When our students are preparing for an exam, assessing their work can often be tricky as we frequently find ourselves wondering if we are being too lenient or, on the contrary, excessively demanding and hard. To help us solve this conflict, we can use the Cambridge assessment scales. In this session Annie will examine some of the problems we face when assessing writing and speaking, she will then explain what the assessment scales are and how they can help us improve our grading techniques.