This page is still being updated for the academic year 25/26. Students will be informed when the Handbook update is complete.
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, in the Maths department a typical arrangement for this kind of module is that examination is weighted at 85% and marks from assignments are weighted at 15%. Typically, but not always, there are four assignments for a module handed in roughly fortnightly over the term.
- 100% coursework, this means that there is no examination for the module and your module mark is determined by some combination of other assessments. For example in MA124 Maths by Computer your overall mark is made up of marks for quizzes weighted at 10%, marks for assignments weighted at 40% and marks for a group project weighted at 50%.
All your module marks marks are processed to produce an end of year overall percentage (module scores are weighted by the CATS for that module in this average) for each student (taking the maximum mark you can get over all subsets of your modules taken that satisfy the loading/requirements for your programme and year).
An Examination Board for each year makes recommendations and decisions based on these marks and the regulations described in this handbook. This page provides some general information about this and related processes.
Feedback
During your time with us you will receive feedback on your work and understanding of the material. This comes in many forms; feedback is not just written comments on a piece of work. For example:
- Assignment sheets marked by your Supervisor will have written comments on as well as the mark, and your supervisions will be crucial to aiding your understanding of the work and where you could improve.
- Assignment sheets marked by Support Class TAs will often have less written feedback on 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, or part of question, will tell you how you have done, and the Support Classes will often highlight common mistakes. These classes are also the opportunity to ask questions, so don't be shy!
- Any mark you get is feedback. If you get a disappointing mark then try to understand why you got that mark. The best time to do this is straight after you get the feedback (not when you start revising for exams).
- In the first year you will have some online multiple-choice tests for some of your core modules, for which you are given the solutions soon after finishing. This is instant feedback; you know straight away if you understood the material you were being tested on.
- For the second-year essay (part of the module Scientific Communication, core), third year essay (an optional module) and fourth year project (core) there is ample opportunity to get feedback, although don't expect to have someone looking over your shoulder. To get feedback you need to produce some work and hand it in to the supervisor of that module (your Personal Tutor for the second-year essay).
Examinations
Past exam papers and feedback can be found here.
Most University examinations take place in Term 3. An exception to this is the examination for MA141 Analysis 1 which is taught in term 1 and the examination takes place in January, at the start of term 2.
Information on timetables, which are created by the Examinations team at the University, is available on the Exams web 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 in the latter half of Term 3 (May/June). As stated before the first year Term 1 module MA141 Analysis 1, is a noteable exception to this, the exam for this module takes place in January, at the start of Term 2.
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, cannot be considered as 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 Module 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).
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 module assessment submissions 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, please make sure you read the advice at this link.
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.
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 ultimately score 0 (your supervisor or TA will still give you the mark you would have got had you handed in on time but this will be reduced to 0 at a later stage). 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, but in many cases the department will consider this to be covered by the best n - 1 from n rule (see Self Certification below).
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.
Use of AI
This is covered here in the general part of the handbook. As you would expect, 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.
Self Certification
The university has a self-certification process, which can lead to individual assignment scores being waived, but since academic year 2022/23 no modules in the Mathematics Department 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".
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.