Grading

RavenGrader grades in three steps: it builds a rubric from your key, learns from a few papers you correct, then grades the rest of the class. Every score stays yours to change.

How it works

1. The rubric

Your exam and answer key become a rubric: each question, its answer, and what earns the points. You check it and approve it before anything is graded. If you upload only the blank exam, RavenGrader works out the answers, and you check them the same way.

2. Calibration

Before grading the whole class, RavenGrader grades a few sample papers and you correct them. Five is the default. You can pick 10 or 15 if your exam is long or tricky. Whenever you change a score, type a short reason, like “units are required on every final answer”. RavenGrader turns your reasons into rules for the rest of the class.

After the last sample, Check what Raven learned grades your samples again with what it learned, so you can catch a rule that went too far before it reaches everyone.

You can skip calibration with Grade all submissions now. It’s quicker, but you’ll likely fix more scores afterwards.

3. Grading the class

RavenGrader reads each student’s pages, grades every question against your rubric and your rules, and writes feedback. Grades fill in as each paper finishes, and grading keeps going if you close the tab.

Answers are checked for being mathematically the same, not for matching your key letter for letter. 1/2, 0.5, and a rearranged but equal expression all count as the same answer.

Changing a grade

Grades are final when they land. You don’t have to approve each paper before students can see it. The Approve button on the Students tab is optional: it marks the papers you’ve checked. Open any paper to see the student’s pages beside the scores, then:

  • Change the points on any question.
  • Rewrite the feedback: add to it, shorten it, or delete it.

Changes save on their own. If you’ve already sent reports, that’s fine: a student’s report always shows the latest grade, so they see your fix without you sending anything again.

Regrading after a rubric change

If you edit the rubric after papers are graded, RavenGrader asks what to do with the grades you already have: Keep grades leaves them alone, and Regrade grades those papers again against the new rubric. A paper that couldn’t be graded has its own Regrade button on the Students tab.

Stopping a run

Stop grading stops a run in progress. Papers already graded keep their grades. The rest stop, and their pages go back to your balance automatically. You’re never charged for grading that didn’t happen. See pages.

When to double-check

A few kinds of answers are worth a quick look yourself:

  • Two answers and no pick. If a student leaves two final answers without saying which one counts, RavenGrader can’t know either.
  • Very crowded or very faint writing. Lots of marks squeezed into a small space, or a page scanned too light, is harder to read.
  • Pages that went missing. A page the student didn’t scan can’t be graded. Check that the page count looks right after you upload.