Summary of assessment regulations

Please note this page is a little out of date, and needs to be updated

Assessment is the thing students worry about the most. It is important that they understand the assessment regime that is used during their study. This is an attempt to describe the University of Salford scheme in a single page.

It is a complex system, and this page is necessarily a simplificiation and a summary. You will probably want to come back to this page several times during your study (and talk to your personal tutor or programme leader for guidance). Please let me know if you find this page useful, incomprehensible, or anything in between!

Background

• The University of Salford operates a modular, credit-based assessment system. “Modular” means that your course has been divided up into small parts, each on a distinct theme, that will be assessed separately. “Credit-based” means that decisions about how you proceed through your course will be made by considering how many modules you have passed rather than how well you passed them (how well you passed them is relevant to your degree classification, of course).
• Each module has a “module specification form” that describes the syllabus, what you are expected to learn, and how your learning will be assessed. The module specification form also assigns each module a “credit rating” (usually 10 or 20 credits). You can find all module specification forms elsewhere on the "First Year Matters" webpage.
• The lecturer will invent coursework assignments and exam questions, and will write a marking scheme to determine how to mark each question or assignment. The questions and answers are checked by another academic from the CSMT discipline, as well as by an “external examiner” (a senior academic from a different university whose job it is to ensure academic standards are comparable)
• Each component of assessment is worth a percentage of the module. The marks for each component are combined into a “module mark”. If you get a “module mark” of 40% or more then you are awarded the credits for that module.
• There are 120 credits for each of your first, second and final years. To pass each year, you need all 120 credits. In other words, you need to pass all of the modules. (There are some circumstances where you will be allowed to pass the year even if you have scored slightly less than 40% in one or two modules. This is your safety net, and you should not rely on this.)
• At the end of each year, you get a “level mark” which is a weighted average of all the “module marks” you have been awarded that year. Your level mark is a good indication of overall progress.
• If you do a placement, it counts as part of your second year.

Meetings of the “Board of Examiners”

• After marking and checking of the semester 1 examinations, the “Board Of Examiners” meets to approve the marks awarded. After this meeting, you will be told the results of semester 1 modules.
• After marking and checking of the semester 2 examinations, the “Board Of Examiners” meets to decide whether the student has passed the year and can proceed to the next stage. After this meeting, you will be told your results and any decisions made by the Board of Examiners. This may be that you can proceed to the next stage of your degree, or it may be that you need to do some resit work over the summer.
• After marking and checking of the September resit examinations, the “Board Of Examiners” meets to make a final decision about whether the student can proceed to the next stage of their degree, or whether they need to repeat their current stage.

Resits

• If you do not get all the credits at the first attempt, you will be allowed a second chance in September. However, the highest “module mark” you can get at the second attempt is 40%.
• If you do not get all the credits at the second attempt, you may be allowed to repeat the year or to repeat the parts of the year that you have failed (again, the maximum “module mark” you can get for a repeated module is 40%). Alternatively, after the second year you may be allowed to proceed to the final year but with a restriction that you can only get an “ordinary degree”.

Calculation of your degree classification

• If you pass your final year, a “programme mark” will be calculated from the level marks of your second and third years (¼*second+¾*third). This is used to calculate your degree classification:
  • if the “programme mark” is 68.5% or more, you are awarded a first class honours degree
  • if the “programme mark” is between 59% and 68.5%, you are awarded an upper second class honours degree
  • if the “programme mark” is between 49.5% and 59%, you are awarded a lower second class honours degree
  • if the “programme mark” is between 40% and 49.5%, you are awarded a third class honours degree
  • if the “programme mark” is less than 40%, you may be eligible to be awarded an ordinary degree (without honours) or you may be asked to repeat any modules that you have failed.
• If the “programme mark” is on the boundary between two classifications then each case will be reviewed individually. There is no automatic right to be “rounded up”.