MSc Student Handbook 2016/17

15. Exercises, Assessments, Examinations, Results and Learning

Exercises

For many of our modules, we set exercises approximately once a week to illuminate the previous week’s teaching. You must attempt these exercises in your own time, write out neat solutions and hand them in if required; the module organiser will tell you, usually in a lecture  early in the semester. (We sometimes refer to these exercises as “coursework”.) Doing the exercises for each module is compulsory.

Depending on the module, we may:

• “correct” or write comments on some exercises to provide you with feedback to help you learn;
• not look at any of the exercises.

We usually provide “model solutions” on the web or in other ways to most of the exercises that we set, which you should use to learn how the module organiser 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).

There are normally weekly tutorial classes in which you can get help.

For further general information please contact the particular module convenor / leader.

Assessment

Your modules may be assessed in a variety of ways. The majority of the postgraduate taught modules are assessed by written  examination. Others have more than one element of assessment which will count towards your final module mark, for these modules you may be required to sit a mid-term test or submit one  or multiple courseworks during the semester in which the module is taught as well as sitting a final examination. The main examination period takes place each year between late April and early June. The module organiser will make the method/s, weighting/s and deadline/s of the module assessment/s for their module clear through personal communication or via any applicable module page on QMplus.

Please note that late submissions for the MSc project / dissertation will be penalised as follows: 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 120 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 examinations/ resubmit the coursework which you have failed. This will be during the late summer resit period, in August of the same calendar year. Students who have resits should note that their marks are capped at 50% - MSc Mathematics students (only) do not have this 50% cap on any resits.

NOTE: Resit exams are compulsory for all students.  Please go here for the regulations.   You should note that examinations in any module will normally only be offered for one year after that unit has been discontinued or significantly amended

Examination Timetable

Your individual examination timetable will be available in MySIS towards the end of Semester B. Please check it and report any errors to Registry immediately. In particular, check your resit and first sit entries.

Results

Please note that results provided by the School are provisional, this is because they must be formally approved by the Queen Mary Degree Examination Board (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. 

Late Summer Examinations

We will offer you late summer resits of any exams you fail unless you graduate 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 accessible via MySIS. However, if necessary, you can check your progress by emailing the Maths Office.

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. Generally, calculators are not allowed in examinations, but if calculators are allowed then the examination rubric will state this clearly, so be sure to read the rubric. If you use a calculator in an examination in which calculators are not allowed, you can expect to receive a mark of zero for the examination. 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 tests.

Learning Development

Queen Mary offers a free and confidential Learning Development service available to any QM student. Based in the Mile End Library, this includes:

• Bookable one-to-one tutorials to discuss your approaches to study, a written assignment, a spoken presentation or a knotty area of grammar
• Bookable one-to-one tutorials with one of our Royal Literary Fund Fellows to talk about your writing
• Advice on Maths, Statistics and Science on a drop-in basis in the first floor study centre
• Brief consultations on writing and study skills, such as  researching an assignment, referencing or using your time effectively on a drop-in basis in the ground floor Help Zone
• Retreats and protected reading and writing spaces to help you focus, manage your time, develop better practices for reading and writing
• Access to QM study skills books collection located on the ground floor

To find out more details go to: www.learningdevelopment.qmul.ac.uk.