Does anyone know how marks are divided within a section in theory exams for the early grades, eg. a 15 mark section may have 4 or 5 parts to it. Are the marks shared equaly or is there a set way to allocate marks?

All individual papers will have their own mark schemes that examines have to adhere to.

The exact make up of the mark scheme will depend on the paper. There will be common elements between questions set from paper to paper but it will not be possible to say, "Each question such-and-such will look for these elements, from paper to paper"

I understand (but could be wrong) that it is possible to buy mark schemes to help with marking past papers.

Basically, though, I think most papers can be marked using 'common sense' i.e. a question worth 10 marks with 5 parts will be worth 2 marks per section. That is how I mark grade 5 past papers.

Steve

The new edition of "These Music Exams" has some explanations on how theory exams are marked. Can't remember off-hand how specific but it's interesting what is there nonetheless.

Are these not usually written on the papers? I may be forgetting, since I did grade 5 theory a few years ago, but I seem to recall this is the case.

For composition marking information see here.