UNDERSTANDING YOUR
MARKING MEMO
A MEMO IS A MARKING GUIDE — NOT A MODEL ANSWER
A memo exists to help an examiner mark thousands of scripts consistently, not to show you the single "correct" way to write an answer. That's why memos often look sparse or use shorthand — they're built for speed and consistency, not to be read like a textbook.
This matters because it means a valid answer can look different from the memo's wording and still earn full marks, as long as it demonstrates the same understanding.
MARKS ARE BROKEN INTO INDIVIDUAL MARKING POINTS
A 6-mark question rarely gives all 6 marks for one correct final answer. It's usually broken into 4–6 individual marking points — a correct formula, a correct substitution, a correct calculation step, a correct final answer with units. Each one is worth roughly a mark on its own.
Read the memo line by line, not just bottom line to bottom line. That's where you find out exactly which specific step in your working is costing you marks.
METHOD MARKS VS ANSWER MARKS
In Maths and Physical Sciences especially, most marks are method marks (M) for the correct approach, and only one or two are answer marks (A) for the final correct number. A small arithmetic slip with the right method usually still earns most of the marks — a completely wrong approach with a lucky correct number usually earns very few.
Once you know this, self-marking gets much fairer: ask "was my method right?" before you ask "was my final answer right?"
LEARN WHAT THE COMMAND WORDS ACTUALLY MEAN
"State" wants a fact, one line, no explanation needed. "Describe" wants details of what happens. "Explain" wants the reasoning — the why, not just the what. "Discuss" wants more than one side or angle. "Calculate" wants full working shown, not just a final number.
Writing a one-line answer to an "explain" question, or a full paragraph to a "state" question, costs you marks either way — too little misses marking points, too much wastes time you need elsewhere.
WATCH FOR "OR" AND "ANY OTHER CORRECT ANSWER"
Memos often list multiple acceptable answers separated by "OR," or include a note like "any other relevant/correct answer." This means the memo isn't claiming to be exhaustive — it's showing examples of what would earn the mark, not a closed list.
Don't assume you got a question wrong just because your exact wording isn't listed. If your answer demonstrates the same understanding through a different valid route, it would typically still earn the mark in a real exam.
CHECK FOR UNITS, ROUNDING AND SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
In Physical Sciences and Maths, missing units or the wrong number of significant figures can cost you a mark even with correct working and a correct number. Memos usually specify the required precision or unit right in the marking point — it's easy to skim past this while checking your working.
Get in the habit of checking these small details specifically when self-marking, since they're an easy, entirely avoidable way to lose marks you actually earned.
DON'T ASSUME A WRONG ANSWER MEANS ZERO MARKS
Students often see their final answer doesn't match the memo and mark the whole question as wrong — zero out of six. That's almost never how it actually works. Go back through the individual marking points; you may have earned method marks for steps that were correct even though the final number wasn't.
USE THE MARK ALLOCATION AS A LENGTH GUIDE — WHILE YOU WRITE
The number of marks a question is worth is a direct signal of how much you're expected to write. A 2-mark question needs roughly two solid points, not a paragraph. An 8-mark question needs real depth, not two rushed lines. Glance at the mark allocation before you start answering, not just when you're marking afterward.
DON'T SKIP THE FOOTNOTES AND MARKING INSTRUCTIONS
Memos often include small print at the top or bottom — general instructions like "award full marks for correct final answer without working shown, unless the question specifies otherwise," or subject-specific rounding rules. Skipping this section means you're marking yourself against an incomplete picture of the actual rules.
TURN EVERY MEMO MISMATCH INTO A SPECIFIC LESSON
Every time your answer doesn't match a marking point, don't just note that you "got it wrong" — write down specifically why: wrong formula, missed a step, misread the question, ran out of time. That specific reason is what actually goes on your weak-topics list, not the topic alone.
Over several past papers, this turns memo-checking from a pass/fail exercise into a detailed map of exactly what's costing you marks and why — which is the whole point of marking your own work in the first place.
📚 PRACTICE WITH REAL PAST PAPERS AND MEMOS
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