For English teachers and tutors

AI essay grader for handwritten essays

Markah is a web app that reads a photo of a handwritten essay and marks it against a rubric you provide, returning a score per criterion, a CEFR level and the language errors it found. The teacher reviews and can change every mark.

What Markah does

Markah is an AI essay grader for handwritten work. You photograph a student's essay with a phone, the app reads the handwriting, scores the essay against the rubric, and shows its reasoning so you can check it. It was built for English teachers in Malaysia, and the same engine works for any written assessment you can describe with a rubric.

• Handwriting recognition from a phone photo.
• Criterion scores with a short justification for each, not just a total.
• CEFR level (A1 to C1) for the essay as a whole.
• Annotated essay with language errors flagged rather than silently corrected, so students can fix them.
• Lifting detection that flags phrases copied from the question paper.
• Export to Excel and printable reports, and batch marking of a whole class set.

How it works

1. Set up a session. Choose a built-in rubric or add your own, and optionally photograph the question paper.
2. Photograph each essay. One photo per page.
3. Review the result. Read the scores and comments, adjust any mark, then approve.
4. Export. Download the class results as a spreadsheet or print individual reports.

Marking against your own rubric

Markah has two built-in rubrics, both for Malaysian exams: SPM English 1119/2 and Form 1 to 3 English. For everything else you add your own rubric by typing the criteria, uploading a PDF, or photographing a printed mark scheme. That is how it can be used for:

• IGCSE and O-Level English writing tasks
• IELTS-style Task 1 and Task 2 practice, using the public band descriptors
• School tests, end-of-term writing and departmental rubrics
• Any other criteria-based writing task in English

The clearer and more specific your descriptors, the more consistent the marks. Bands described only as "good" or "weak" give vague results; descriptors that say what a response must contain work much better.

What it does not do

• It does not replace your judgement. The AI mark is a first draft. You see the reasoning for every criterion and can change any score before approving.
• Non-Malaysian exams have no built-in preset. You supply the rubric. Markah has not been validated against official examiner marks for IGCSE, O-Level, IELTS or other boards, so treat its marks as a marking aid and check them against your own samples first.
• It is not an official or endorsed tool of any exam board, including Cambridge, IELTS or Lembaga Peperiksaan Malaysia.
• It marks English writing. Other languages are not supported.

Who it is for

Teachers and tutors who mark a lot of handwritten English essays and want a consistent first pass: classroom teachers, tuition centres, and heads of department who want comparable marks across classes. It is less useful if your students type their work and you already have a tool you trust for that.

Pricing

New accounts get 30 free bonus essays with no time limit, then 10 free essays per month. Markah Pro covers 150 essays per month and is priced in Malaysian ringgit: RM24 per month or RM200 per year. Full details are on the pricing page.