Examinations

Exam time may be the most stressful time in the student year- especially if it is several years since you last did one!

• Make sure you know before the exam what you have to do to pass, arrive in good time, go to the toilet before the exam starts and make sure that you have everything you need to do the exam (calculator, pencil, eraser etc).
• At the start of the exam get comfortable. If you need a window opened or the lights switched on mention this to the invigilator before the exam starts.
• You will need to fill in the front of the answer book or sheet and the attendance slip.
• When the exam starts read through the whole paper and decide which questions you want to do and the restrictions on choice.
• If you think that any questions are incomplete or if the time and amount of questions do not match what you expected it is permissible to check these points with the invigilator. Mistakes do happen and it has been know for questions to be omitted from the papers, formulae not to be give and the times misprinted on the paper -but hopefully this won't happen with your exams.
• During the exam you must keep track of time and use your judgement on how long you should spend on a question. You may go over the time on one question that you expect to get high marks on and not use all the time on a question that you know less about.
• Do the question that you are most sure about first and this gives you time to adjust and think about the questions that you are less confident about. Try to think in logical steps.
• Usually each new question must start at the beginning of a new page in the exam book.
• Try to write in sentences and use good grammar.
• Take account of the weighting in questions - an examiner will not want two pages of notes for a questions that says 'State briefly.....' for 2 marks.
• Present an exam script that can be read, followed and hopefully appreciated.
• You can use a page in your answer book to plan your answers or do workings as long as you remember to clearly put a line through the whole page so that it is clear to the lecturer that that page should not be taken into account for marking.
• Organise your answers so that you don't need to flick backwards and forwards in the answer book and don't re-write the questions as the lecturer already knows them and this wastes your precious time.
• Subject advice cannot be provided during the exam. If a question appears ambiguous to you state how you are going to answer the problem.
• When you finish check all your answers - sometimes you notice something that you missed or a spelling mistake. Do you understand your work?
• The 'I don't know the answer so I will woffle a lot' is a risky approach!
• Don't leave early unless you are very sure that you have nothing of value to add and if you do finish early spend the time checking your answers.
• After the exam - don't worry about it, as you can't change anything. Concentrate on the next one or if you are finished do something enjoyable!
• Don't ask your lecturer how you have done after the exam as he/she can't tell you until after they are graded (sometimes papers are marked 2-3 times), and checked by an external examiner. Your lecturers are very busy during the exam period with this process.
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Your results

Your assessment results are sent to you on a 'transcript' which is printed from the SITS system. Sometimes errors occur and it is good advice to check your transcript and to contact your School Administrator with any queries.

The Staff of the Students' Union Advice Centre do not have access to the SITS system and your records - so if you have any queries that you need our help with an up to date copy of your transcript will assist us.

Referrals and Deferrals

The pass grade for exams and assignments is usually 40% but some programmes have modules where pass marks are 50% or 60%. Check if you are unsure.

Referred

• means that you have failed the module assessment, but usually you can have a further re-sit attempt. Even if you pass at re-sit you will only have a PASS grade awarded. These grades become more important as you progress.

Deferred

• means that you did not pass the module assessment but the Module and Programme Board accepted the reason for failure (because you submitted mitigation for the Mitigation Panel to consider). It may have been that you missed an assessment because you were in hospital or that there was bereavement in your family. In this case when you pass the assessment you will still have access to the full range of grades.

There are lots of rules and regulations concerning the progression of students through a course and you will be given sets of these rules along with other information about the university when you first start your course and you need to read all of this information.