8.1 General Information 11/12
8. Assessment
8.1 General Information
The purposes of assessment are to encourage learning, to monitor progress, to determine eligibility to proceed to subsequent years and to determine the class of the degree.
Lecture, project work and laboratory units are credit rated in a way that reflects the work needed to complete the unit satisfactorily. The norm for a ten-credit unit is 100 hours of work. Credit-rated course units are either continuously assessed or examined in January or in May/June, at the end of the semester in which they occur. Mid-semester tests are also used in some course units.
Examinations on general physics are taken at the end of year two and three. These examinations test the ability to identify the general and basic concepts met in physics core units and to use them to solve problems. The Professional Skills course unit also forms part of the assessment in year 2. It includes the vacation essay, written before the start of year two which tests the ability to explain physical phenomena by bringing together ideas from course units, books and scientific papers. General Physics examinations and PHYS20811 including the Vacation Essay are not part of the 120 credits for the year. Nevertheless, they contribute to the marks for the year, as detailed in section 8.2.
In examination papers, a marking scheme is given as a guide to the relative importance of different parts of each question. Examiners follow these guidelines, but they may make small amendments in order to take into account how questions have been answered by the majority of students. No additional credit is given to students who answer more than the number of questions specified on the exam paper. If, for example, three questions have been answered (in whole or in part) when only two are required, then the last question attempted will be ignored. If you have attempted a question, but do not wish it to be marked, because you wish a later answer to be marked instead, you should cross through the unwanted attempt. Examiners will use their discretion to judge what constitutes an attempt.
Registration for Examinations
Registration for examinations is conducted electronically around week six of each semester, and students should read their email regularly. Students should consult the School Office if there is uncertainty about assessment arrangements
MPhys, BSc and Ordinary degree programmes, Certificates and Diplomas
Most students initially register for an MPhys programme. Whatever their initial registration, however, the point at which they need to make their final decision is before the start of the third year. Eligibility to continue on the Masters programme depends on satisfying the relevant criteria at the end of the second and third years; these are more stringent than the criteria for the BSc programmes and are set out in section 8.2.2 below.
MPhys and classified BSc degrees are described as being "with honours", which is the norm for degrees in England. If students fail to satisfy the criteria for passing a year of studies on an honours programme, they may be eligible to continue on a programme which leads to the award of an ordinary (unclassified) BSc. In Physics, this route is not recommended as experience shows that the chances of completing successfully are low. First-year students in particular are almost certainly better advised to start again on another degree programme better suited to their interests. An ordinary BSc may also be awarded to a third-year honours candidate who has failed to satisfy the requirements for third-class honours.
Students who successfully complete the first year but do not continue are eligible for a Certificate in Higher Education. Similarly after the second year a Diploma may be awarded.
Degree Classification
The process of determining degree classification is given below (section 8.2.5).
Borderline students and interviews
Students who are borderline between classes of degree may be called for an interview. This is in order to make decisions about degree classification For details, see section 8.2.5 below. Dates when students may be called for interview will be communicated well in advance; it is students' responsibility to ensure that the office knows how to contact them in this period.
Examination Results
Overall examination results are posted on the School Intranet and the year notice boards. Individual course unit results are accessible through the student system.
Transcripts
Official transcripts should be requested from the Student Services Centre. There is a charge for this and students should note that it usually takes around 6-8 weeks.
Illness and Other Circumstances Affecting Assessment: Mitigating Circumstances Committee
Students, who believe that the assessment of their work or performance in an examination has been adversely affected by illness or other mitigating circumstances, can ask for these circumstances to be taken into consideration in determining their progression to the following year or final degree classification. Such requests will be considered by the Mitigating Circumstances Committee. If there is unambiguous evidence that performance in a particular element of assessment has been adversely affected, the Committee may reduce the weight of the mark to the overall assessment.
Any students who wish to be considered by the Mitigating Circumstances Committee must complete a Mitigating Circumstances form (available on the School intranet). This should be submitted to the School Office along with supporting documentary evidence (such as a letter from their doctor). Students who report mitigating circumstances to a member of staff 'in confidence' should confirm (in writing) whether or not these circumstances may be reported to the Mitigating Circumstances Committee for consideration. Where the information is of a confidential nature the Secretary will determine with the student the terms in which the information will be disclosed to the Mitigating Circumstances Committee.
While illness (of the student or close family member) and other forms of major crises which significantly impair a student's ability to study or perform in exams are considered as mitigating circumstance, more routine problems such as the consequences of paid employment, general exam stress (unless under medical treatment) and poor time management are not. Further details can be found in the University's Policy on Mitigating Circumstances at http://documents..manchester.ac.uk/display.aspn?DocID=4271
All potentially mitigating circumstances are expected to be reported at the earliest possible opportunity, which will almost always be on the day of the assessment. Problems other than acute illness affecting continuous assessments should be reported in advance and dealt with through a deadline extension and not through the mitigating circumstances procedure.
Except in the most exceptional cases, all claims of mitigating circumstances must be made in time for them to be considered by the Examinations board; in practice this means the end of the examination period. For circumstances affecting the January exams, no applications will be accepted after 27th January 2012, and for the semester 2 exams, no applications will be considered after 8th June 2012. Claims made after the results are published will not be considered unless there are compelling reasons (such as severe and incapacitating illness) why they could not have been submitted earlier.
Penalty for Late Submission of Continuous Assessment
Students should take note of the deadline set for the submission of a report, essay or other continuously assessed work. They should see the appropriate member of staff if they are uncertain about the deadline or if there are special circumstances which prevent them from meeting the deadline.
The penalty for late submission is as follows.
Any late piece of work will lose 10 marks if it is less than 24 hours late and an additional 5 marks per day thereafter, including weekends. Loss of marks is applied after conversion to a percentage; thus a piece of work graded at 60% which is up to one day late will be awarded 50%.
Unless specified to the contrary, this will apply to coursework for any unit with a component of continuous assessment. This includes lab reports, vacation essays, BSc dissertations and MPhys projects. Currently the only exceptions are lab interviews, PHYS20161 Introduction to Programming in C and the "Mastering Physics" element of PHYS10101 Dynamics. The penalties associated with late submission in these are detailed in the corresponding syllabus pages.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious offence, akin to cheating in exams. However past experience suggests that not all students realise what may constitute plagiarism. The University's guidelines may be found at the end of this handbook.
Please note in particular that both the words and the ideas in a text are the copyright of the author. The following actions are therefore plagiarism:
- Copying someone else's words, even as little as a sentence or phrase;
- Paraphrasing someone else's words but following the structure of their text;
- Using striking analogies or metaphors from someone else's text,
- Reproducing or copying images or figures without acknowledgment.
If in doubt, use quotation marks and give the source explicitly; merely including the source in the bibliography is not enough.
Please note that it is an offence to hand in work for assessment which is based on the work performed by other students, or to allow other students to submit your work as their own for assessment.
Penalties will always be imposed; these can be as severe as the denial of a degree. Plagiarism, cheating in exams, and other student misconduct are covered by Regulation XVII, "Conduct and Discipline of Students", which can be found at
http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=6530
The full University guidelines on the avoidance of plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice are in the appendix to this handbook, and at
http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?docID=2870
Use of Calculators in Examinations
Small calculators may be used in all physics examinations. However calculators with facilities for storing and retrieving information are not permitted. In particular, calculators with a full range of alphabetic keys (i.e. A-Z) are not permitted.
Any candidate found using an unauthorised calculator in an examination will be reported for suspected cheating and the calculator will be confiscated.
Checking of Examination Marks
The School has in place a number of measures for ensuring fair and accurate marking of examination scripts and recording of marks, including double checking of marks entered on grids and checking of first and second year scripts where progression or resit decisions could be affected. For graduating students near borderlines all scripts are seen by an External Examiner.
If a student has genuine cause to believe that a mistake has been made in the marking, they may request, via the School Office, to have the marking checked. There is a fee for this, currently £15 per paper, which is refunded if the mark is found to be wrong by more than 5%. Checking is done by an independent member of the academic staff, using the original marking scheme. The checking could result in a lower mark. Experience over the years shows that such checks rarely lead to any changes. Any requests for checking must be made no later than 20 working days after the publication of examination results.
Students should note that each individual paper contributes relatively little to the overall final average degree marks, although it is important to achieve consistently good marks to obtain a good degree.
In line with the University Policy on Feedback to students, an opportunity will be granted to students who request to see their exam scripts, but this will usually be some time after the exam, and is not formally connected with the checking procedure specified here.
Academic Appeal
If a student is concerned about their examination results, this can usually be resolved by contacting their Personal Tutor, or the relevant Year Tutor.
If a student decides to make a formal appeal against a decision of the Examiners, an application should be submitted in writing with supporting evidence to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Faculty Officer for Appeals, Complaints and Discipline not later than 20 working days after the publication of the examination results. There is no provision for appeal against the academic judgement of the Examiners. An appeal may be made only on the grounds alleging:
1. That there exists or existed circumstances affecting the student's performance of which the Examiners had not been made aware when the decision was taken; or
2. That there was a material administrative error or procedural irregularity in the examination process; or
3. That there is evidence of prejudice or bias or of inadequate assessment on the part of one or more of the Examiners.
Academic Appeal is covered by Regulation XIX. Other student complaints are covered by Regulation XVIII. See
http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=1872
http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=1893
Retaking a Year
In exceptional circumstances, permission may be given for students to interrupt their studies and return a year later, or to repeat a year, or to retake some of their exams during the subsequent year without attendance. Such permission depends on there being documented circumstances which have materially interfered with the student's ability to profit from their studies or demonstrate their achievement; there must also be a reasonable expectation that the same problems will not recur. There is no automatic right to interrupt or repeat, and permission will not be granted simply to improve results. Applications should be submitted to the School Office, and students who wish to explore this option should contact their Personal Tutor in the first instance.
Students should note that this permission will be given subject to the condition that the regulations on compensation, progression, award of degree etc. will be those applying to the cohort which they join, rather than those in force when they entered the University.