Mathematics students take most of their university examinations in Term 3 of each academic year. The scripts are marked, and, together with the marks for assessed work, the marks are processed to produce an end of year each overall percentage for each student (taking a subset of marks, that fulfils regulations, to achieve the best outcome). An examination board for each year makes recommendations and decisions based on these marks and other information. This section aims to inform students of the procedures used by the Mathematics Department and their effect.
Assessment conventions
For students starting bachelors or Integrated Masters Degrees from the 2021/22 academic year onward, decisions about progression from one stage of the course to the next, and decisions about the final award or classification are set out in the Rules for Award 2021-22 and Appendix A: Degree Classifications 2021-22Link opens in a new window. This details calculations used to determine your final classification and the minimum credit requirements by level of study for an award to be made.
For the award of a Bachelors degree a student must meet specific credit requirements achieving a minimum 270 credits (or CATS) across the degree course including a minimum of 90 credits at FHEQ level 6. Full details can be viewed in Appendix A of the Rules for AwardLink opens in a new window here: Appendix A: Degree ClassificationsLink opens in a new window. The Course Specification details additional requirements with regard to required core modules and PSRB requirements that must be met in addition to this.
For the award of an Integrated Masters degree a student must meet specific credit requirements achieving a minimum 360 credits (or CATS) across the degree course including a minimum of 90 credits at FHEQ level 7. Full details can be viewed in Appendix A of the Rules for AwardLink opens in a new window here: Appendix A: Degree ClassificationsLink opens in a new window. Course requirements detail additional requirements with regard to core modules and PSRB requirements that must be met in addition to this.
Exams
Taking the Exams
Most University examinations take place in Term 3. Information on timetables, which are created by the Examinations team at the University, is available on the Exams pages. Personalised timetables are made available shortly after the main timetable is released. Please note that you should not organise your revision on the basis of any provisional version of the timetable that is made available, as this will be subject to change.
As a general rule, Maths modules taught in Term 1 are examined straight after Easter Vacation (April/May) and modules taught in Term 2 are examined in the latter half of Term 3 (May/June).
Examinations are held in many locations across campus, e.g. Rootes Hall, Panorama Room and in the Arts Centre, Butterworth Hall, and in a number of other venues such as the Junction, Westwood Sports Hall and the Oculus. It's your responsibility to find out when and where the examination takes place; if you forget to go to an examination, your score is automatically zero. Misreading your timetable, or in rare cases where a module you know you should be sitting is not on your timetable and not querying it, is not mitigation!
Use of Calculators
Programmable and graphics calculators are prohibited in all examinations. Moreover the default position is that no calculators are allowed in Mathematics exams, unless the lecturer has specifically requested that they be allowed for the module that they are teaching, and then the only calculators permitted are those with a display consisting of a single row of digits.
Calculators are also not permitted in any tests organised by the Mathematics Department unless you are explicitly told otherwise. Calculators with a display consisting of a single row of digits are permitted in exams run by other Departments (for example Statistics and Physics).
Mitigating Circumstances and Self Certification
If your examinations, or revisions for examinations, have been affected by illness or other extenuating circumstances or you wish to appeal against an exam board decision, please refer to the departments Mitigating Circumstances or Appeals documentation which is also emailed to all maths students and posted around the department during the Examination period.
From 2022/23 there are no modules in the Mathematics Department that can be self-certified; most modules will have their assessed component made up of a number of smaller pieces of work and then the final mark calculated by the best N-1 out of N (i.e. drop lowest mark) which acts in the same way as self certifying, but gives everyone one assignment for each module which they can "miss".
Assessed Work
Most science modules at Warwick are assessed by written examination in Term 3 (although some examinations take place earlier) and an increasing number now have an assessed component too. A small number are assessed entirely by coursework. For example, the computing option MA117 Programming for Scientists is entirely assessed.
Some modules are required to be submitted to Turnitin to check for plagiarism (mainly, but not limited to, essays and the 4th year projects). It is important that you make sure that the PDF files uploaded are machine readable (see below). If you think you have uploaded a file that cannot be read by Turnitin and it is after the deadline DO NOT attempt to replace the file but seek advice from the Taught Programmes Office.
Machine Readability
Note: The following is relevant only for written assignments that use Turnitin.
Do NOT use the "Print to PDF" function! This is known to produce files that are not machine-readable.
All written assignments that use Turnitin are required to be machine-readable. As all LaTeX generators work differently, there’s no definitive set-up to ensure the correct result.
The easiest method to check machine-readability is to search the pdf using any software, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, that does not have automatic OCR functions built in (i.e. do not use Mac OS's Preview software). Search for a common word; if it is able to search the text, then it is machine-readable. Try a few words, to be sure.
To find the pdf created when compiling with (eg) TeXmaker, look in the folder where the tex file was saved and there should be a pdf file with the same name. This pdf should be machine readable:
Do NOT open and re-print to pdf. Printing to pdf causes files to lose their machine-readability:
For further tips on using Latex, see this helpful, Maths-focused LaTeX guideLink opens in a new window.
Deadlines
Assessed work usually comes with a deadline for completion; this is essential in fairness to all students doing the work, and to make the markers' job feasible (we also often release solutions as soon as the deadline has passed for students and supervisors to access). For small pieces of work (e.g. work marked by supervisors or TAs) the deadline is absolute; if you are late it will still be marked for feedback but you will score 0. This rule is absolute and you cannot argue for an exception. If you have a legitimate reason for handing in late you can submit mitigation which can be considered for waiving the piece of work.
For more substantial projects or essays (worth more than 2 CATS) the Mathematics Department enforces deadlines according to the standard University rule: credit for the piece of work to be submitted is automatically decreased by 5 percentage points per day by which the work is late. Deadlines are usually at noon midweek. Thus if the deadline is at noon (12:00) on a Wednesday and you do not upload your work until 12.30 on Wednesday, your mark for that piece of work will be reduced by 5 percentage points (e.g. a mark of 65% will be reduced to 60%). University rules require 5 percentage points to be deducted for every working day work is submitted in excess of the deadline.
There are a small number of modules where a late penalty is applied, but only up to a specified number of days before it gets zero due to solutions being released in advance of the subsequent assignment.
Essentially, there is no reason for leaving submission to the last minute, especially now most work is submitted online. Make sure you plan to submit well before each deadline.