Examiners use Mark Schemes to determine how best to categorise a candidate's essay and to ensure that the performances of thousands of candidates are marked to a high degree of consistency. Few essays fall neatly into the mark levels indicated below: some answers will be particularly well argued but offer little supporting detail; others may be factually full but poorly organised or contain few judgements. Examiners therefore try to find the 'best fit' when applying the scheme. Each essay has a final mark based on two Assessment Objectives (AO1a and AO1b) worth 24 + 26 = 50 marks. As the standard of the two essays lies between Level I and Level IV, only the descriptors and marks for these levels are tabulated below.

	AO1a Mark Scheme for Levels I, II, III and IV
Assessment Objectives	Recall, select and use historical knowledge appropriately, and communicate knowledge and understanding clearly and effectively
Level IA   21-24 marks	Uses a wide range of accurate, detailed and relevant evidence. Accurate and confident use of appropriate historical terminology. Answer is clearly structured and coherent; communicates accurately and legibly.
Level IB   18-20 marks	Uses accurate, detailed and relevant evidence. Accurate use of a range of appropriate historical terminology. Answer is clearly structured and mostly coherent; writes accurately and legibly.
Level II   16-17 marks	Uses mostly accurate, detailed and relevant evidence, which demonstrates a competent command of the topic. Generally accurate use of historical terminology. Answer is structured and mostly coherent; writing is legible and communication is generally clear.
Level III   14-15 marks	Uses accurate and relevant evidence, which demonstrates some command of the topic but there may be some inaccuracy. Answer includes relevant historical terminology but this may not be extensive or always accurately used. Most of the answer is organised and structured; the answer is mostly legible and clearly communicated.
Level IV   12-13 marks	There is deployment of relevant knowledge but level/accuracy of detail will vary; there may be some evidence that is tangential or irrelevant. Some unclear and/or under-developed and/or disorganised sections; mostly satisfactory level of communication.

	AO1b Mark Scheme for Levels I, II, III and IV
Assessment Objectives	Demonstrate an understanding of the past through explanation and analysis, arriving at substantiated judgements of key concepts and of the relationships between key features of the period studied
Level IA 24-26 marks	Clear and accurate understanding of key concepts relevant to analysis and to the topic. Clear and accurate understanding of issues in their historical context. Answer is consistently and relevantly analytical with developed and substantiated explanations, some of which may be unexpected. The argument evaluates a range of relevant factors and reaches clearly substantiated judgements about relative importance and/or links.
Level IB 22-23 marks	Clear and accurate understanding of most key concepts relevant to analysis and to the topic. Answer is mostly consistently and relevantly analytical with mostly developed and substantiated explanations. Clear understanding of the significance of issues in their historical context. Substantiated judgements about relative importance of and/or links between factors will be made but quality of explanation in support may not be consistently high.
Level II19-21 marks	Mostly clear and accurate understanding of many key concepts relevant to analysis and to the topic. Clear understanding of the significance of most relevant issues in their historical context. Much of the answer is relevantly analytical and substantiated with detailed evidence but there may be some description. The analysis of factors and/or issues provides some judgements about relative importance and/or linkages.
Level III16-18 marks	Some uneven understanding of key concepts relevant to analysis and of concepts relevant to their historical context. Answers may be a mixture of analysis and explanation but also simple description of relevant material and narrative of relevant events OR answers may provide more consistent analysis but the quality will be uneven and its support often general or thin. Answer considers a number of factors but with very little evaluation of importance or linkages between factors/issues. Points made about importance or about developments in the context of the period will often be little more than assertions and descriptions.
Level IV13–15 marks	Understanding of key concepts relevant to analysis and the topic is variable but in general is satisfactory. Limited and patchy understanding of a few relevant issues in their historical context. Answer may be largely descriptive/narratives of events and links between this and analytical comments will typically be weak or unexplained OR answers will mix passages of descriptive material with occasional explained analysis. Limited points made about importance/links or about developments in the context of the period will be little more than assertions and descriptions.