Umalusi report highlights flaws in marking guidelines for 2025 NSC exams

SOUTH Africa’s quality assurance body, Umalusi, has revealed alarming flaws in the marking guidelines for the November 2025 Senior Certificate (NSC) exams, raising questions about the integrity of the education assessment system.

- MONISHKA GOVENDER

The findings are contained in Umalusi’s latest report on the quality assurance of the Department of Basic Education (DBE), which oversees the administration of the annual matric exams.

According to the report, errors were identified in 65 out of 144 marking guidelines during the first level of moderation.

These guidelines are critical documents that instruct exam markers on how to allocate marks consistently across all subjects nationwide.

While many of the errors were described as typographical, Umalusi noted broader issues affecting the reliability and usability of the guidelines.

“Forty-four marking guidelines failed to include all the correct answers for the subject matter. This is alarming because the accuracy of the marking guidelines is crucial for fair and consistent scoring of candidates’ work,” the report stated.

The report further highlighted multiple deficiencies:

@ 65 guidelines contained typographical errors.

@ 40 had poorly-structured layouts.

@ 7 were incomplete.

@ 11 did not clearly show how marks should be distributed.

@ 36 lacked sufficient detail in expected answers.

@ 23 failed to include acceptable alternative responses.

In one case, a guideline did not follow the principle of awarding marks positively, while another failed to use a rubric where necessary.