Examiner

Examiners play a central role in maintaining assessment standards across all major examination systems. The role carries significant responsibility: examiners must apply marking criteria consistently across hundreds or thousands of scripts, meeting tight deadlines during the marking period. The specific title and responsibilities vary across systems.

In the IB system, examiners include team leaders, assistant examiners, and senior examiners. IB examiners mark external examination papers (final exams) and moderate internally assessed work. Senior examiners contribute to setting grade boundaries and writing examination papers. Becoming an IB examiner requires substantial IB teaching experience and completion of examiner training. Currently serving or former IB examiners who work as tutors bring invaluable insight into how exams are marked, what distinguishes top-scoring responses, and which common errors cost students marks.

In the UK A-Level and IGCSE system, examiners (sometimes called markers) are recruited by exam boards such as AQA, Edexcel, and Cambridge. They mark papers online using standardized software and undergo rigorous standardization training before each marking session. Principal examiners lead the marking for each paper, producing the mark scheme and guidance notes. Experienced examiners may also serve as team leaders who monitor the quality and consistency of other markers.

For AP exams, the equivalent role is an AP Reader. Readers score FRQs during the annual AP Reading, a multi-day event where hundreds of educators gather to mark student responses. Readers are trained using anchor papers (benchmark responses at each score level) and are monitored throughout the reading for consistency. Having a tutor who has served as an AP Reader can provide students with unique insight into what earns top scores on FRQs.