6 Examination Procedures and Grading

Examination procedures

Although modules are completed every 16 weeks in the programme, final official percentages are released only once at the end of each academic year, in accordance with NUI Galway examination procedures. Grades which are returned to students before this, i.e. grades for individual assignments and end-of-module grades, are provisional grades.

In July each year, the Programme Academic Board and an External Examiner review the provisional grades for each student for each module which has been completed during the year. These final grades are then reviewed and ratified by the University Examination Board, at which point the grades become official, and are released to the students.

Module Assessment

Assessment of the programme is ‘outcome-based,’ so all modules are built upon specified learning objectives with corresponding assessment criteria defined from the start. All modules in the programme will be individually assessed, so a grade will be returned for each module.

Assessment takes the form of assignments throughout the semester, with written exams, and in some cases practical laboratory exams, at the end of each semester.  Normally satisfactory completion of assignments and related course work is required before a student is permitted to sit the end of semester written exam. Written exams shall comprise a minimum of 50% of the overall assessment for the programme.  Each written examination will be of two and a half hours duration, depending on the subject requirements.  Please note that most online modules will comprise of a 100% continuous assessment format.

Students will be given a general indication of their performance (grade only) in the module assessment during the year, subject to final confirmation by the Programme Examination Board.  Credit will not be awarded in respect of modules in which a grade E has been awarded, and the mark for such modules will not be calculated in the overall result.

Grading procedures

The following specific grading procedures are to be followed by all tutors for every module in the programme. If you have any questions, please contact Niamh or Emma.

 Communicating preliminary grades to students

• During a module, each tutor calculates results (for forum participation, assignments, labs, etc.)
• When releasing grades to students during the module, all grades must be in letter grade format. Under no circumstances should numerical grades or marks be given to students.
• Tutors must explain to students that all grades released by the tutor are provisional grades only, in accordance with University examination procedures.

Returning final results to NUI Galway

• When returning final results, tutors must return all results in numerical percentage format.
• Never return a mark that is borderline i.e. 39%, 49%, 59% or 69%. Normally such marks are automatically upgraded, so please include a formal statement with your results if you feel an upgrade is not appropriate in any particular case.
• Within two weeks of the completion of each module exam tutors are required to return the final results spreadsheet to the Blackboard Grade Centre and submit a copy of these results via the Grading Template provided to: Niamh McHugh niamh.mchugh@universityofgalway.ie

• If your class grade average is particularly low or high, you should submit an explanation for this with the return of the final result sheet.
• Tutors should make themselves available to attend the exam board and provide clarification on their module results if required. Tutors will be advised of the date and time of the exam board meetings as soon as the details are available.
• Once the programme exam board has met and the percentage marks approved the relevant University Exam Office will issue exam transcripts notifying all students of their percentage mark in each module. No further changes to marks will be possible at this stage.

Final examinations

Each term that a module is delivered, tutors are required to set a unique final examination. Please note the following requirements for examinations:

One final exam per semester

Each semester that a module is offered, there must be only one version of the final exam.

Reducing plagiarism

The following guidelines have been suggested by the faculty plagiarism advisors, and approved by the academic board:

• A unique exam must be created for each module in each term (i.e. not identical to previous terms’ exams).
• Tutors are encouraged to ensure that exam questions are unique by not using questions/solutions which are available on the web. We have found that even problems and solutions which are password-protected by book publishers, for example, have been posted to other locations on the web, and are thus openly available.

Review of final exams

Each examination is reviewed by the External Examiner. The Programme Coordinator will coordinate this: final drafts of exams should be sent to Niamh McHugh and Emma Court by the requested deadline (usually week 6), along with a completed peer review document.

Please ensure you adhere to the following format when submitting your exam papers and solutions. Papers and solutions that are not in the correct format will be returned to the tutor for updating.

Format Requirements

• Two exam papers and two sets of solutions are required (December/Summer exam and repeat exam).
• Exam papers and solutions to be submitted in separate documents and clearly tagged, i.e. 4 documents altogether – December/Summer Exam, December/Summer solutions, Repeat Exam, Repeat solutions.
• Papers and solutions should be submitted in Microsoft Word format (not PDF).
• Exam papers must include the marks breakdown for individual questions and question parts.
• Please ensure you indicate if students should receive a hand out, formula sheet etc. for the exam (and include these when returning your papers to Niamh and Emma).
• A cover sheet, which admin will email to you each semester, should be used at the front of your exam papers and amended as required.  If previous versions of the coversheet are used, the paper will be returned to you for updating.

Marking scheme

Your marking scheme should identify the various levels of answers expected by the different student standards. Appendix 2 includes the grade descriptors and the equivalent standard and a description of the quality of the answer. The quality of the assessment answers should reflect these descriptors if the equivalent grades are to be awarded.  Please ensure you design your exam with this in mind.  We are going to be working with the External Examiner to ensure papers give an accurate reflection of the ability of students. Please remember that your papers, assignments and consequently your grades should reflect the different skill levels and standards in the class, differentiating between first class to pass level students.  An A grade is a First Class honours standard and as such, students receiving such grades should be exceptional. In designing your assessment please ensure that the exam questions are sufficiently challenging to identify exceptional students. The External Examiners have been asked to keep this in mind when reviewing papers and we expect them to ask for changes if they feel the paper does not achieve this aim. External Examiners changes are mandatory so please have your paper to us in time for this process to be completed.