Teachers, examiners and assessment experts know from experience that some candidates annotate exam questions. "Annotation" includes anything the candidate writes or draws outside of the designated response space, such as underlining, jotting, circling, sketching and calculating. Annotations are of interest because they may evidence…

When designing assessments such as examinations, it is important to consider which materials students should be permitted to access during the assessment, for example, whether to allow students access to a relevant book, such as a literary text. Debates among teachers and assessment professionals highlight differing views about the advantages and…