The brief tells MarkMate what students were asked to do and what the work was meant to teach. It's optional, but it noticeably improves marking, especially for open questions and essays. What were students asked to do? Write the task or question as you gave it to the class. The AI checks that each student actually answered that question. An essay that's well written but off the point won't be marked highly. Example: "Write a letter to your MP arguing for or against a ban on single-use plastics. Use at least two persuasive techniques." Learning objective What the lesson or unit was teaching. The AI uses this as background, to understand what the work is for. Example: "Use persuasive techniques to argue a point of view." Good to know: The brief never overrides your mark scheme or headings. It just gives the AI the bigger picture.

The AI marks each heading on its own, like an examiner marking one question at a time. Clear, specific headings give you accurate grades and useful feedback. Vague headings give vague results. Do ✅ One thing per heading. Split "Spelling, punctuation and paragraphs" into three headings. ✅ Say what students should show. "Explains how Shakespeare presents Macbeth's guilt" is better than "Macbeth". ✅ Fill in "What to look for". List the key points, words or methods you expect. The AI uses this directly. ✅ Use the question number if the work has numbered questions, for example "Q2: Calculate the speed", so the AI finds the right answer. Avoid ❌ One heading covering the whole piece of work. The AI can't tell you which part was strong or weak. ❌ Headings that just say "Effort" or "Overall". The AI marks what it can see in the work, not effort, and it writes overall feedback for every student anyway. Tip: If the AI keeps marking a heading differently from you, add more detail to What to look for. It's usually the quickest fix.

Each feedback heading can be graded in one of three ways. Pick whichever matches how you'd normally mark that question or skill. You can mix them in the same assessment. Choose… When… Example A grade set You judge work against levels or bands Emerging / Developing / Secure, or GCSE grades 1–9 Marks The question has a fixed number of marks Q4: 6 marks Feedback only You just want comments, with no score Presentation, or "Next steps" Where do grade sets come from? Your school may already have some set up. To make your own, click your name in the top right of the screen, then Settings, then Grade sets. Good to know Grades and marks are for you. The feedback MarkMate writes for students never mentions the grade, mark or level, so students focus on the comments. For grade sets, the AI only sees the names of the levels. To help it tell them apart, describe each level in What to look for, or attach a mark scheme with level descriptors.

Feedback headings are the things you're marking in a piece of work. A heading can be anything from a question ("Q3: Describe evaporation"), a skill ("Use of evidence") or asessment objective ("AO3"). MarkMate marks each heading separately and writes feedback for each one, so good headings mean better, more focused feedback. Steps On the assessment set-up page, go to Feedback headings. Click Add a heading (or Add heading if you already have some). Type what students should show, for example "Explains why the gas spreads out". Click underneath it, where it says What to look for (optional), and describe what a good answer includes, for example "Mentions particles moving randomly and colliding; uses the word 'diffusion'." On the right of the heading, click the grading button and choose how to mark it: a grade set (for example Working towards / Expected / Greater depth) Marks, then type the total, for example 6 Feedback only: comments with no grade or mark Repeat for each heading. You can add up to 20. To remove a heading, point your mouse at it and click the × on the right. Good to know Each new heading copies the grading from the one above, which saves time when every question is out of the same number of marks. Headings are marked in the order you list them.

Create an assessment whenever you have a new piece of work to mark. It takes a couple of minutes, and you can change everything later. Steps Click Classes at the top of the screen and open your class. On the Markbook tab, click New assessment. At the top, where it says Name this assessment, type a name, for example Particles test. Optional: click Attach resource to add a mark scheme from your Resources library. See How to add a mark scheme to an assessment. Under The brief, fill in: What were students asked to do? For example "Answer questions 1–6 on particles and changes of state." Learning objective. For example "Explain changes of state using the particle model." Under Feedback headings, click Add a heading for each thing you want to mark. See What are feedback headings? Under Context for marking, check the Marking style, and add any Marking notes for this piece of work. Click Create assessment. MarkMate opens the marking screen, ready for you to add your students' work. Tip: Press Ctrl + Enter (or Cmd + Enter on a Mac) to save without scrolling down.

An assessment is any piece of work your class has done that you want to mark, such as a test, an essay, a homework task or a page of classwork. You set it up once for the class. Then you add each student's work, and MarkMate helps you mark it and write feedback. What an assessment is made of Section What it's for Do I need it? Name So you can find it later, for example "Macbeth essay" or "Fractions test" Yes Attach resource Mark schemes from your Resources library Optional, but strongly recommended The brief What students were asked to do, and the learning objective Optional, but recommended Feedback headings The things you're marking, one heading per question or skill, each with a grade, a mark or feedback only Optional, but this is where the marking happens Context for marking Your marking style (how feedback is written) and marking notes (anything special about this piece of work) A marking style is always chosen; notes are optional Good to know Assessments belong to one class. You'll find them on the class's Markbook tab. The AI also uses the subject and year group from your class settings, so make sure they're right. The more you tell MarkMate when you set up the assessment, the closer the AI's marking will be to your own

If a class you expect to see isn't in your list, it's usually one of these. You're in a different school account If you belong to more than one school in MarkMate, each school has its own classes. Check you've switched to the right school. Your classes are spread over several pages Your class list shows 12 classes per page. Scroll down and use the page numbers at the bottom. A colleague created the class You only see classes you teach. If a colleague set up the class, it won't appear for you. Ask them, or your school's MarkMate admin, for help. The class comes from your MIS and hasn't arrived yet If your school has connected MarkMate to its MIS, your classes are imported for you. This can take a little while. If it's been more than a day, contact your school's MarkMate admin. The class was deleted Deleted classes don't come back automatically. Contact us at support@markmate.co.uk.

If your school has connected MarkMate to its MIS (such as SIMS, Arbor or Bromcom), some of your students come straight from the school's records. These students are kept up to date automatically, so you can't change them in MarkMate. How to tell Open your class and click the Students tab. Click the three dots (•••) next to the student. If Edit details… and Remove from class are greyed out and you see 🔒 Managed by your school's MIS, the student comes from your school's records. Wrong name, or the student has left your class? Ask your school's data or MIS manager to update it in the MIS. Need to record pronouns? Pronouns are separate from your school's records. You can still add them when writing reports.

If you no longer teach a class, you can delete it so it no longer appears in your list. Deleting a class also deletes everything inside it, so read this first. What gets deleted All the class's assessments All marks and feedback All reports Your students are not deleted from your school's MarkMate account. They're only removed from this class. Steps Open the class you want to delete. Click the Settings tab. At the bottom of the page, click Delete class. A message asks you to confirm. Click Delete class again. Before you delete: Print or save any feedback or reports you want to keep. You can't undo this yourself.

You may want to update a class at the start of a new school year, for example changing "Year 7 Science" to "Year 8 Science". You can change the name, year group and subject at any time without losing any work. Steps Open your class. Click the Settings tab. Change the Class name, Year group or Subject. Click Save changes. This button only appears once you've changed something. Good to know: Your students, assessments, marks and feedback all stay exactly as they were.