How modules are assessed
There are a variety of ways in which modules can be assessed, i.e. how you overall mark for a module is determined:
- 100% examination. This means that all of your mark is determined by, usually a single examination, normally taken in term 3.
- Majority examination with small assignment component, typically 85% exams and 15% assignments (usually coming from four assignment sheets).
- 100% coursework. This means that there is no examination for the module and your module mark is determined by some combination of other types of assessments (e.g. MA124 Maths by Computer).
Most module with four problem sheets operate the "best 3 out of 4" policy, which discounts your worst mark amongst the four assignments.
See this page for information about exams. The rest of this page contains guidelines on other forms of assessments.
Use of AI
The use of AI is covered on this page on academic integrity and this page on academic conduct. All submissions of assessed work are subject to the University Guidelines on Use of AI, and in particular it is made clear there that you cannot use an AI to create content for your work which you present as your own work. This is plagiarism!
Feedback
Feedback on your work is not just written comments on a piece of work. They also include the following.
- Any mark you get is a form of feedback. If you get a disappointing mark, do go over the work again and go back to the marker if you do not understand something. Do this straight after you get the feedback, not when you start revising for exams.
- Feedback from supervisors: In the first year, assignment sheets marked by your Supervisor will have written comments on as well as the mark, and your engagement with supervisions will be crucial to aiding your understanding of the work and where you could improve.
- Feedback from TAs: Assignment sheets marked by Support-Class TAs may have less written feedback due to the number they have to mark in a short time so they can get it back to you as soon as possible. However, the marks you receive for each question will tell you how you have done. The Support Classes will often highlight common mistakes. These classes are also the opportunity to ask questions, so it is important to engage with them.
- Online quizzes: You will have some online quizzes for some of your modules. Some of these quizzes have instant feedback, but some solutions are released later.
- Feedback on essays and projects (MA262 Scientific Communication, MA395 Third-Year Essay and MA4K8/9 Maths in Action or R-Projects). There is ample opportunity to get feedback in these modules by regularly engaging with your supervisor and getting comments on your drafts.
The University's guideline is that feedback on an assessed work should be given within 20 working days. However, as a department, we aim for a much shorter turnaround for problem sheets.
Deadlines are essential in fairness to all students doing the work, and to make the markers' job feasible. Unlike many other departments, our teaching staff often discuss solutions with students as soon as the deadline has passed. This means that extensions are rarely granted.
Most deadlines are set at 12noon, but check with your module pages.
- For problem sheets (marked by supervisors or TAs) or smaller pieces of work worth 2 CATS or less, or those for which solutions may be discussed in class shortly after the deadline, no extensions can be granted. If you are late, it will still be marked for feedback but you will score 0. Your supervisor or TA will still give you the mark you would have got but this will be reduced to 0 at a later stage.
If you have a legitimate reason for handing in late, you can submit mitigation (with evidence). This can lead to the piece of work being waived. In any case, for problem sheets, the department will first apply the best 3 out of 4 policy.
Please do not submit mitigations based on technological difficulties (e.g. poor internet, misbehaving computers, accidentally deleting or overwriting a file). These mitigations are automatically rejected. Do not leave submission to the last minute! - For more substantial piece of work for which no solutions will be discussed in class (e.g. projects), our deadline policy is the University's policy on assessments. In particular, note the late penalty of 5% per working day (or part thereof). The penalty will not necessarily be applied immediately, but will be processed for approval at the exam boards.
If you have a legitimate reason for handing in a substantial piece of work late, you can submit mitigation (with evidence) and ask for an extension by up to 5 working days. After this extended deadline, the assignment will receive a zero. You cannot request an extension after the original deadline has passed.
Waivers: In exceptional circumstances, you can submit a Mitigating Circumstances form to request that an assignment be waived. However, University policy places the following limits on waivers.
- The assignment must be worth 3 CATS or fewer.
- Up to 20% of the module CATS can be waived.
- Up to 6 CATS of total waiver available per academic year.
More about Mitigating Circumstances here. The department also has a new policy for students with flexible deadlines as a reasonable adjustment..
Self-Certification
Self-certification is a process by which a student declares an illness or mitigating circumstance without the need to submit evidence, in order to waive a piece of work.
For most students, no mathematics assessments can be self-certified.
However, following our conversation with students with disabilities, some students with reasonable adjustments are granted one self-certification per module. Please read our policy on flexible deadlines here.
Machine Readability
Some written assignments (e.g. essays and reports produced with LaTeX) are processed by the anti-plagiarism software Turnitin. This requires the assignment to be machine readable. The following guide should be followed to make sure that your work is machine readable.
Do NOT use the "Print to PDF" function! This is known to produce files that are not machine-readable.
The easiest method to check machine readability is to search the pdf using any software, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, that does not have optical character recognition built in (do not use Mac OS's Preview software to do this). 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 TeXmaker, for example, look in the folder where the tex file was saved. 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 Andrew Brendon-Penn's Maths-focused LaTeX guide.