Examiner case study: Sue Nieland

Sue has been an examiner for GCE Psychology A for 5 years and is now a Team Leader. Having been a teacher and head of department in a school, Sue is now a university lecturer and OU tutor.

“The insight I gained when I first became an examiner made a real difference to my teaching. First-hand experience of seeing work from a range of candidates and centres enabled me to pitch my teaching at just the right level and to focus on aspects where candidates tend to under-perform. I also gained a much greater understanding of the specification and how to apply the assessment criteria to candidates' work.

The standardisation meetings bring you into contact with a range of colleagues from a variety of teaching backgrounds. You're very quickly integrated into a support network that helps you through the marking period and beyond.

You do have to be prepared to work very hard for about 3 weeks during the marking period. It's essential to plan ahead so that you can fit in both your work commitments and the 15 – 20 hours a week needed for marking scripts.

At the end of it, you'll have earned extra income* - enough to pay for a holiday or a new computer – and the experience and confidence gained will stand you in good stead professionally.”

* In summer 2008, a typical examiner for AS Psychology can earn £3.26 per script. With a typical allocation of 350 scripts and including the fee for attending the standardisation meeting the total earned before tax will be £1,246.80.