The Examination Period........and what happens next

Dr Mike Spann

1st Year Tutor

School of Electronic, Electrical & Computer Engineering

The University of Birmingham

23rd April 2012

Today’s Talk Exam Dates Procedures and Regulations Marking Procedures Results and Feedback Revision Progression to Next Year Resits/Resubmissions

This talk will be made available on the student information section of WebCT.

Exam Dates

The Examinations will take place from

Monday 29th April until Friday 31st May

Exams start at 09.30 hrs or 14.00 hrs

Resit Examinations will take place from

Tuesday 27th August until Friday 6th September

Timetables for ALL exams on www.my.bham.ac.uk

Procedures and Regulations

Full details on Academic Services website http://www.as.bham.ac.uk/exams/

Attending the exam

Find the room and be there at least 15 minutes early

You can’t leave the room in the first half hour or last ten minutes

Follow instructions

Don’t bring any notes, papers etc to your desk and don’t remove unused answer books

Bring all the pens, pencils you need to your desk

Electronic Devices

Calculators are permitted unless the question paper states otherwise. Check your calculator is permitted. You can’t use the calculator on your phone or other device

Switch your phone off and place it on the floor under your desk

No audio devices are permitted

Student Support Agreements

If you have a student support agreement

Collect a personalised timetable from the Enquiry Office, Block C, Aston Webb Building

For the resit exams, your personalised timetable will be sent to the home address on the student portal

Check the arrangements with the Undergraduate Office before the exams start

Fit to Sit

Refer to the fit to sit and extenuating circumstances forms you signed with your tutor

Detailed regulations are on websitehttp://www.as.bham.ac.uk/sca/extcirc/index.shtml

If you attend the exam you have declared yourself “Fit to Sit”

Otherwise follow the procedure for application of Extenutating Circumstances as soon as possibleDeadline for submission of documentation 6th June (main) and 9th September (resits).

Dictionaries

If your first language is not English you can take, a clean, unmarked, standard dictionary into most exams

Your dictionary may be inspected during the exam

You must complete a Dictionary Approval Form and get it stamped by Academic and Student Administration and bring the form to the exam

More information on Academic Services website

Exam Tactics

Follow the instructions on the paper and the answer book

Read the questions carefully, answer all parts

Plan your time

Write clearly

Write your answers on the lined pages in the answer book The plain pages are for rough work and are not marked

Marking Procedures (1)

Exams are marked by the member of staff who set the questions according to a marking scheme.

The questions and marking scheme have been checked internally AND by external examiners.

The marking process is checked by a second marker.

A third marker (“moderator”) checks that the marking scheme was applied correctly to a sample of papers, including ALL papers close to class borders and “fail” papers.

Marking Procedures (2)

Year tutors check the collated marks and arrange further checks if required

The impact of extenuating circumstances is assessed on 6th June

External Examiners are here to scrutinise the process 10th-12th June

Exam board (all staff) on 11th – 12th June reviews the marks and decisions and submits them to the University

Marks returned to students by personal tutors Friday 14th June

Results and Feedback

Exam Results 1st and 2nd year

The results for 1st and 2nd years will be available

from your tutor after 10am on Friday 14th Junefrom www.my.bham.ac.uk on Monday 17th June

BE HERE to see your tutor to discuss your results

Results will not be given or discussed over the phone

15

Exam Results 3rd year

Results will not be given or discussed over the phone

Make sure you have returned all project equipment

Degree classifications posted on notice board outside UG Office 3.30pm, Wed 12th June unless you instruct us to hide yours (see year handbook page 5 for more details)

Full results available from UG office on 14th June

Results also available from my.bham.ac.uk on 17th June

Feedback

1st and 2nd year students:See your tutor on Friday 14th June to collect your results and get advice on options as needed

Feedback on answers will be given in the “Student Information” section of WebCT – 28th June

We provide generic written feedback on each exam question as well as copies of the papers and specimen solutions, and a breakdown of their marks on each question

Revision

Engineering is about DOING not just remembering

It is highly recommended that your revision includes working on previous years’ papers

Previous years’ papers and solutions are available from

WebCT (School database)

www.my.bham.ac.uk via “my.exams”Search under assessment code e.g. A12345 or title

Make sure you can do the tutorial questions too

Progression

1st to 2nd year

2nd to 3rd or 3rd/4th year

Weightings of marks

1st year performance IS important

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4

BEng 0 % 25 % 75 %

MEng 0 % 20 % 40 % 40 %

1st to 2nd year

Pass at least 100/120 creditsNote you need a total of 320 to get a degree

Mean year mark equal to above 40 %

Pass pre-requisites for your 2nd year degree stream

You can resit individual courses with mean marks below 40 % in August to gain the credits but the marks are capped at 40 %

You only get one resit opportunity

2nd to 3rd or 3rd/4th year

• To go onto 3rd Year BEng 100 2nd year credits incl. resits

• To go onto MEng220 credits 1st/2nd year Average at least 60 % (2:1)If average is 57-59.4% we may (i) calculate without the MOMD (ii) look at mode as well as mean

• Pass pre-requisite modules

• No transfer MEng BEng afteryear 3

First Year

Second Year

3rd Year BEng

3rd Year MEng

4th Year MEng

Resits/Resubmissions

Resits/Resubmissions (1)

The deadline for appeals 1st July (By 4pm).See Student Conduct and Appeals website for allowed appeals

No resits for 3rd year students

Make time over the summer to revise and sit the exams/do the coursework

You can resit overseas (apply before 8th July). The admin fee for this is £100. http://www.as.bham.ac.uk/exams/overseas.shtml

Or…make travel arrangements to be here

Resits/Resubmissions (2)

Coursework resubmission will be released on WebCT on Monday 24th June

Deadline for resubmission is 12:00hrs, 19th August

Exam timetable released on www.my.bham.ac.uk on 7th AugustYou are responsible for getting your timetable

Results fromUndergraduate Office on Friday 13th September (not tutors)Online on Monday 16th September on www.my.bham.ac.uk

And Finally……

Revision classes this weekYour lecturers may not be available at other timesTimetable is on WebCTCheck the latest version

2012-13 Academic Year starts on Monday 30th September All students must attend induction events Make travel arrangements in good time

25

Good Luck!!!