Solution review
The official exam solution for this question gave points for identifying the roots of the equation, the local max and min (they didn't have to compute derivatives and solve for critical points, but had to mark them on the graph), and for showing that the functions increased / decreased without bound appropriately as |x| gets bigger. At that point, as long as they connected the dots they were allotted full marks.
This was meant just as a visual aid for part b of this question, so that they could pick out the correct bounds for integration.
So the marking scheme reflects the way mathematicians would think of this problem. I still think we should focus on what will help students improve their skills, whatever that might be. I'm not attached to a particular way of solving this question, I just wonder what best reflects our commitment to provide a useful resource to students.
I have attempted this problem considering the recommendations that are mentioned here. I plotted the graph highlighting all the special attributes in a different way. Do we think this is sufficient now?