A Review of Borderline Reviewing

TLDR: In this article, alternative procedures are proposed which are shown to be more likely to lead to the desired improvement in the reliability of candidates' grades, in particular, to prevent marking errors from causing candidates to be awarded worse grades than they deserve.

Abstract: Borderline reviews, in which the work of candidates who have just failed to achieve particular grades is reconsidered, are carried out by all but one of the GCE examining boards. The objective is to improve the reliability of such candidates’ grades. In particular, to prevent marking errors from causing candidates to be awarded worse grades than they deserve. It is argued in this paper that the procedures generally adopted for this purpose suffer from considerable theoretical and practical defects. Alternative procedures are proposed which are shown to be more likely to lead to the desired improvement in the reliability of candidates’ grades.