Maria skimmed through the papers and, after confirming that the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions were correctly graded, began reviewing the essays. As the exam setter, she was familiar with the topics and could quickly judge whether answers were superficial or substantial. This made it easier to decide on scoring.

With five thousand papers to review, examining each one thoroughly would take months. Fortunately, Maria only needed to focus on the essay questions, which saved a lot of time.

Most of the exam takers in Andalusia had limited backgrounds and little relevant work experience. While they performed reasonably well on other questions, their answers to the essay questions were often lacking....