is a well-honed skill, taking considerable expertise and years of practice to master. The purpose of this post is to serve as a guide to young professors about how to perfect their grading skills and as a way for students to learn the mysterious science of how their grades are determined.
Grading begins with the stack of exams, shown in Figure 1 below.
The next step is to use the most precise grading method possible. There never is 100% accuracy in grading essay exams, as subjective elements can never be eradicated from the process. Numerous methods have been proposed throughout history, but there is one method that has clearly been proven superior to the others. See Figure 2 below.
Continue reading Dan Solove’s hilarious post on Concurring Opinions. (Thanks Dan for explaining and updating this time-honoured marking system, and Andres for bringing it my attention). Now that I know what to do, I can’t wait for this summer’s scripts …
At the end of the post linked above, Dan Solove commented:
Now, on the same blog, Nate Oman develops the grade auction idea, concluding:
Rather more seriously, on the same blog, Dan Solove asks Should We Get Rid of the Law School In-Class Essay Exam?, Ethan Leib on PrawfsBlawg muses on In-Class vs Take-Home — and Splitting the Difference, whilst Doug Berman on Law School Innovation has begun Urging exam (and paper) innovations.