Important Information about Spring Exams and Assessments
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Reminder about academic misconduct
The normal rules of academic conduct apply to online exams as well as in-person exams. Please check these rules carefully as the penalties for not following them, even unintentionally, can have a serious impact on your degree.
You may be expected to sit online exams without referring to internet sources, books, notes or any other material that would not normally be allowed in an in-person examination. In other cases, online examinations will be taken under ‘Open Book’ conditions. This will be made clear on the front page of your exam question paper and you must carefully read the instructions sent to you for each examination. Note also that Open Book is not the same as 'Open Exam within 24 hours'. Not all examinations will have identical instructions, and some may allow access to specific materials.
On-line exam guidance
All your answers must be your own work. Specifically, you must not:
- ask another person to take the examination for you;
- consult with other students about the examination;
- share your work with anyone else;
- use jointly produced or shared notes, as this will result in similarity being detected between your work and the work of other students;
- post questions to, or use answers from, online 'homework' or Q&A sites, or use AI-generated answers;
- copy or translate material from other sources.
The purpose of assessment is to demonstrate your understanding of the course. Copying or translating from other sources does not allow that. Further guidance is available on the Good Academic Practice Moodle.
Any suspicion of misconduct will be reported under the Code of Student Conduct. If you are reported you will be asked to attend an interview, or to submit a written statement in response to the allegation.
In-person exam guidance
If you are taking your exams at an in-person venue (whether on or off-campus), you must ensure that you do not bring any prohibited items with you into the exam. Prohibited items include, but are not limited to:
- mobile phones, tablets, smart watches, smart glasses, earbuds and fitness trackers;[1]
- notes;
- unauthorised types of calculator;
- any material or item with annotations.
See also this summary and infographics.
Dictionaries of any type, including translation dictionaries, are not permitted to be used in exams, except where the specific instructions for the examination allow it (for example, in some 'open-book' format exams where you can access any material or book).
Bringing prohibited materials into an exam is a violation of the Code of Student Conduct regardless of whether they are brought intentionally or are used during the exam. The penalties applied under the Code of Student Conduct can lower your GPA, cause you to fail a course and prevent you from achieving your award. Do not put your degree at risk.
[1] You can take a basic watch and place it on your exam desk. A basic watch is one which can tell the date and time, may possess additional basic functions (such as a stopwatch or lap timer) but it must not be any form of smart watch or fitness tracker, and must not have the ability (whether set up to do so or not) to store, send or receive data of any kind, or to connect to a phone.
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What happens if illness or other adverse circumstances affects any of your exams or other assessments?
If you have been ill or had other adverse circumstances which you believe have affected your assessment, this can be considered through our regulations on 'Good Cause'.
If you want such circumstances to be taken into account, you must submit a Good Cause claim through MyCampus. This can apply to:
- missed exams;
- online exams submitted late for which you wish to request waiver of the ‘late’ grade ‘H’;
- assessments in which you feel your performance has been significantly impaired;
- coursework that you were unable to submit;
- coursework for which you wish to request an extension to the submission deadline of more than five working days.
The Good Cause process is explained in our 'Key FAQs for students'.
How to submit a Good Cause claim
In your Good Cause claim, you must explain clearly:
- Your illness or other adverse circumstances: you should include reference to the timing of the assessment(s) affected and the duration of the relevant circumstances.
- How your ability to complete the specific assessment(s) was affected.
Supporting evidence
A Good Cause claim should be supported by evidence, such as a report that describes the relevant medical condition or other adverse personal circumstances. Information about appropriate supporting evidence is available in the Good Cause FAQs.
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Information and technical support before and during your assessments
You might be required to sit your exams entirely online, entirely in-person, or a mixture of both.
In-person exams
- If your exams are in-person then you will be able to seek assistance from the invigilators at your exam.
Online exams
- Please familiarise yourself with the assessment submission process before your exam - Moodle assessment practice
- If you have questions about the content of your paper, or need technical support, contact our virtual invigilation team at the Helpdesk, instead of reaching out to academic staff. Technical support for online exams is available throughout the exam period.
Please check our exam and assessment website for more information and support resources.
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