Manage examiners and second markers

Assign primary and secondary responsibles, split cohorts with examinee responsibles, and apply second-marker and handover practices on the Details tab.

Examiners in the Exam Center are the staff responsible for planning and grading a formal exam instance. On the Details tab you manage exam responsibles (primary and secondary) and, when your institution uses it, examinee responsibles (per-student secondary examiners). In examination regulations, a second marker is often an additional examiner who reviews or independently marks work — in Fuxam that role is typically modeled with secondary or examinee assignments, not a separate undocumented button.

This chapter expands the people side of Edit an exam for exam officers and module organisers. It does not change module, exam type, duration, or max attempts — those remain upstream.

Why it matters

Large cohorts, conflict-of-interest rules, and four-eyes principles all require more than one name on an exam. Clear examiner assignment:

• Controls who can open which student’s grading view
• Creates an audit trail via the Activity log
• Supports second marking and calibration before publish
• Survives handovers mid-term without losing schedule or grade history

Getting this wrong blocks grading queues and produces appeals where nobody can show who marked whom.

How it fits

Key concepts

Roles at a glance

Staff need permission to plan the exam to designate responsibles, and permission to grade to enter marks. See Permissions, features and visibility.

Assign examiners

Second marking in practice (domain + Fuxam)

Many examination regulations require a second examiner for oral exams, theses, or contested written papers. In My Exams:

1. Add the second marker as a secondary responsible (and/or assign them under Examinee responsibles for the relevant students).
2. Agree calibration criteria before bulk grading — same rating mode required for bulk actions.
3. Use internal notes for examiner-to-examiner commentary (not shown to students).
4. Publish only after both markers (or the lead) confirm the set — see Publish grades.

Worked scenarios

Scenario A — Split a large written exam

200 students, three graders. Set one primary. Add three secondaries. Under Examinee responsibles, assign A–G, H–O, and P–Z. Each secondary only opens their alphabet range. Rebalance before Attempt 2 when the resit cohort shrinks.

Scenario B — Conflict of interest

A student must not be graded by their thesis supervisor. Change Examinee responsibles while plan permission still allows updates (before publish). After publish, standard grading edits lock.

Scenario C — Planning-sourced primary will not remove

The primary came from course planning. The Details row menu will not remove them. Open the planning dialog, remove the link, then confirm Details.

Scenario D — Handover mid-resit

Primary leaves after Attempt 1 publish. Add the successor as primary, keep secondaries, check the Activity log, then schedule Attempt 2. Do not try to change max attempts on Details — those stay ruleset-driven.

Scenario E — Multi-exam module

Written and presentation exams are separate My Exams instances. Align primary responsibles across both so attempt numbers and publish timing stay coherent for module completion.

Best practices

• Name a primary before deadlines. Ownership prevents orphaned requests.
• Match examinee splits to capacity, then revisit before resits.
• Calibrate before bulk grade. Second markers should agree on borderline bands.
• Remove planning-sourced links in planning, not only on Details.
• Do not confuse LMS teachers with exam responsibles. Course teachers mark journey content under LMS grading.

Common pitfalls

FAQ

Related pages