Assessment operating model and student regulations for 2022-23 now available

On 20 September, Education Committee approved updates to the Assessment Operating Model and accompanying student regulations for 2022-23. New webpages published set out: 

• A summary of key changes to the staff-facing Assessment Operating Model from last year 
• Modernised regulation for In-Person Controlled Condition Exams 
• New student-facing Exams and Assessment Regulation which combines the individual regulations for each assessment type and applies to all assessments 
• An update to the late submission policy for Controlled Conditioned Exams 

Key changes this year

This year’s operating model for assessments and exams includes key changes in the following areas: 

Online controlled exams Late submissions

In addition to the 20 minute upload window applied to all online controlled exams, a further invisible late submission window of 40 minutes will also be applied. The 40 minute window will not be visible in the platform but will be communicated in advance to students. 

Students that submit their exams within the 40 minute grace period will be subject to the following percentage deduction penalties: 

• A 5% deduction (but no lower than the pass mark) for submissions up to 5 minutes late 
• A 10% deduction (but no lower than the pass mark) for up to 10 minutes late  
• Marks will be capped at the pass mark for submissions between 10 and 40 minutes late 
• At 40 minutes, students will no longer be able to submit their exam 

Students that submit in the 20 minute upload window, before the 40 minutes grace period starts will not be subject to penalties. 

Students who experience genuine technical failures can submit a claim to have the late submission penalties suspended, and to have their work marked as normal. 

The below is an example of the penalties to an Undergraduate programme using a 40% pass mark. Taught postgraduate programmes have a pass mark of 50% and penalties will be applied as appropriate.

	Original Mark	Up to and including 5:00 minutes late	Between 5:01 and 10:00 minutes late	Between 10:01 and 40 minutes late	40:01 or more minutes late
No Technical Failure Approval	75	70	65	PASS	No work marked. 0% given
No Technical Failure Approval	49	44	PASS	PASS	No work marked. 0% given
Technical Failure Approval	75	75	75	75	Deferral to next normal occasion.

Upload requirements 

We have gained a better understanding of upload requirements and some assessments require additional time to collate. This year, the regulations considers two types of exam submissions a student may have to undertake: 

• Type 1: Additional collation time required. Those that have time-consuming upload requirements, such as scanning handwritten pages or inserting photographs into a document and converting to PDF require additional collation time  
• Type 2: No additional collation time required Those that require merely writing a document, for example, in MS Word, and converting to a PDF do not require additional collation time.  

All controlled exams will have the default 20-minute upload window added, but those that are type 1 are permitted to add additional collation time which is applied as follows: 

The total assessment duration

• Writing time
• Collation time where applicable added to the exam time allowance
• The default 20-minute upload window (added automatically by the Central Assessment Team) 

In-Person Controlled Exam Regulations 

As in-person assessments for some students will return in 2022-23, controlled exam regulations will apply to these exams and are detailed in the Student Regulations.  

Assessment Types in the Central Assessment Timetable

24-hour Take-Home Papers will not be centrally timetabled. It will still be possible to run them in AssessmentUCL but the department is responsible for timetabling. 

Amendments to Technical Failures Policy

The regulations have been updated to include examples of acceptable and non-acceptable evidence a Technical Failure claim. 

Student Exams and Assessments Regulations

The six separate regulations for students on different assessment types have been merged into one set of exam and assessment regulations. 

Departmentally-managed exams and assessments 

The Assessment Operating Model sets out how all centrally-managed exams and assessments will take place this year, but there is also greater alignment of department assessments. 

There is additional emphasis that Departments running their own exams and assessments must follow the Assessment Operating Model and student regulations, but they are responsible for providing students with equivalent information relating to timetabling, assessment readiness, handing in work and where to get support in the event of technical difficulties. 

Student communications 

The Exams and Assessments webpage on the Current Students site has been revised to include details of the new operating model and will act as a one-stop-shop for all guidance and support to students taking assessments or exams. 

The operating model will be publicised to students in an upcoming edition of the all-student newsletter, MyUCL. Please also signpost to the webpage in your faculty/departmental/module websites and communications.