Exam marking, results and ranking

Exam marking

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After the exam, scripts will be delivered according to instructions provided by the Chair of examiners. The next steps are as follows:

  • Marking – there is a considerable amount of guidance regarding marking and adjudication available in the Examinations and assessments framework (EAF). Some particular problems that may arise are summarised in this handbook.  
  • Mitigating circumstances notices for examiners – students who feel that their performance was affected by mitigating circumstances may submit a notice to their examiners via their college. A subset of the board of examiners should meet to discuss all information received on mitigating circumstances.
  • Record retention – a summary of the relevant policies is given in this handbook, but you are advised to also consult Examinations and assessments framework (EAF).

Students are allocated their candidate number once their University card forms are processed (the number is generated automatically by an overnight system process). Students can look up this number on Student Self Service once they enrol, or on their Individual Candidate Timetable, once they receive it. The candidate number will remain the same throughout a student’s studies at Oxford, unless it has to be changed due to a breach in confidentiality.

This text is taken from the Proctors' Information and Guidance for Examiners "An individual number is allocated to each candidate as part of the means of ensuring anonymity in Examinations. If there are any queries about candidate numbers Chairs should contact the Academic Records Office. Chairs should not attempt to change the numbering (even if there are gaps in the sequence as a result of withdrawals), as this could cause considerable confusion."

Please note that the Candidate Reports contain both the candidates' names and their candidate numbers. Candidate Reports will be sent to the Chair of Examiners and the relevant administrator(s) only.  These reports should not be circulated to anyone else. Examiners should not be given access to any documentation that would reveal a student's identity (e.g. documents that contain both the candidate's name and number).

Information regarding the marking of scripts and adjudication can be found in the Examinations and assessments framework (EAF).

Please take note of these particular issues that may arise during marking:

  1. Illegible Scripts:  If a chair considers a script to be illegible, he or she must inform the Senior Tutor of the candidate’s college as quickly as possible. If there is a dispute between the Chair and the Senior Tutor as to the illegibility of a script or scripts, the question should be referred to the Proctors for a ruling. Chairs will need to return any illegible scripts, by hand, to the candidate’s college asking for them to be typed. The college will either make arrangements to use the Examinations and Assessments team transcription service or else will contact the Proctors for permission to type the script(s) in house. Chairs will be informed about the arrangements. The cost of the typing and invigilation shall not be a charge on the University.
  2. Missing or incomplete scripts: If an examiner or assessor finds that a script is missing from the delivered package, or that a script is conspicuously incomplete, the chair should be notified immediately, so that a check can be initiated with the Examinations and Assessments team and other markers. The Proctors should be informed promptly if it is not found.
  3. Scripts with inappropriate content:  Where examiners feel that the content of a candidate’s script indicates that s/he may require professional help, the chair should contact the Proctors’ Office for advice.

Related pages: Exam papers

Right to access of personal data

The Data Protection Act entitles an individual to obtain a copy of any personal data held about them. University policy sets out what information in relation to a student’s assessment may be released directly by departments and what requires a formal Subject Access request

For further guidance refer to the Examinations and assessments framework (EAF).

Retention of records

The Data Protection Act requires that personal data should not be kept for longer than is necessary to meet the purpose for which it is being processed. Supervisory bodies should ensure that all examiners acting on their behalf are aware of the Proctorial requirements relating to the retention of records.

Proctors instructions for examiners with regards to the retention of records can be found in the Examinations and assessments framework (EAF). A summary is given below, but you are advised to also read the relevant section in the Examinations and assessments framework (EAF).

  • All examiners and assessors should hand over any material pertaining to the marking of the exam to the chair. They must sign a declaration that they no longer have such material.
  • The chair should retain these records, and records relating to the adjudication of candidates, including records of remarked scripts or on which the external examiner’s advice was sought, and the outcome; all medical evidence including a note, countersigned by external examiner(s), of any actions taken in reaching the final marks and degree results; the declarations of examiners. All this material must be deposited with the nominated administrative officer and retained for two years. Duplicates and confidential waste must be destroyed (this means shredded, not put intact in a bin).
  • Records should not be destroyed if an appeal to the Proctors is in progress
  • If any automated processing or weighting of results takes place, the chair should be able to provide a formal statement that explains the logic behind such processing.
  • Raw marks should not be disclosed to colleges or candidates.
  • If it is necessary to retain records in electronic form these should only include data to which there would be no objection to a candidate’s having access. This data should be retained for two years after the final examiners’ meeting. It may be kept beyond this time limit provided the information is depersonalised, or does not contain items that should be divulged.
     

Records for the future

The nominated administrative officer should retain copies of all agreed marks, and any notes relating to them, for two years after the final meeting.

Outgoing chairs should keep records for the assistance of future chairs on matters such as special problems encountered and arrangements made with the Head of Examinations and Assessments. The records should take the form of a chair’s book, which can be passed on each year. It is very important that chairs transmit to their successors any medical certificates and ongoing permissions for candidates likely to be resitting the examination, or any element of it. Reports are available via SITS of all approved alternative arrangements. It is advisable to leave these materials with a member of the Faculty/Departmental administrative staff who will pass them on to future chairs.

For further guidance refer to the Examinations and assessments framework (EAF).

Security, deposit and retention of scripts/submissions

Scripts and other exam submissions in the possession of examiners and assessors must be locked away, particularly before they have been marked.

Faculties and departments can retain scripts and submissions, rather than storing these in the Examination Schools, if they can provide suitable storage space. Scripts/submissions can still be stored in the Examination Schools if preferred, but will be destroyed six months after the publication of results.

Scripts and submissions sent to the Examination Schools should be packaged securely in boxes, clearly labelled with the name of the exam and the term and year, with the course code/paper numbers and in candidate number order.

For further guidance refer to the Examinations and assessments framework (EAF).

 

Exam results

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The Academic Records Office (ARO) will produce a results template for each Board of Examiners' meeting. Once results are submitted to ARO they are processed, checked and then made available to students and college/departmental staff.

The Academic Records Office (ARO) will endeavour to send a results template and declaration form to course administrators in plenty of time for the examiners’ meeting (where the date of the meeting has been logged on eVision). These will be provided via the approved online platform. Normally, this will be after the assessments have taken place so that late changes are accounted for.

The results template should be completed by the course administrator/Chair of Examiners with both the individual Assessment Unit marks or grades and Year Outcomes. Please note that only whole numbers should be used for results reported as marks, and these should be on the 100 point scale.

It is essential that the results template is returned in the correct format, so course administrators are strongly advised to consult the results guidance provided under the 'Guidance & Resources' area of the ARO departmental SharePoint site prior to uploading any results documentation. 

The completed results template and declaration form must be uploaded to the secure approved online platform.

On receipt of these, the ARO will upload the results as soon as they can, but this can be delayed if there are problems with the submitted documents. As a result, chairs and examiners are strongly advised not to inform candidates that results will be issues at a certain date and time. They must not inform individuals of their results before the results have been released. 

Once uploaded, course administrators/Chairs of Examiners are then invited to review the results via the eVision Exam Board data-views. The course administrator/Chair of Examiners have 48 hours to check the results and confirm with ARO by email they are happy for results to be released to students. If a course administrator/Chair of Examiner wishes the results to be released later than 48 hours then they must discuss this with the ARO.

Once results are released, students receive an automatic email informing them of this and that they are available to view in Student Self-Service. Colleges also receive an automated email notification which is sent to an appointed College contact (please email ARO if you wish to update your appointed College contact).

Students can view their results via Student Self Service (their Single Sign-On account should remain active for eleven months after the completion of their course).   Any student who did not verify their details in Student Self Service during the Registration period, will be unable to access Student Self Service in order to see their results. This may affect students who have returned from suspension, as they will not have had the opportunity to register. Therefore students in this situation will need to obtain their results from their College or Department.

Staff with appropriate access can view Exam Results via data views in eVision: access is granted by Information Custodians.

Further information can be found in Part 17 of the Examination Regulations and Section 4.3 and 12 of the Examinations and Assessment Framework.

For any help or further guidance please email aro@admin.ox.ac.uk.

Overall marks and rankings (OMAR)

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Examination Boards for First Public Examination and Final Honours School Examinations* which calculate overall marks and position in cohort/class should make this available to students as students have a right under GDPR to see data about them.  To assist Examination Boards functionality exists in eVision to upload the data and make it available to students in Student Self-Service.   Staff with appropriate access will be able to see the data eVision dataviews.  


*   This includes both classifications that are produced for students studying and completing four-year undergraduate Masters courses. Postgraduate taught degree courses are out of scope.

 


Other useful links

 

Attachment

For general support with using OMAR please contact the Students Systems Support Centre (SSSC) to raise a ticket. 

 

Correcting results

Once you have uploaded the data you will have a chance to review it in eVision before releasing it to students. 

 

If you realise after releasing the data that there are errors then you can change it. If, however, the published data has been viewed by a student then you will need to complete a form available as an attachment below and send to the Data Quality Team within Student Registry to arrange for the data to be cleared. You will then be able to upload the corrected data.

 

Attachment

Contact us


Student Registry
Examination Schools
75 – 81 High Street
Oxford
OX1 4BG

Academic Records Office: aro@admin.ox.ac.uk

Examinations Team: exams@admin.ox.ac.uk

Examiner Appointments and Payments: examiners@admin.ox.ac.uk