Teacher oversight recommended
A level History AI marking, 25 marks
Accuracy: Placed 17 of 20 top level essays in the top level. Marks tend to run high on mid level essays, so teacher oversight recommended.
- Exemplars
- 44
- Questions worth
- 25 marks
- Handwritten
- 25 of 44
- Runs per essay
- 3
- Engine version
- 2026.11.04
- Tested
- 8 November 2026
By DeepMark Labs Limited. Last updated 8 November 2026.
The result
DeepMark recognises strong A level History essays. Of the 20 essays the exam board placed in the top level, DeepMark placed 17 in the top level too. Across all 44 essays, 38 were placed in the same level or 1 level away. Every essay received the same level on all 3 runs.
Marks tend to run high on mid level essays: 15 of 22 Level 3 essays were placed higher. We recommend a teacher checks mid level essays before marks go back to students.
| Definitive level | DeepMark: Level 5 (top) | DeepMark: Level 4 | DeepMark: Level 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 5 (top) | 17 | 3 | 0 |
| Level 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Level 3 | 6 | 9 | 7 |
Shaded diagonal: same level as the definitive level.
How we tested it
- 1We collected real A level History essays that the exam board publishes with the level it awarded, across several papers in one exam series. The board publishes a level for these essays, not an exact mark, so this study compares levels.
- 2We loaded each question paper and its mark scheme into DeepMark from the original documents.
- 325 of the 44 essays were handwritten and read from the scans by artificial intelligence; the rest were typed in the published documents.
- 4Each essay was marked 3 times by the same marking engine teachers use. Nothing was tuned on these essays.
- 5We compared the level DeepMark awarded with the definitive level for every essay.
How to read the grid
Each row is the level the exam board gave. Each column is the level DeepMark gave. Numbers on the shaded diagonal are essays where the two agree. Numbers to the left of the diagonal are essays DeepMark placed higher; numbers to the right are essays it placed lower.
Every level
Every essay in the study, with the definitive level and DeepMark’s level. We publish levels only, never student writing.
Every level, essay by essay (44 exemplars)Show
| Exemplar | Written | Definitive level | DeepMark level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Handwritten | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 2 | Handwritten | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 3 | Handwritten | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 4 | Handwritten | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 5 | Handwritten | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 6 | Handwritten | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 7 | Handwritten | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 8 | Handwritten | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 9 | Handwritten | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 10 | Handwritten | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 11 | Typed | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 12 | Typed | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 13 | Typed | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 14 | Typed | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 15 | Typed | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 16 | Typed | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 17 | Typed | Level 5 | Level 5 |
| 18 | Handwritten | Level 5 | Level 4 |
| 19 | Typed | Level 5 | Level 4 |
| 20 | Typed | Level 5 | Level 4 |
| 21 | Handwritten | Level 4 | Level 5 |
| 22 | Handwritten | Level 4 | Level 4 |
| 23 | Handwritten | Level 3 | Level 5 |
| 24 | Handwritten | Level 3 | Level 5 |
| 25 | Handwritten | Level 3 | Level 5 |
| 26 | Handwritten | Level 3 | Level 5 |
| 27 | Typed | Level 3 | Level 5 |
| 28 | Typed | Level 3 | Level 5 |
| 29 | Handwritten | Level 3 | Level 4 |
| 30 | Handwritten | Level 3 | Level 4 |
| 31 | Handwritten | Level 3 | Level 4 |
| 32 | Handwritten | Level 3 | Level 4 |
| 33 | Handwritten | Level 3 | Level 4 |
| 34 | Handwritten | Level 3 | Level 4 |
| 35 | Typed | Level 3 | Level 4 |
| 36 | Typed | Level 3 | Level 4 |
| 37 | Typed | Level 3 | Level 4 |
| 38 | Handwritten | Level 3 | Level 3 |
| 39 | Handwritten | Level 3 | Level 3 |
| 40 | Typed | Level 3 | Level 3 |
| 41 | Typed | Level 3 | Level 3 |
| 42 | Typed | Level 3 | Level 3 |
| 43 | Typed | Level 3 | Level 3 |
| 44 | Typed | Level 3 | Level 3 |
Questions teachers ask
Does DeepMark recognise top level A level History essays?
Yes. On 44 A level History exemplars worth 25 marks, DeepMark placed 17 of the 20 top level essays in the top level.
Where should a teacher check?
Mid level essays tend to be placed higher than the definitive level, so we recommend a teacher checks mid level essays before marks go back to students.
What are exemplars?
Real student answers that exam boards publish with their marks to show teachers what each level looks like.
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