Assessment

Here you can find out about the different ways in which you will be assessed, how your work is graded, and how these assessments contribute to your overall grade.

Most modules are assessed by a combination of coursework and examinations, although some modules also include presentations.

Assessment Principles

All modules are evaluated by methods appropriate to the subject. Marks are normally divided between coursework and examination. Coursework may take the form of the following: assignment, report, project, presentation.

Group projects are an important part of the assessment process in many of the modules and forms an intrinsic part of assessment on the Foundation Year. It is designed to measurably to improve student engagement, performance, marks and hence retention. Where group work is assessed in the Foundation Year modules, students are usually awarded marks for both the performance of the group as a whole and that of the individual.

Some modules, especially those with a developmental focus such as PPD, use a portfolio assessment. It is important to work on each section of the portfolio as it is set, but the final complete portfolio should be submitted as a single file for the deadline at the end of the term.

Full details of evaluation methods are provided in each module outline (available from your teacher at the beginning of term). The majority of coursework assignments and presentations are assessed using the Universal Mark Scheme. Most exams have their own specific mark scheme covering the correct answers to factual questions or adapting the UMS to the context of the exam.

Written assignments are normally between 1000 and 2000 words, with second and third term modules having higher word limits.  

Passing and Failing

• The pass mark for each assessment, each module and the course overall is 40%​.
• If you score less than 40% in an assessment, you get one chance to retake. The maximum score available for retakes is 40% (minimum pass).
• If you fail 2 modules, you fail the course​.
• Suspected plagiarism including unauthorised use of artificial intelligence will be investigated and can result in failing the course​.

In-Class Assessment

In addition to the major final assessments, the majority of modules include some form of In-Class Assessment (ICA).

ICAs take place in your normal classes during the term. They might take the form of a short quiz or test in class, a piece of homework, a presentation or something else. They are designed to be formative, to keep you focused during the term and to give you feedback on your progress and development as you prepare for the final assessments. They emphasize the continuous and cumulative nature of learning. They may cover the same areas as the final assessment or assess supplementary skills and knowledge which are important for the subject of the module but do not appear in the final assessment.

ICAs typically make up 10% of the total grade for a module, although other formative components in some modules may comprise up to 30% of the final grade.

Plagiarism

In the UK education system, students must be authors of their own work, and acknowledge when they use other authors’ words – or ideas. This concept, and the skills needed to do this in your work can take some time to learn.  If you submit work that is not your own, this is equivalent to cheating in an exam, and is taken very seriously both on the course here and in your future studies.

Plagiarism involves the incorporation by a student in an assessment, material which is not their own in the sense that all or a substantial part of the work has been copied without any attempt at attribution or has been incorporated as if it is the student’s own work when it is wholly or substantially the work of another person.

Common forms of plagiarism include:

• Using the exact words from your sources, either deliberately or accidentally. This might be because you haven’t paraphrased enough or because you haven’t put quotation marks around a direct quotation.
• Not giving enough referencing or citation information. You will learn how to write a correct Harvard reference in your EAP classes, but you can check the guide in the Course Documents.
• Collaborating with another person to write your essay. This might be a friend, a classmate or a private tutor. Although it is useful and normal to discuss your ideas with your classmates and your teacher, it is very important that the words and the argument you submit are your own. This can be a fine line, so if in doubt, keep it to yourself!
• Over-using translation tools or thesauruses. This results in using words and phrases that are not your own, even if they are not necessarily from another human being, and can cause your work to get flagged as suspicious or even plagiarized.

Plagiarism is a serious offence and it is important both for everyone in the school community to prevent it. We use the following procedure to prevent and investigate suspicions of plagiarism in your coursework:

1. Your teacher will invite you to show them a draft of your work before the deadline. This allows them to give you feedback on your content and writing, but it is also an opportunity for them to raise any concerns which they might have. If they catch accidental or deliberate plagiarism at this point, this is your opportunity to change your work and so avoid committing malpractice in your final submission.
2. After you submit your work, your teacher will read it very carefully. If they have any doubts or concerns about the originality of your work, they will pass these on to the programme manager and we will investigate. At this point, no decision has been made but any such concerns must be investigated neutrally and with full evidence.
3. As part of this investigation, you will be asked to attend a viva. The viva is a meeting where we will discuss your work and your writing process with you; it gives you the opportunity to defend your work and to explain the irregularities that have been noticed. If, however, you choose not to attend, we will be forced to consider this an admission of guilt.
4. We will also look at the work you submitted in detail and compare it both to other samples we have of your work and to outside sources.
5. If your work is truly and entirely your own, this will be a simple and painless process. If, however, it is found that the work you submitted is plagiarized, you will be penalized according to the school’s plagiarism policy. This may take the form of a reduction in your grade, a requirement to resubmit or, in extreme cases, disqualification.

Successful Completion

In order to meet the conditions of the placement guarantee and to receive your final certificate at the end of your course, you must achieve Successful Completion of the programme. To complete the course successfully and receive the full University Preparation qualification, you must meet all of the following criteria.

• Achieve an overall score of at least 40%.
• Avoid failing two or more internally graded modules (excluding Application Workshop or IELTS). Students who fail two or more modules fail the course overall regardless of their overall numerical score.
• Achieve an IELTS result of at least 6.0 with no lower than 5.5 in each component.
• Pass Application Workshop.
• Have a final overall attendance of at least 90%.

We will still make every reasonable effort to support you in your next steps if you do not meet these requirements. However, university placement in this situation cannot be guaranteed and may require considerable flexibility in your plans.

Module Weightings

All modules on the University Preparation programme contribute equally to the overall grade except for:

• Term 1 Specialist Module (Maths Fundamentals, LiS, Art 1 or PPD). This is worth approximately two thirds of a full module.
• Application Workshop. This is assessed separately as Pass, Merit or Distinction but it does not affect the overall grade for the programme. However, the grade for this module will be stated on your transcript of results and a minimum Pass is required for Successful Completion.
• IELTS. This is externally assessed by the IELTS examination board and does not affect your overall grade for the programme. However, a minimum overall score of 6.0 with no lower than 5.5 in each component is required for Successful Completion.
• Academic Cultures. This is not assessed or graded. However, it is intended to support your learning and progress throughout the course, including in assessed modules. It also counts towards the 90% attendance requirement on the course.

This means that the module weighting for each type of course is as follows:

• University Foundation Year: T1 Specialist 9%; all other modules 13%.
  • i.e. (13 x 7) + 9 = 100%
• University Foundation Year (Architecture): T1 Specialists 8%; all other modules 12%.
  • i.e. (12 x 7) + (8 x 2) = 100%
• University Foundation or Pre-MastersSemester: T1 Specialist 14%; all other modules 21.5%
  • i.e. (21.5 x 4) + 14 = 100%

This means that, for Year students, Term 1 is worth approximately one third of the overall qualification; Term 2 is worth slightly less and Term 3 is worth slightly more. At the end of Term 1, you can use the following formula to predict the average grade needed over the remaining two terms to achieve a given overall result:

((Overall x 3) – Term1)/2 = Average of Terms 2 and 3