Exam Boards
Academic Progression
First Year Students
Students are required to pass 90 credits (including required core modules) with an overall average mark of 40% across all 120 credits to progress to the next year of study. A student that fails to meet these requirements will be required to resit the relevant exams and resubmit the relevant essays. The required core modules can be found in the Syllabi.
Second and Subsequent Year Students
For an undergraduate student to progress from their second year to their third year, or from their third year to their fourth year, they must meet the following requirements:
- To progress to the next year of an Honours degree (or the next level of study in the case of part-time degree students), a candidate must normally have passed at least 90* credits and have an overall mean of at least 40.0%.
- To progress to the Year Abroad, a candidate must normally have passed at least 90* credits and have an overall mean of at least 60.0%
- To progress to the next year of study from a year abroad which counts for credit, but less than 120 credits, a candidate must normally have passed at least 50% of the year abroad credits.
- To progress to the next year of study from a year abroad which does not count towards their degree students must pass their year abroad.
*This number applies only to students who commenced their undergraduate programme at Warwick in the 2021/2 academic year or later. Students who commenced their undergraduate programme before 2021/2 are required to pass 60 credits, not 90 credits.
University Progression Conventions can be found on the Teaching Quality website.
https://warwick.ac.uk/services/aro/dar/quality/categories/examinations/conventions/
Difficulties with Progression
You should submit all required work on time and in the correct, acceptable format and using the correct method of submission. If you are experiencing any difficulties which are preventing you from studying and progressing as you would wish, you must inform your Personal Tutor who can offer support to help you deal with the difficulties and advise you on how to proceed.
Deferral of an Examination Period
If you have severe circumstances which mean that you will be unable to take assessments such as examinations during an official University examination period (e.g. June, September examination period) the Departmental Senior Tutor may recommend that you defer the entire examinations period to the next available opportunity.
Deferral of an examination period is governed by the University’s Deferral of Examination Policy which was implemented for all undergraduate and taught postgraduate students from April 2020.
Only the Senior Tutor may make a request to defer an examination period on a student’s behalf. This must be made known to the Senior Tutor in advance of the examinations period and you must be experiencing significant difficulties due to your personal circumstances. This may be due to practical limitations such as lack of access to appropriate technology or health problems that are acute in nature.
Students should submit a claim for mitigating circumstances via the Mitigating Circumstances Portal in Tabula before discussing with their Senior Tutor whether a deferral of examinations is the right course of action for them.
Deferral of an Examination Period should not be seen as a substitute for seeking Reasonable Adjustments to assessment(s), which are agreed with Disability Services. However, where reasonable adjustments cannot be made due to current circumstances, it may be possible to defer an examination period.
Reassessments
For students commencing their studies in October 2021 or after October 2021:
There is a right to remedy failure in ALL failed modules without the requirement for there to be mitigating circumstances (unless the assessment is exempt, for example seminar participation). The ability to remedy failure will be offered at the next available opportunity (normally the September resit period). There is no right to remedy failure at component level if the module is passed overall. Please see the full policy here: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/aro/dar/quality/categories/examinations/policies/remedyingfailure/
For students who commenced their studies prior to October 2021:
There is a right to remedy failure in failed modules if there is mitigation (unless the assessment is exempt, for example seminar participation). The ability to remedy failure will be offered at the next available opportunity (normally the September resit period). There is no right to remedy failure at component level if the module is passed overall. Please see full guidance here: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/aro/dar/quality/categories/examinations/conventions/mitigationpackage20-21/
Degree Classification including Borderline Cases
This text was updated on 29-11-2023 in accordance with updated central university guidance
The full regulations may be found on the Education, Policy and Quality website: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/aro/dar/quality/categories/examinations/conventions/. Please note that there are different regulations for students commencing their programme of study in different years.
The information in this handbook is for students on the courses where History is the home department. Students on joint degree courses where History is not the home department must refer to the handbooks/websites of the Department which administers their degree for information on how their degree will be classified.
For all students commencing their programme of study prior to the academic year to 21/22:
A student's final degree classification is based on all of the assessed work completed in their second and final years of study. The second year and final year are equally weighted.
Consideration of borderline cases
Where a final year UG student’s mean mark falls below a class boundary but is within 2.0% of that boundary the Board of Examiners shall reconsider the student’s performance and consider whether to promote them to the higher class or not; this provision does not apply to the boundary at 35.0% between a Pass degree and failure.
The criteria which the Board of Examiners for History, History and Sociology, and History and Philosophy may take into account when considering borderline performance are:
- preponderance of module marks across the two years (150CATS out of 240CATS);
- exit velocity of module marks across final year (90CATS out of 120 CATS);
The criteria which the Board of Examiners for History and Politics may take into account when considering borderline performance are:
- Performance above the class boundary in the final year - at least half of the final year marks (60 CATS) lie on or above the higher class boundary and the final year average lies on or above the higher class boundary;
- Preponderance of module marks above the class boundary - more than 120 CATS of marks lie on or above the higher class boundary.
For all students commencing their programme of study from the Academic year 2021/22:
A student's final degree classification is based on all of the assessed work completed in their second and final years of study. The second year and final year are equally weighted.
All modules taken by History students (including outside options that have been approved by the Year Director), are considered equally in calculation of the degree classification.
A student must pass 90 CATS (including all required core modules) with an overall year average mark of 40% over 120 CATS taken at each level of study to be eligible for the award of an Honours degree.
Consideration of UG borderline cases
Where a student’s award classification average is within 2.0 percentage points to the higher classification, the student should be promoted if:
- More than 50% of credits counting towards the final classification are at or above the class boundary (135CATs out of 240CATS), OR
- Exactly 50% of credits (120CATS) counting towards the final classification are above the class boundary, and either:
- The average in the final year is above the class boundary; OR
- Average performance in core modules is above the class boundary
If a student has up to 30 credits of module marks which end in a 9 in the immediate lower degree classification, this will be treated as marks lying in the higher degree class (without any change to any average calculations) if this meant that they now satisfy this borderline criteria.
Exit Awards
‘Exit’ awards have been developed in order to recognise the achievement of undergraduate students where it was not possible to award the highest qualification for which they were registered, this includes students as follows:
- who have not met progression requirements
- who withdraw due to personal or medical reasons
- who are restarting on another degree programme
There is an expectation that Boards of Examiners will make a recommendation to allow a student to remedy failure (e.g. resit, resit without residence as appropriate), wherever possible, to allow students an opportunity to progress, and only recommend an exit qualification where these possibilities have been exhausted (or are not available).
Further information on exit awards may be found here.
Transcripts/Degree Certificates/HEAR
Undergraduate students will all receive a Higher Education Achievement Report, which is updated throughout your studies to reflect your module results and other academic achievements that have been verified by the university. Please note that the Department is not able to supply records of results or “transcripts” independently from the HEAR, nor can we send copies of the HEAR to third parties on your behalf. For further information about your HEAR, what it will include, and how to access and share it, see https://warwick.ac.uk/services/academicoffice/examinations/records/hear_higher_education_achievement_report.
When you finish your degree, you will receive a Degree Certificate alongside your HEAR. Usually this is presented at your Graduation Ceremony. If you are not able to attend graduation, or if you need a replacement copy, it can be posted to you. See https://warwick.ac.uk/services/academicoffice/congregation/certificates/.