Introduction: The Never-Ending Stack of Marking
Every IB teacher knows the feeling — a growing pile of essays, past papers, and Internal Assessments waiting to be marked. Even with the best intentions, feedback sessions spill into weekends, and exhaustion becomes part of the job. For many teachers, marking consumes the very time they’d rather spend on lesson improvement, student mentoring, or rest.
But marking doesn’t have to be endless. With smarter tools built around IB criteria, teachers can cut marking time dramatically while still delivering feedback that helps students grow.
Why IB Marking Is So Time-Intensive
The IB is known for its rigor, but it also demands complex, qualitative grading — especially in subjects with extended responses. Here’s why teachers struggle to keep up:
- Subjective assessment rubrics: Each paper requires detailed justification of marks against command terms.
- Inconsistent student writing quality: Teachers must decipher and annotate varied responses, which slows grading.
- Multiple paper types: Paper 1, 2, and 3 each require distinct marking styles and mental shifts.
- IA supervision workload: Beyond exam papers, teachers also guide, review, and mark IAs for multiple students.
- Limited time for moderation: Cross-checking marking with colleagues adds even more administrative time.
When marking becomes overwhelming, it impacts both teacher wellbeing and student feedback quality.
Quick Start Checklist: Streamlining Your IB Marking Process
Before turning to new tools, every teacher can tighten their marking workflow with this checklist:
- Use marking rubrics proactively: Share them with students before assignments.
- Batch similar responses: Mark one question type at a time for consistency.
- Set time limits: Allocate specific marking time blocks instead of open-ended sessions.
- Digitize your feedback: Use consistent comment templates to reduce retyping.
- Track patterns: Note common errors once, then share them with the whole class instead of repeating individual comments.
These steps can save hours — but only up to a point. Real time recovery requires smarter automation.
How RevisionDojo Solves the IB Marking Problem
RevisionDojo was designed to make marking faster, more accurate, and less stressful — without losing the human touch that makes IB teaching powerful.
Here’s how it transforms marking for busy teachers:
- Examiner-Style Model Answers: Each Dojo question includes annotated, full-mark responses to use as reference or feedback examples.
- Built-In Rubrics: IB command terms and grading criteria are integrated into each task, ensuring consistency with official standards.
- Smart Feedback Tools: Teachers can copy structured comments directly into student work, maintaining accuracy while saving time.
- Instant Performance Analytics: Class dashboards show which questions or criteria students struggled with most, so teachers can prioritize reteaching.
- IA Feedback Frameworks: For Internal Assessments, Dojo provides guided rubrics and structured feedback prompts aligned with IB descriptors.
The result is faster marking, better feedback, and more energy left for actual teaching.
Time-Saving Example: Paper 2 Practice
Consider an IB English teacher marking Paper 2 essays. Instead of manually annotating each student’s essay:
- Assign a Paper 2-style prompt within RevisionDojo.
- Students complete responses online.
- The teacher reviews answers using built-in markbands and guided comment sets.
- Dojo automatically tracks which assessment criteria were met and which weren’t.
What used to take hours now takes minutes — with cleaner data and consistent grading.
Teacher Tips for Sustainable Marking
- Use Dojo analytics to plan reteach sessions: Let data drive your focus areas instead of regrading.
- Combine auto-feedback with personal notes: Students value both speed and personalization.
- Rotate feedback intensity: Not every task needs detailed comments; use Dojo for quick formative checks between major assessments.
- Share best practices within departments: Standardize comments using Dojo templates across multiple teachers.
- Use marking data to coach students: Help them identify patterns in their errors for future improvement.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does RevisionDojo replace teacher feedback entirely?
No — it enhances it. Dojo speeds up repetitive marking tasks so teachers can focus their written feedback on the most important ideas.
2. Can Dojo’s auto-marking handle extended responses?
For objective questions, yes — instant scoring. For essays or IAs, teachers use built-in marking guides and ready-to-edit feedback prompts that dramatically reduce grading time.
3. How accurate are Dojo’s marking rubrics?
They’re designed around official IB descriptors, ensuring accuracy and fairness across all students and teachers.
4. Does it support moderation across classes?
Yes. RevisionDojo allows teachers to compare rubric-level performance across sections, making moderation simpler and more transparent.
5. How does it impact student feedback quality?
Students receive quicker, clearer, and more standardized feedback — leading to faster improvement and less confusion about how to earn marks.
Why Schools Are Switching to RevisionDojo
When marking consumes your evenings, teaching loses its joy. RevisionDojo gives IB teachers their time back by combining examiner-grade quality with automated efficiency. It’s not just about faster marking — it’s about restoring balance and improving feedback consistency across your department.
Learn how your school can streamline its IB marking process today:
https://www.revisiondojo.com/schools
