Student Handbook 2024/25

14.4. Fail

Fail (0 to 49)

A submission in the Fail range does not meet the minimum requirements of the assessment criteria.

A submission in the Fail range typically contains one or more of the following:

• Evidence of a lack of basic understanding of the issue or question

• Many errors or omissions

• Evidence of a lack of familiarity and engagement with the relevant literature and/or class and reading list materials

• Disorganised presentation

• Few or no citations or consistently incomplete or inaccurate citations

• Very poor written English, including poor grammar and spelling and incoherent statements

In addition to the above, in a problem question, the answer:

• Fails to identify several important issues

• Fails to apply relevant legal rules and principles

• Fails to make appropriate use of the relevant legal rules and principles

• Fails to answer the question posed, e.g., it answers a different question from that set by the module convenor

Failure may be condoned in up to 30 credits of modules of an LLM or MSc degree if the module is not designated a ‘core’ module, the module mark for the failed module(s) is 40-49 and the student’s overall credit-weighted average mark, including the failed module(s), is at least 50.

Failure in the condonable Fail range (i.e., 40-49) should be limited to submissions that almost meet the minimum requirements of the assessment criteria.

A non-condonable Fail mark (i.e., 0-39) is appropriate for a submission which indicates no understanding of the issue or significantly misinterprets the question.

There will be little or no mention of any relevant law, with no analysis or application of value. The quality of the written English may be so poor as to be unintelligible.

Such a mark may also be appropriate where the submission is of just a few lines, commonly where a student has run out of time before being able to answer the question properly.