Exams and referrals (resits)
The Policy on Exams is contained within the Assessment Framework.
Online exams
Since the 2021/22 academic year the Faculty of Humanities default position is that all exams are online (as detailed below) and, by exception, on-campus exams will be permitted where there is a clear and strong pedagogic rationale or Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB) requirements, which will need to be approved by the Faculty:
1. Open Book exams which students could work on during a 7 day, 48h or 24h period.
2. Timed examinations - where students were given a specified short duration from the moment they start to complete an exam e.g. 1 hour. Timed off-campus examinations will typically be available to students within a 24 or 48hr period, or exceptionally, delivered synchronously online.
Online exams can be supported, and you should contact your eLearning Team to discuss your needs and seek advice. See also the Humanities Teaching Academy for designing and selecting methods of online assessment. Guidance for students and staff on online assessment is also available:
• open book on-line exams https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=49102
• fixed time Open book examinations https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=52185
• Settings for Off-Campus Timed Exams https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/DocuInfo.aspx?DocID=54641
Exam boards
The University has guidance regarding examinations boards, including exam board conduct, structure, agenda and minutes.
The University also has an Exam Board Chairs & Secretaries Toolkit to support you in your role.
Past papers
Students can search for past exam papers via My Manchester.
Exam timetables
The examination timetables are drawn up centrally in the University. The University uses students' confirmed choice of courses which have been entered upon the Student System (Campus Solutions) to register students for examinations. The central examinations office (based in Student Services Centre) send an e-mail to let students know when the timetable is available, with instructions on how to obtain their personal timetable (via My Manchester), together with details of the location of examination rooms across the campus.
While attempts are made to ensure that students have a spread of examination dates throughout the examination period, in many cases, this is not possible given the institutional constraints on the numbers of examination venues that are available, the number of examinations that are scheduled to take place and the options available to students on any particular programme of study.
Students must expect to have examinations on two or more consecutive days and, potentially, have more than one examination within a single day. The University will try to ensure that instances of these events happening are as few as possible, but it is simply not possible to construct an examination timetable within the existing parameters that spreads all examinations out equally for all students.
Mitigating circumstances
The Mitigating Circumstances Policy states that:
"Students may suffer from some illness or misfortune that adversely affects their ability to complete an assessment or the results they obtain for an assessment. Hence the University needs robust procedures to ensure that such misfortunes are dealt with systematically and that students are treated equitably across all Schools".
Schools must publish their procedure for the consideration of mitigating circumstances submitted by students.
Referrals (resits)
Re-sit examinations are held in Manchester, typically three or four weeks before the next session starts. This can mean extra costs for accommodation and travel, and loss of income if students have to curtail vacation employment.
International students in particular on occasion ask if they can re-sit examinations abroad. Although such a request appears reasonable, experience shows that arrangements overseas are not sufficiently reliable. Whilst it might be possible to sit the examination insufficiently secure conditions, problems with invigilation, differences of time zones, the safe return of scripts and so on prove very burdensome and are not sufficiently offset by charging the student a higher fee to cover extra direct costs.
Home students also sometimes ask if they can re-sit examinations away from Manchester, with similar though less severe problems.
Hence the University does not normally allow re-sit examinations to be held away from Manchester. This does not apply to collaborative programmes, where re-sit examinations are normally held at the partner institution, or to recognise exchange programmes, where arrangements may be approved for international or home students to re-sit examinations at the partner institution. All students taking resit exams have to pay a one-off fee. See all semester dates, including key dates surrounding the resit examination period.
Resit without attendance
Resit without attendance is not permitted unless there are exceptional mitigating circumstances. Staff must seek advice from the Student Immigration Team (visa@manchester.ac.uk) with regards to students on a Tier 4 visa in respect of Resit without Attendance. The University's Guide to the Taught Degree Regulations contains further information.