How to grade exams fast, without giving up fairness

1. Decide the scoring rule before the exam

Most grading time is lost arguing about rules after the fact. Settle them when you build the exam:

• Points per question. Equal points are simplest. Give more weight to multi-step problems or essays if they take more work.
• Penalty for wrong answers. The SAT and ACT do not deduct for wrong answers, so most US test prep exams should not either. If you use a penalty, written and numeric answers should never deduct.
• Blank answers. Count them as zero, never as wrong, so guessing is not rewarded or punished by accident.
• Passing grade and scale. Decide whether you report a percentage, a letter grade or a score out of 10, and where the pass mark sits.

In Acatudy you set the duration, attempts, points per question and the optional penalty in the exam editor. Written answers never deduct points, even when the exam uses a penalty.

3. Review written answers question by question

Short answers and essays still need a teacher. Three habits cut the time in half:

• Write grading criteria first. A short rubric such as “2 pts: identifies the missing middle term. 2 pts: correct expansion. 1 pt: clear explanation” keeps scores consistent and makes each answer quicker to judge.
• Grade one question for every student, then move on. Reading the same question 30 times in a row is faster and fairer than switching topics with every exam.
• Use quick scores and short feedback. Most answers fall into three or four levels; one click and one sentence are enough.

In Acatudy written answers go to a single grading inbox, filtered by subject, exam and student. Each answer opens next to the question and its criteria; you enter the score (decimals allowed) or pick a quick score, add feedback and click Save and next. The rest of the exam is already scored, and when the last written answer is graded the student is notified that the grade is ready.

Optional AI suggestion. On the Basic, Professional and Institutional plans, a teacher can click Suggest a grade with AI on a written answer. The AI reads the answer against your grading criteria and proposes a score, with a short justification for the teacher; it fills in the form, but nothing is saved until the teacher reviews it and clicks save. The grade is always the teacher's decision. It does not spend AI Tokens; there is a monthly allowance per account (200 on Basic, 1,000 on Professional, 3,000 on Institutional), and answers from students under 13 are only sent to the AI if the academy allows it.

4. When a key is wrong, regrade every attempt

It happens to everyone: a typo in the key, or two options that are both defensible. The fair fix is to correct the key, or remove the question, and recalculate every attempt with the same rule.

In Acatudy, changing the key of an exam question recalculates the attempts that included it, and students whose grade changes are notified. Students can also challenge a question from their answer review; when you accept a challenge you can fix the key or annul the question, and the attempts are recalculated the same way.

5. Check the exam, not only the students

A quick item analysis after each official exam tells you which questions to rewrite. Two numbers are enough:

Acatudy shows this per question for each exam: difficulty, the share of each option and of blanks, and a discrimination index based on the top and bottom 27% of scores once enough students have taken it, with a CSV download.

6. Report grades in the scale families understand

Grades are easier to explain in the scale families already know. In the US that is usually a percentage or a letter grade.

Acatudy stores every grade on the same internal scale and shows it in the scale your academy chooses: out of 10, a percentage, or US letter grades (A from 90%, B from 80%, C from 70%, D from 60%, F below). Changing the scale never changes a grade. A gradebook per subject combines official exams, assignments and, if you want, practice, with weights you set, and exports to Excel or CSV.