Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Assessment

The assessment of your progress is an integral part of the Department's teaching and your learning. Our procedures are designed to provide a fair assessment of your achievement, to give you goals to aim for, to provide feedback on how you are doing and to encourage you to develop and use your transferable skills in Communication, IT, Organisation and Self-study.

Assessment is by way of

  • Written Examination
    Most written examinations take place in the summer term, either in week 30 or in weeks 33-38. The Department believes that end of year examinations allow you the time necessary to digest the module material and put it into context with material from other modules. The Department also believes that revision for examinations plays a crucial part in the learning process. The Department encourages you to practise on past papers, complete sets of which are made available to students as are sample answers. Personal tutors will also help you with your revision particularly in the first two years.
  • Continuous Assessment
    First year and some later year lecture modules have components which are assessed by a combination of homework and online tests. Laboratory and computing modules are assessed by coursework: You will be asked to submit work including answers to problems, output from computers and laboratory notebooks. Your work will be marked and returned to you, so that you can benefit from the feedback in time for any future submissions.
  • Written Reports
    You will be asked to write formal reports on some laboratory experiments, as part of your final year project and for the Group Project. You may also write extended reports as part of your second or third year programme. You will be given guidance on how to write your report.
  • Oral Examinations and Presentations
    Some laboratory and project work is assessed orally. For some modules, you will be asked to make a presentation to an audience including some of your colleagues and members of staff. You will be given guidance beforehand on how to prepare your presentation. Oral examinations are used for final year projects. They would normally include some feedback and advice.