Assignment types
In MarkBook every piece of assessed work becomes a column: a value type, placed on a template, repeated in each checkpoint (or only in some). This page shows how to turn the usual kinds of assignment into columns, and how to choose between one column per assignment and one column per category.
Where: Configuration → Assessment → Markbook Templates → Columns Configurations, button New value type. You need the Value types permission. Then add the column to a template on its Template settings tab (permission Markbook templates).
Choosing the data type
| The teacher records… | Data type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A grade from your scale | Grade label | 7, B+, 5−, Много добър 5 |
| A score or percentage | Number (0 to 100) | 34 out of 40, 85% |
| A level from a fixed list | Judgement scale | Secure, 1–4, wzorowe |
| Done or not done | Yes / No | Homework handed in |
| Words | Text | Feedback on an essay |
| Nothing: it is worked out | Calculated | Category average, term mark |
A Number column accepts any value from 0 to 100, decimals included. A score out of more than 100 points must be entered as a percentage, or split into parts.
The assignment types
| Assignment | Typical data type | Typical weight | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homework | Number (%), Grade label, or Yes / No | Low (1, or 10%) | Often teacher-only: turn off Show in printed report |
| Quiz / short test (kartkówka, quiz) | Number or Grade label | Medium (2, or 20%) | Several per term |
| Test / unit test (sprawdzian, lucrare, контролна) | Number or Grade label | High (3, or 40%) | |
| Project | Grade label, or Number from a rubric total | Medium | Long-running: often only one term |
| Practical / lab | Number, Grade label or Yes / No | Medium | Science "required practicals" often as Yes / No |
| Oral answer (odpowiedź ustna, ascultare orală, устно изпитване) | Grade label | Medium | Common in Central and Eastern Europe |
| Coursework / NEA | Number (marks) and Grade label | High | Keep the raw mark and the grade in two columns |
| Mock exam / end-of-term exam | Grade label (and Number for the raw mark) | High | Usually in one checkpoint only |
| Participation / classwork | Number or Judgement scale | Low |
One column per assignment, or one per category?
One per assignment keeps every mark. Create value types Test 1 (T1), Test 2 (T2) … and a calculated column that averages them. Use this when a national system needs every current mark recorded, as in Romania, Poland and Bulgaria.
One per category keeps the grid narrow. Create Homework (HW), Quizzes (QZ) … and the teacher types each category's running average. Use this in a US-style weighted gradebook when assignments are tracked elsewhere.
You can combine both: per-assignment columns teacher-only, plus a calculated category column that reaches the report.
Missing marks in an average
Create as many assignment columns as you need. An avg(...) over them, or a Weighted tab average, uses the marks a pupil has and leaves out the ones that are missing. The average appears as soon as the first mark is in, so check the count of marks before you finalise. For a missed test, you can still enter the catch-up mark, or a 0 if your school's policy says so.
Recipes
Homework as a percentage, averaged
- Create
HW 1,HW 2,HW 3,HW 4(short labelsHW1–HW4): Number, Repeated in every reporting period. Turn off Show in printed report and Show in student/parent grid if families should not see each one. - Create
Homework(HW): Calculated, Repeated in every reporting period. - On the template, click HW and on the Advanced tab write
avg(HW1, HW2, HW3, HW4), Decimals 0.
A test marked out of 40
Number columns take 0 to 100, so a raw score out of 40 fits. To show it as a percentage, add a calculated column:
T1RAW / 40 * 100with Decimals 0. A score of 31 out of 40 shows as 78.
A test whose result is a grade
Use Grade label with your scale. A formula reads its points: a GCSE 6 counts as 6, a Polish 4+ counts as whatever weight your scale gives it (for example 4.5).
Drop the lowest quiz
Create Quiz 1–Quiz 4 and a calculated Quizzes. Either:
- Weighted tab: Type Drop lowest, then average, Drop 1, add the four quizzes; or
- Advanced tab:
(Q1 + Q2 + Q3 + Q4 - min(Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4)) / 3. This is plain arithmetic, so it stays empty if any quiz is missing. Prefer the Weighted tab when quizzes can be missing. It has a Decimals field too.
Best of two attempts (resit)
max(EXAM, RESIT) takes the better result. If a pupil has no resit, the formula uses the one mark that exists. If both are missing, the cell stays empty.
Required practicals
Create Practical 1–Practical 8 as Yes / No, teacher-only. A calculated Practicals done with sum(P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6, P7, P8) counts them (Yes counts as 1) once every box has been answered.
Coursework with a raw mark and a grade
Create Coursework mark (Number) and Coursework grade (Grade label). The teacher enters both: the board's grade boundaries change each year, so the grade is not calculated from the mark.
A mock exam only in one checkpoint
Create Mock Exam (Grade label, Repeated in every reporting period). Add it to the Reporting period zone, then in the Live preview click its cell under every checkpoint except the mock window (for example T2B) to disable it there.
Oral answers in a national system
Create Oral 1, Oral 2 with the national scale (Grade label). In Polish schools give them weight 2 in the term average; in Romanian and Bulgarian schools they count like any other mark.
Names and short labels
- The Short label is the column header in the grid and the name you type in formulas. Keep it short, with letters, digits and underscores only:
T1,HW2,MOCK. - A label with spaces must be written in square brackets in a formula:
[Mock Exam]. - Two value types must not share a short label, or a formula cannot tell them apart.
- Drag columns within a zone to set their order in the grid.
See also Weighted Averages & Final Grades and Template Combinations.