School of Mathematical Sciences UG Student Handbook 2024/25

If your study programme includes optional modules then you should choose them for the whole academic year well before or, at the latest, during the enrolment period at the start of Semester A. You will be able to amend your Semester B choices at the start of Semester B. Module registration is handled online using MySIS. Before attempting to register for modules, you should consult module registration, study programmes and module details.

You are encouraged to register for your modules as soon as possible as popular modules may quickly fill up. You can find out how to change your modules on the Student Enquiry Centre website (http://www.arcs.qmul.ac.uk/students/study/module-registration/index.html).

To register for your modules, log-in to MySIS (your personal area of SIS) using your usual Queen Mary computer account details, select "Module Registration" from the menu on the left and make your preliminary module choices from a list using the module descriptions to tell you what the modules are about. Any core or compulsory modules will be pre-selected and you cannot change them. Some optional modules can be selected from lists but for others you must enter the module code. Clicking on an underlined module code or title will provide a brief description to tell you what the module is about and you can also view the full Queen Mary Module Database from the Module Registration page.

Once you are happy with your choices, these will automatically be sent to the School of Mathematical Sciences Education Services Team for approval (e.g. we will make sure there aren't any timetable clashes, you meet the relevant prerequisites, have a balance of modules in each semester and meet the required programme requirements). This is essential; until you do it your module selection has no effect! You can send comments with the selection if you wish. All of your selections must be confirmed and approved by the specified deadline which will be emailed to you. The final outcome of your choices will be confirmed to you by email and MySIS. Module registration has to be completed by the specified deadline (normally mid-October within the first two weeks of teaching).

At the beginning of each academic year, you must check your Queen Mary email frequently and respond quickly if any of your module registrations have been rejected. The Education Services Team should provide a comment to indicate the reason; if not, contact the Education Services Team immediately to discuss your options. However, it is your responsibility to ensure that there are no timetable clashes and you have an appropriate balance of modules in each semester. Module registration has to be completed by the specified deadline (normally the end of the second week of teaching). If there are timetable clashes you will be required to change your module selections.

Some modules have a limited number of places, and priority is given to students who are required to take them for their programmes. Therefore you are advised to choose your optional modules and complete your module registration as soon as possible.

You can modify your choice of optional modules up to the end of the second week of teaching in each semester. To modify your choice after you have submitted your module registration, you must contact the Education Services Team. However, remember that you may risk losing your place on popular modules if you don't act quickly.

Please note that continuing students should register for modules in May, although they can change their registration in September. Also, the first year of all undergraduate Mathematical Sciences degree programmes is compulsory so students do not need to (and cannot) register for their first-year modules. 

MODULES Descriptors

All module descriptors can be found at https://www.qmul.ac.uk/modules/.

Amending Modules 

During the first two weeks of each semester, students on certain programmes of study are able to modify their choice of modules by undoing your choices in MySIS. MySIS is the website you used to pre-enrol and is a portal to your student record. It shows you the personal details, such as addresses and finance, as well as your overall module results.

However you must register for your modules as soon as possible as popular modules may quickly fill up. You can find out how to change your modules on the Student Enquiry Centre website (http://www.arcs.qmul.ac.uk/students/study/module-registration/index.html).

Optional modules Outside the School of Mathematical Sciences

You are not allowed to take Business Management (BUS) or Economics and Finance (ECN) modules as options. You can take BUS modules only if they are compulsory modules included explicitly in your study programme. You can take Economics (ECN) modules only if your study programme is GL11.

We may allow you to take modules offered by Schools other than Business and Management or Economics and Finance provided their content does not overlap significantly with that of any module offered by the School of Mathematical Sciences, because if it does you should take the module offered by the School of Mathematical Sciences. Therefore, if you want to take a module offered by a School within the Faculty of Science and Engineering or within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences other than Mathematical Sciences, you must obtain permission by email from the Deputy Director of Education in the School of Mathematical Sciences. You must do this by the end of the first week of the semester in which the module is taught, giving a clearly reasoned academic case explaining why you want to take the module. You do not need permission from the School of Mathematical Sciences, other than the agreement of the Deputy Director of Education, to take modules offered by Schools in other faculties since they are very unlikely to overlap with modules offered by the School of Mathematical Sciences.

In all cases, you must also obtain permission by email from the School that teaches the module. If you register for any modules that you are not allowed to take then you may be removed from these modules later and have difficulty finding replacements.

It is your responsibility to obtain permission from the relevant School and forward this to the Deputy Director of Education one week before the module selection process closes.

OPTIONAL MODULES at other UK higher education INSTITUTIONS

It may be possible to take one or two modules, normally only at level 6 or 7, at other colleges of the University of London. If you want to do this then discuss it with the Deputy Director of Education first. You register for intercollegiate modules via MySIS in the normal way by looking up the module code in the module directory. Many intercollegiate modules are already in MySIS, but if you want to register for an intercollegiate module and cannot find it in MySIS then email full details of the module to the Deputy Director of Education. You should also complete an intercollegiate module application form.

Advice for Continuing Students

Your Advisor will likely change from one year to the next so please check; see "How do I know who my Advisor is?" in Advice and Support. If your progression depends on late summer examinations then you may not be able to enrol or register for modules until the first week of teaching.

Most undergraduate modules have prerequisites and some have overlaps; see module details. You cannot take a module if it overlaps with one you have already taken, will take this year or must take in future. You may take a module only if you have taken all the essential prerequisite modules. If you have not taken one or more of the helpful prerequisite modules then you are advised to consult the module organiser before registering, otherwise you may find the module too difficult.

Registrations for some modules must be validated, meaning that you must obtain approval (usually from the module organiser) in writing (usually by email) to register for that specific module and forward it to Deputy Director of Education. You also need written approval to take modules taught by other Schools; see our study programme guide. Obtaining this approval is entirely your responsibility.

It is your responsibility to ensure that you satisfy all module requirements. You must normally have written permission from both the Deputy Director of Education and the Registry to take modules taught outside Queen Mary. For approved modules run by other colleges and institutes of the University of London, you must complete an intercollegiate module registration form available from the Registry.

Study abroad - general information on this is given here

http://www.qmul.ac.uk/undergraduate/erasmus/index.html 

http://www.qmul.ac.uk/undergraduate/exchange/index.html

What if I have Failed Modules?

You may attempt each examination at most twice but you cannot resit any examination you have already passed. Once you have passed enough credits you will normally graduate, after which you cannot resit any modules.

It is possible to retake a complete module but only if you have approval to retake a year (first take) but these are only approved under exceptional circumstances. Otherwise, your second attempt at a module will be a resit of the examination alone (without attending any of the teaching for the module) and the maximum overall mark you can obtain will be limited to the minimum pass mark; we say that the mark is "pegged" or "capped". You must resit examinations at the first opportunity. Resit assessment of most Mathematical Sciences modules is synoptic, meaning that the resit exam contributes 100% to the assessment.

If we discontinue or substantially change a module and no comparable examination paper is being set then we will set a special resit paper for that module, if required, on one occasion and no more. You should check with the module organiser how we will handle any large in-term assessment for resit candidates. You should also check with the current module organiser for any minor changes that may affect a resit examination.

The following regulations normally apply to resit examinations:

• You must resit each examination at the earliest opportunity.
• We currently allow you two attempts at any one module, including one resit.
• When there is a significant change in either style or content of the examination paper from one year to the next, resit candidates will be set a special resit paper that is comparable to the original one; they cannot take the current year's paper