Referral
Where a student has not passed an assessment task they will be referred. Following referral, the reassessment task will be capped at the minimum pass mark. Referral is on a ‘task for task’ basis.
- Referral work can be a repeat / rework of the task, or a new piece of work as appropriate, for each individual assessment task where there is a mark of below the minimum pass mark, and where the overall module mark is below the minimum pass mark.
- The referral should normally be the same form and content as the initial assessment task. Where variation is necessary (e.g. where the initial assessment required use of facilities which are not currently available) this should be clearly noted during internal and external moderation of assessment instruments. The alternative assessment must be of the same rigour and standard as the original assessment.
- Where a module is not passed, the student should retake all assessment tasks that have a mark below the minimum pass mark.
- Where reassessment is taken, the best mark is used to calculate the overall module result.
- Where reassessment is not taken, a mark of zero will be recorded but the previous mark will be used to calculate the overall module result. Following referral, the assessment task will be capped at the minimum pass mark.
Deferral
If an Extenuating Circumstances Panel agrees that a student's circumstances are valid and acceptable, then the student's Request to Repeat an Assessment Attempt (RRAA) will be approved. The student will be given a deferral in the assessment task, providing that they have not already passed the module. If they have passed the module but wish to undertake the deferral attempt to improve their overall degree outcome, they are allowed to do so at levels 6 and 7 subject to meeting specified criteria.
Deferred assessment is always 'task-for-task' and can be the same as, or the same form and content as the first sit assessment task. Where variation is necessary this should be approved by the relevant Departmental Assessment Board. The alternative assessment must be of the same rigour and standard as the original assessment. This also applies to deferral against a referred attempt. Extenuating circumstances will only be considered at assessment task level not sub-task level (i.e. not against an individual experiment in a collection of smaller sub-tasks, but rather the whole set).
Where a student is unable to submit an assessment task due to exceptional circumstances and only needs a short period of additional time, then the student should request an extension.
Reassessment area on Blackboard
Each Blackboard module site should have a Reassessment area already set up which is hidden to students by default. If you have students who are referred or deferred, you should make the Reassessment area available at the appropriate time and ensure proper guidance is added to the folder about the reassessment task. A reassessment submission point or column should already be set up in each Blackboard site, dependent on the data in SITS about the assessment task.
