Marking quick guide

Use this guide to mark an exam in Cirrus end to end. It covers opening the Assess tab, scoring questions, annotating answers, and submitting scores for moderation or publication. For the longer reference, see Marking workflow and Assess.

Open the Assess tab

1. From the main menu, open Marking > Assess.
2. Open the exam you want to mark.
3. The Submissions tab opens, listing every candidate who attempted the exam.

Score questions

1. Select a candidate to open their list of questions.
2. Select the first question to start scoring.
3. Enter or adjust the score in the scoring panel on the right and select Save.

The scoring panel also lets you switch to the marking scheme when one is attached to the question. Use the Save drop-down for additional save options (such as save and move to next).

Use the candidate and question navigation arrows to move vertically (same question for the next candidate) or horizontally (next question for the same candidate).

For open questions with criteria-based marking, the panel shows criteria sliders rather than a single score box. Set each criterion and Cirrus calculates the total.

Annotate open questions

You can annotate open answers using the three buttons at the bottom of the scoring panel.

• Pencil to annotate in yellow.
• Strikethrough to annotate in red.
• Comments to read or add notes shared with other assessors.

Use the breadcrumb at the top left to return to the overview.

Track progress

The Progress Report tab on the overview page shows a full view of your marking progress and the progress of any co-assessors. See Progress report for more.

Submit scores

When you have finished marking:

1. Return to the Submissions page.
2. Select every fully assessed candidate.
3. Select Submit scores at the top.

Your scores are submitted and become available for moderation or publication to candidates.

Related articles

• Assess
• Marking workflow
• Scoring
• Coordinator dashboard for coordinators
• Moderation