The University of Sheffield
Taught Programmes Office

Specific Guidance

Deferral of examination/assessment ("Not Assessed")

Where it is recommended by department(s) that particular students be allowed to defer examination/assessment, the relevant Faculty examiners´ meeting/Faculty Officer will need to be convinced that the reasons given are genuine and that the examination/assessment would have been affected by unfavourable, non-academic difficulties. Written medical evidence should normally be available and advice on specific cases may be sought in advance from the Taught Programmes Office.

Undergraduate students: It should also be noted that where students are deemed Not Assessed in Autumn or Spring Semester examinations and are given the opportunity of a first sitting in August, progression to the next stage of the degree programme can be impeded if such students then fail the deferred first sitting, since there would not normally be any further opportunity to resit in advance of the start of the new academic session (it is recognised that individual departments are sometimes willing to timetable late resit papers in individual cases, where the original deferment was on the basis of strong extenuating/medical circumstances). It is important that departments ensure students are made aware of these potential implications at the time any deferment is agreed.

Taught Postgraduate students: Where results have been delayed and an overall recommendation is not available for a particular candidate in time for the relevant departmental examination board, it is common practice in many departments for such cases to be dealt with (in consultation with external examiners) as soon as all results are available, rather than requiring the student to wait until the examination board in the following year.

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Absence from examinations on non-medical grounds

Departmental responses to those cases of students failing to attend invigilated examinations by `genuine´ mistake are likely to vary across the University since decisions in these cases are necessarily taken at departmental level in response to individual circumstances. Notwithstanding the above, the following guidelines may be of assistance in considering any cases which may arise. As a default position, it would be appropriate to record a module outcome of NC (Not Completed), meaning that any later resit is `capped´ (i.e. in the case of Level 2/3/4 undergraduate students on modular programmes or taught postgraduate students). However, in those cases where the circumstances appear genuine, demonstrable and outside the student´s control, one of the following courses of action might be considered appropriate:

- recording a module outcome of NA (Not Assessed) and allowing a later resit without penalty.
- allowing such students to sit a special paper within the department at an agreed time during the same examination period;
- allowing students to sit the original paper at a slightly later time (e.g. within the department in the afternoon, where the missed examination had taken place in a central venue during the morning), assuming that the department is satisfied that it could not have been possible for the paper to have been seen in advance by the student concerned.

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Students unable to proceed following May/June examinations

Undergraduate students on modular programmes who are recorded as having failed the year/level in July are advised to resit all failed modules in August and are not encouraged only to resit certain modules in the hope of obtaining the minimum credits required for progression under the relevant discretionary regulations/conventions (i.e. 100 credits at Level 1 or Level 2).

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Guidelines on penalties relating to student non-attendance

Guidelines on penalties which might be used in cases of student non-attendance have been approved by the Learning and Teaching Committee of the Senate and are available via the LeTS Unit website. Certain Faculties have confirmed their own procedures in the light of this guidance; further information is available where relevant from the Taught Programmes Office.

In those cases where a student´s attendance for a module has been unsatisfactory, General Regulations permit the examiners to return a fail grade, in spite of any performance in assessment. It follows that, where this Regulation has been invoked in relation to a student´s first sitting result for a module, it could be entirely appropriate for the student to be denied the opportunity to redeem their `failure´ by re-sitting externally without further attendance. This might particularly relate to cases of non-participation in project/lab work and such students would need to return to repeat the relevant module with attendance during a subsequent session.

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Repeat study

Undergraduate students who fail in August and who are not permitted to proceed to the next level of study in the September are usually required to repeat the year and be re-examined/re-assessed. Students can do this either as an external student without attendance or by part-time/full-time attendance. Further guidance about these two options is given below.

Undergraduate students who wish to be re-examined in particular modules without further attendance (i.e. as an external repeating student) should complete a Re-Assessment Application Form. Students should apply online to re-examined/re-assesed (see link in right hand box) by the published deadline. Payment of the appropriate fee to the Examinations Office is required (online payment is possible).

Undergraduate students who wish to repeat a period of their programme of study with part-time or full-time attendance should complete a Change of Status (COS) Form, indicating details of the repeat programme of study in section 2A and the repeat module details in section 2B. Please note that only modules which are to be repeated should be included in the 'units to be added' column in section 2B, i.e. modules which have already been taken and passed in the previous session should NOT be added in the 'units to be retained' column. This will ensure that the student is registered to take the correct number of modules in the repeat study session.

Once departmental approval for the repeat period has been given in section 5, the form will then need to be checked by the Taught Programmes Office, before such students will be able to register and make the necessary tuition fee payments in accordance with instructions issued by the Registration and Examinations Office. This procedure is intended to ensure that repeating students are given the appropriate academic guidance and also so that they are correctly registered for the relevant level and modules of study. Where such students are sponsored by a Local Education Authority, the Taught Programmes Office is also required to submit an individual report to the relevant LEA, giving details of the circumstances leading up the student´s failure and an indication of their likely future success. If this is relevant to your department, we will be in touch at the appropriate time in order to gather the information needed to complete these reports, which are sent to LEA´s direct from Student Services.

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Guidance given to undergraduate students who fail a repeated year

In accordance with the General Regulations for First Degrees, undergraduate students are not automatically required to withdraw after failing a repeated year. However, in order to ensure that the appropriate guidance is given to such students, a dedicated year-end result code (FN, meaning Fail - cannot proceed, progress under review) is used and these students are advised to consider their position carefully, seeking academic advice from department/s as necessary. Information designed for those considering withdrawal from the University is made available to such students, along with the necessary Change of Status (COS) Form, etc. Where undergraduate students are considering the possibility of repeating failed examinations on a further occasion, they are asked to discuss the position with the academic department/s concerned and are also advised that their case would be likely to be referred to the Faculty Student Review Committee.

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Permission to recommence the programme of study ("wipe the slate clean") following failure at Level 1

Undergraduate students on modular programmes who have failed some (not all) modules at Level 1 and wish to repeat the year as a full-time student with attendance need Faculty permission to re-commence their programme of study and have any previous grades and credits disregarded ("wipe the slate clean") in line with the General Regulations for First Degrees. Undergraduate students in this position should complete a Change of Status (COS) Form (indicating in section 2A that they wish to repeat the year full-time) and the form should be authorised by the relevant academic department before being submitted to the Student Services Department for consideration by the appropriate Faculty Officer. Please note that the General Regulations do not permit this arrangement where undergraduate students fail some but not all modules at Level 2 and students in this position will need to repeat the failed modules either as an internal part-time student or as an external student without attendance. All Level 2 resits (including those involving substituted modules) are subject to the `capping´ rule, i.e. a maximum of a bare pass grade may be obtained. Faculty approval is normally required for any student to repeat a year with full-time attendance.

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Guidance given to taught postgraduate students who fail and are required to be re-examined

Departments may require taught postgraduate students who fail modules, to be re-assessed/re-examined either within the same session or in the next session (often the case for formal invigilated examinations). Departments must make it clear in the information they provide to taught postgraduate students when and how re-assessment/re-examination will take place. In all cases students must formally register to be re-assessed/re-examined and pay the re-examination fee. This should be done online via the Examinations Office website (see link on right hand side). Once a student has registered to be re-assessed/re-examined, the Examinations Office will normally contact the department to confirm that the student has failed the module (as PGT results for the whole session are not normally required to be uploaded by departments onto CIS until early November in any year) and in which session the re-assessment/re-examination is to take place.

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