The following sections offer some useful suggestions for grading both essay and objective tests. If you design the answer key to follow the format of the students' answer sheets, the grading process will be much faster. If the test is based on your class objectives, you can also refer students to lecture notes and readings relevant to a given question on the answer key. Decide, in advance, if certain incorrect answers merit partial credit. Ideally, you should give students this information on the test itself.
Students can then come by to check their performance against the key.
Don't leave corrected exams out in the hall near your office. Your students have invested a good many hours in preparing for, and taking, examinations. Evaluating their responses deserves your undivided attention. This will help to ensure that your grading is consistent. If you do not hold to uniform grading standards, it is likely that at some point you'll be faced with at least one angry student presenting you with two nearly identical responses to which you have assigned different scores.