Moderation - am I Darth Vader?

I just finished marking the last of the MKT1002 essays. What a sense of relief.

A good illustration of the importance of moderation today. Gil cross-marked my first year research papers. Two of my four fails she felt would pass. Three of my other grades she increased by 1/2 - 1 grade. I know Gil is a tough marker, so after discussion I took the decision to raise the grade of the whole cohort by half a grade. Actually after this, the spread of grades averaged on a B- rather than a C+. It didn't ultimately make much difference to the number of high grades. There were a few very excellent pieces of work. Gil was surprised by the standard of the work. I was proud of them.