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SMS MSc Student Handbook 2025/2026 (Sep 2025 Start)

16. Exercises, Assessments, Examinations, Results and Learning

Exercises

Whilst this is less common at postgraduate level, your module organiser / teacher may set exercises for you during term-time. Should they do so, you must attempt these exercises in your own time, write out neat solutions and hand them in if required. (We sometimes refer to these exercises as "coursework".) Doing any such exercises is compulsory. Depending on the module, your module organiser / teacher may "correct" or write comments on some exercises to provide you with feedback to help you learn.

Lecturers will usually provide "model solutions" on QMplus, by email or in person, which you should use to learn how they would solve the problems. If your solution is different, it may still be correct, although the model solution may be better (e.g. more elegant, more succinct or more sophisticated). For further general information please contact the particular lecturer.

Assessment

Your modules may be assessed in a variety of ways. The majority of the postgraduate taught modules have more than one element of assessment which will count towards your final module mark; you may be required to sit a mid-term test or submit one or more pieces of coursework during the semester in which the module is taught, as well as sitting a final examination.

The two main examination periods take place each year in early January and May. The lecturer will make the method/s, weighting/s and deadline/s of the module assessment/s for their module clear through the module page on QMplus.

Please note that late submissions for the MSc project will be penalised as follows as noted in the assessment handbook (Paragraph 5.51i): for each day that the submission is late, 5 marks will be taken off the 100 marks available for that work. Any submissions made later than 168 hours after the deadline will be given an automatic 'zero' mark (0%).

If you do not achieve a passing mark for any of the taught modules, you are entitled, on one occasion, to resit the module. This may involve a resit examination (during the late summer resit period, in August of the same calendar year) and/or the resubmission of coursework". You don't necessarily resit the precise elements you have failed.

For precise details about the nature of resit assessments, please contact the relevant lecturer. Students who have resits should note that their module marks are capped at 50%.

Late Submission Policy

  • No extensions are permitted under any circumstances for any assessment.
  • Projects (weighted at 30% and more) and dissertations can be submitted up to 7 days after the specified deadline, but will be recorded as late, and a late penalty will be applied – see the Mark Deduction section below.

Late Submission EC claim

(For projects (weighted at 30% and more and dissertations only)

If you have extenuating circumstances to explain your late submission of a project or dissertation, you should submit an EC claim in line with the following procedure to request for the late penalty to be revoked.

When submitting your EC claim in MySIS, please select 'late submission' as the EC Impact and include the date you plan to submit or submitted (this must be up to 7 calendar days after the initial deadline). Although you may see the option to request an extension in MySIS, you must still select ‘late submission’ as the School does not permit extensions.

Mark Deduction - (For projects (weighted at 30% and more and dissertations only)

If a projector dissertation is submitted up to 7 days after the specified deadline, it will be recorded as late, and a late penalty will be applied. For every period of 24 hours or part thereof that an essay or dissertation is overdue, there shall be a deduction of 5% of the total marks available (i.e. 5 marks for an assessment marked out of 100). Any submissions made later than 168 hours (7 days) after the deadline will be given an automatic 'zero' mark (0%).

A late penalty may be revoked where a student provides good reason for the late submission under the extenuating circumstances policy. A student must submit a late submission EC claim with supporting evidence (if this is a standard EC claim) in line with that policy in order for the circumstances to be considered.

If a student does not submit their work within the 7-day late submission period, they will receive a mark of 0-NS (Non Submission) and will have to resit at the next opportunity. However, extenuating circumstances may apply for non-submission – please refer to the https://www.qmul.ac.uk/student-experience/student-wellbeing-hub/extenuating-circumstances-a-guide-for-students/  for further information if appropriate.

Examination Timetable

Your individual examination timetable will be available in MySIS in November and late March. Please check it and report any errors to Registry immediately. In particular, check your resit and first sit entries, if appropriate.

Feedback:

Marking of assessed work in mathematical sciences is normally objective and specified down to a level of around 1–2% for an exam or around 5% for a test or coursework exercise. We award marks for knowledge (e.g. reproducing definitions, theorems and proofs), understanding (e.g. applying definitions and theorems and constructing proofs) and technical ability (e.g. completing calculations correctly). We normally award partial marks for partial answers, such as partly correct knowledge, partial understanding or partly correct calculations.

All elements of assessment will include an indication of the allocation of marks to questions or sub-questions (although not necessarily at the level of detail used to mark the work). All assessment will follow the Queen Mary Code of Practice on Assessment and Feedback.

Feedback can consist of grades, written comments, verbal comments and discussions. The relevant module organiser will make it clear what type of feedback will be provided in each module.

Feedback for in-term assessments and assessments that take place outside of the Exam period will be provided within 15 working days

Feedback for assessments and exams in the main exam period or classified as a final assessment will be provided within 15 workings days of the relevant Exam Boards.

Students have the opportunity to request and arrange feedback sessions with Module Organisers directly.

If you have not received feedback please raise this with the Maths School Office or via AskQM (https://askqm.qmul.ac.uk/s/)

Mark ranges and their corresponding grades broadly mean the following.

100–70%, A
Excellent knowledge base with perceptive understanding of mathematics. Able to calculate quickly and accurately. Outstanding comprehension and clarity of expression. Has the potential to operate effectively and independently as a mathematician.
69–60%, B
Good knowledge base and understanding of mathematics. Able to calculate quickly and accurately in most situations. Good comprehension and clarity of expression. Has the potential to operate effectively under supervision as a mathematician.
59–50%, C
Adequate knowledge base and understanding of basic mathematics. Able to calculate accurately in some situations. Acceptable comprehension and clarity of expression. May not have the potential to operate effectively as a mathematician.
49–40%, D
Limited evidence of understanding or ability to apply basic mathematics. Limited ability to calculate quickly or accurately. Limited ability to construct a logical argument. Poor comprehension. Explanations lack precision and clarity.
39–0%, F
Does not show evidence of understanding or ability to apply basic mathematics. Unable to calculate quickly or accurately. Unable to construct a logical argument. No comprehension. Explanations lack meaning.

Results

A Subject Examination Board (SEB) will meet in late June at which the appointed external examiners will be asked to confirm the provisional marks awarded for the taught component of the programme. Those provisional marks will then go to the faculty-wide Degree Examination Board (DEB) for approval, in mid/late July. Once these marks are approved, the confirmed marks for the taught modules will then be released to students in late July.

All postgraduate students will be required to submit their MSc projects in early September. The external examiners will confirm the provisional dissertation marks awarded at the SEB in early October, and then the provisional MSc project marks (and marks for any late summer resits of taught modules) will go to the faculty-wide DEB for approval, in mid/late October. Once these marks are approved, the confirmed marks for the MSc project (and marks for any late summer resits of taught modules) will then be released to students in late October / early November.

We do not give out results in response to phone or email enquiries. Once your results have been released by the School you can access these online via your MySIS profile. Guides on checking your results on MySIS are available here. Please note that results provided by any SEB are provisional (only), this is because they must be formally approved by the DEB in order to become official. MySIS will indicate whether the results are provisional or confirmed. Queen Mary will release your official results via MySIS following the DEB. If you wish to appeal a result you must follow the Queen Mary appeals process, information regarding this can be found here.

To view your marks for assessment, log-in to MySIS (your personal area of SIS) with your usual computer log-in, where they will be listed. These marks are provisional and subject to change until they are agreed by the appropriate subject examination board. MySIS will indicate whether the results are provisional or confirmed. Guides on checking your results on MySIS are available here:

https://www.qmul.ac.uk/registry-services/student-information/my-record/navigating-your-mysis-record/  (http://www.arcs.qmul.ac.uk/students/mysis-record/provisional-results/index.html

Late Summer Examinations

We will offer you late summer resits of any exams you fail and late summer first sits if there were extenuating circumstances justifying your absence from previous examinations. We will enter you automatically for late summer exams for which you are eligible. You can withdraw but if you are absent then it counts as a fail. Late summer examinations normally take place during the first two weeks of August. The timetable will be available in MySIS by around mid-July.

Your results will be made accessible via MySIS.

Please note that academic staff members are available to help you with your modules during term time, but not generally during vacation periods, and certainly not without you first making an appointment. There is no formal revision period for late summer exams.

Examination Offences

Queen Mary takes your assessment very seriously. This means that we must strictly obey the rules governing assessments and so must you. If calculators are allowed then the examination rubric will state this clearly, so be sure to read the rubric. It is an examination offence to use a calculator in an examination in which calculators are not allowed. It is also an examination offence to take any notes into the examination room even if you do not look at them (unless the exam is open-book), to look at another student's work, to disrupt the examination in any way or to fail to do what an invigilator asks you to do. These rules apply also to class tests.

QMUL's Academic Misconduct Policy can be found here.