Questions

AutoMark FAQ — marking scanned, handwritten class tests

The questions teachers ask before they sign up, answered plainly — including the ones where the answer is no. You confirm every mark before it's recorded.

Is AutoMark the same as automark.io?

No. automark.io is a United States product that marks essays and written assignments. AutoMark is Australian: it marks scanned, handwritten class tests against the key you set, and records a result per question per student. No connection between them.

Looking for the other one? The side-by-side comparison sorts out which you want.

Does AutoMark mark handwriting?

Yes, that is the whole point of it. Students write on paper as they always have. You scan the class set, and AutoMark reads what is written in each answer space and marks it against your key.

Every reading is checked back against the scan, and anything that doesn't pass is put in front of you with the cropped handwriting beside it. More in marking handwritten tests.

Is this AI marking?

Partly, and it's worth being precise about which part. Reading the handwriting uses AI, and comparing what was read against your key is automatic.

But every reading is checked against the scan before it counts, everything that fails that check is shown to you with the handwriting beside it, and nothing reaches a student record until you commit. No mark is ever recorded by a solely automated decision — that is the review moment.

Is AutoMark a test grader, an AI grader, or a test marker?

All three get typed into a search box, and here they mean the same job. AutoMark is a handwritten test marker: it scans and marks class tests on paper — multiple choice, short answers, spelling — against the key or mark scheme you set. If you'd call that an AI grader, an auto-grader or exam marking software, this is that, built for Australian classrooms.

It is not an essay grader or a rubric-feedback tool; the comparison with automark.io spells out the difference.

Does it mark essays?

No. AutoMark is built for structured answers: a word, a number, a short written answer, a filled table, a selection, an ordering. Long-form writing that turns on argument and expression is not something it marks, and we'd rather say so than pretend.

A long-answer question can be set aside on the paper for you to mark by hand, and those marks go into the same record as everything else.

What kinds of questions can I set?

The everyday ones: multiple choice, true or false, a numeric answer, a short written answer. Beyond those, fill-the-blanks passages, complete-a-table questions marked cell by cell, matching, ordering with partial credit, selecting from a passage, checklists and diagram labelling.

Questions can have parts, with marks per part. Where spelling counts, the answer is read letter by letter — see marking spelling tests. The full list of formats is on the home page; multiple choice has a page of its own.

Do I need a special scanner or bubble sheets?

No. No bubble sheets, no answer forms, no optical mark reader. A staffroom copier that scans to PDF is ideal: put the class set in the feeder, scan the lot, upload the one file. A flatbed works too, and phone photos will do at a pinch.

The paper is ordinary paper printed from AutoMark. What matters is the scan: full page, straight, sharp, and dark enough to read comfortably on screen.

Do I have to print the paper from AutoMark?

For a marking run, yes. The printed paper and the answer key are two views of the same test, which is how AutoMark knows where each answer sits on the page.

Building the test is more flexible: type it, paste it in from a document, or start from a scan of a paper you already have.

How does AutoMark decide what to flag?

Every answer it reads is checked back against the handwriting on the scan. That check passes or it doesn't — there is no dial and no number to interpret. Readings that pass are marked straight through; readings that don't are flagged, with the cropped scan beside them, and you confirm or override with a keystroke.

The scan is the biggest influence on how much lands in your queue. The troubleshooting guide covers what to change when a whole batch comes back flagged.

How does it know whose paper is whose?

Students write their name where the paper asks for it, and AutoMark matches it to your class roster. Papers it can't match confidently are handed to you rather than guessed at, and any match can be changed right up until you commit.

After a commit, moving a paper to the right student is recorded as a correction, never a silent edit. A mark landing on the wrong student is the failure we design hardest against.

Where is student data stored, and who else sees it?

Scans, results and backups are stored in Australia, in a Sydney region. Reading the handwriting involves an overseas processing step by our OCR provider in the United States, and where spelling counts a crop of that single answer — never the whole page — goes to two further providers for the letter-by-letter reading. None of them trains on student work.

The privacy policy names every provider and why. Student data and privacy is the plain-English version.

Is it safe to upload student work under the Privacy Act?

Here is what we do. Everything we store stays in Australia. Scan images are purged automatically 180 days after a run is committed, while marks and results are kept. You can export everything at any time, and deleting your account removes your students' data. The only overseas steps are the reading itself, and they are disclosed.

Whether AutoMark fits your school's own policy is a question for your school, and we'd rather you checked than assumed. This is not legal advice. Student data and privacy is the page to forward to whoever asks.

Can I fix a mark after I've committed?

Yes. A committed mark can be corrected, and the correction is recorded against the result rather than quietly replacing it, so the record shows what changed. The same applies to a paper that turns out to belong to a different student.

What does it cost, and is there a free trial?

$16.50 a month plus $1.10 for each student on your roster, in Australian dollars, with marking included — a class of 25 is about $44 a month. A beta account is a two-month free trial with no card to enter, plus a one-time 100 marking credits.

The worked sums, the top-up price and what you never pay for are on the pricing page.

What happens when I run out of credits?

Nothing breaks mid-run. Before marking starts, AutoMark estimates the pages and checks them against your balance, so a run either begins or tells you it can't — it never fails halfway through a class set.

If a batch is more than you have credit for, top up at $27.50 per 100 credits and start it. One credit marks one scanned page, spelling pages cost three, and unused credits roll over. Credits and billing has the detail.

Can I use it for NAPLAN-style practice tests?

AutoMark marks the tests you set yourself, so practice tests you write yourself are marked like any other.

It supplies no papers or test content of any kind, and is not affiliated with NAPLAN or ACARA.

Does it work with my school's LMS or markbook?

Not directly — there are no integrations yet. What there is, is CSV export of any marking run or any student's record, which is what most markbooks import.

AutoMark also keeps the records itself: per student, per question, across every test, plus a class view of which questions lost the most marks.

Will it work on my school's network?

Usually. Where it doesn't, the cause is almost always a web filter holding back a site it hasn't categorised yet, not anything about AutoMark. Everything runs over HTTPS.

There is a page written for IT teams — AutoMark on your school network — with the domains to allowlist and what to do about TLS inspection.

How do I get in?

The beta is full, so the way in is the waiting list: leave your address on the home page and we'll email you when a place opens. Your first two months are free, with no card to enter.

Questions in the meantime go to support@automarkhq.com.

Mark your next class set in minutes.

The beta is full for now — leave your address and we'll tell you when a place opens. Free for two months when it does.

Join the waiting list