After marking
How to use question-level test results to plan reteaching
Two students can receive the same total while missing different ideas. Looking at results question by question helps you decide what to revisit, whose work to inspect, and what to ask next.
Start with confirmed results
Finish the marking review before interpreting the class pattern. In AutoMark, you check flagged readings against the scan, resolve the student matches, and confirm every mark before committing. A draft run is still subject to your decisions.
After commit, the run shows how the class went question by question. Student records carry their committed results across tests, and you can export the run or a student's record to CSV. The marking walkthrough explains those steps.
Choose a question to investigate
Look for a question where the lost marks matter to the next lesson. It might test a prerequisite the class needs, or an idea you thought was secure. You do not need to investigate every question at once.
Compare related questions. If a student answered one fraction question correctly and missed another, check what changed: the representation, the numbers, the wording, or the skill being tested. The total alone cannot tell you which of those mattered.
Read answers before naming a misconception
A wrong answer is evidence to investigate, not a diagnosis by itself. Check the student's work and the question wording. An incorrect answer might reflect a misunderstanding, an omitted unit, a skipped part, or an instruction the student interpreted differently.
For multiple choice, inspect the selected option and what makes it tempting. A distractor can suggest a line of reasoning to ask about. It does not prove that every student who chose it reasoned the same way.
Illustrative example: a question asks students to compare two fractions. Several choose the fraction with the larger denominator. Before planning a lesson around that pattern, ask a follow-up using a picture or a number line. The explanation can tell you more than the selected option.
Match the next step to the evidence
- A shared gap: revisit the idea with the class using a worked example, then ask students to explain a new example.
- A smaller group: work with those students while others practise a related extension.
- An unclear question: improve the wording and ask a fresh question before drawing a conclusion about understanding.
- A marking issue: correct the result before using it to plan teaching. AutoMark records corrections as your changes.
These are decisions for the teacher. AutoMark provides the question-by-question record; it does not establish why a student made an error or prescribe the next lesson.
Keep comparisons between tests fair
A higher total on the next test does not, on its own, show that a particular skill improved. The questions, difficulty and available marks may have changed. Compare work that asks students to use the same underlying idea, and look at how they explain or apply it.
For a follow-up, change the surface details while keeping the skill you want to check. That helps you distinguish remembering an answer from applying the idea. Keep the original test and its context in mind when reading the new result.
Leave yourself a useful next step
Before closing the class set, write a short teaching note in your usual planning system: the question to revisit, the work you want to discuss, and a follow-up prompt. It can be more useful tomorrow than a list of totals.
If you need the marks in another system, use the CSV export and check the destination's expected columns. AutoMark does not sync marks directly to an LMS. For student-data questions, start with the student data page and the linked privacy policy.
To see the workflow that produces these records, read about marking handwritten tests. The beta is currently full; you can join the waiting list to hear when a place opens.