All teachers hate marking papers. And, of course, marking open questions is a lot more time consuming than marking multiple choice questions. Even so, many teachers feel that students should learn to formulate their thoughts in writing and be given open question tests. The present large-scale organisation of education has made it increasingly difficult for teachers to set tests or assignments with open questions. With so many students, it is virtually impossible for a teacher to find the time anymore to correct open questions. What's more, the more tests a teacher gives, the more administration is required. If the students have been given individual assignments, that can be worked on at home, the chance is always present that the students will cheat.

The programs belonging to the Andromatics system could be the answer to this dilemma. The Andromatics system makes it possible to cut back considerably on the time necessary for marking, and it is particularly advantageous where the student number involved is large. Rather than having to examine each answer individually, a carefully selected random sample will be sufficient in order to assess the whole group. The program even helps the user to choose the random sample! It is also possible to take into consideration assignments that have been marked in the past. The advantage is that this further reduces the time necessary for marking and produces a higher level of consistency in grading over the years.

The Number of Documents
Even where the number of assignments to be graded is around 50, Andromatics becomes an attractive option. Where the number is above 100, the time it saves becomes considerable. If the number of assignments involved is even higher, then grading with the Andromatics program takes only a fraction of the time that would have been necessary before.

There is also a specific program dedicated to tracking down student fraud. It compares pairs of assignments to each other and orders them in a list according to the likelihood of fraud. Once again assignments done in previous years can be used.

There is one requirement for the use of the Andromatics system: that is that the student assignments must be available in electronic form. Any text processing standard will be adequate.