4: Assessments and Examinations

Many modules will have assessments during the year and an end-of-year examination. There are many types of assessment methods, all of which help you to develop different skills. Each assessment will receive a mark that contributes to your overall module mark and the weight attached to each assessment tells you how much that mark will contribute.

Sometimes assessments may not contribute towards your final module mark. These are formative assessments and are there to provide you with feedback on your progress and how to improve.

Assessments have deadlines for submission and it is important that you meet them as penalties are applied to late submissions.  

Modules with in-term tests will have the test taking place on a designated day. Some tests will be in-person while others will be online. The timing of your tests will be added to your Tabula timetable once they have been set. You will also be able to see if it is online or in-person and the location of the test. If you miss a test, you will receive a mark of 0 for it, unless you apply for mitigating circumstances via Tabula and are given a waiver (section 4.4.3).

Please Note: IB coded module assessment submissions must be submitted via the modules page on my.wbs.

Students with long-term chronic conditions or disabilities and who believe they are entitled to reasonable adjustments for tests and examinations should contact Disability Services to discuss their support requirements. A reasonable adjustment will be unique to the individual and may include extra time in tests, or access to a computer, bearing in mind that academic or professional standards in relation to core competencies and assessed criteria still need to be met.

All reasonable adjustment requests are evidence-based and you must submit appropriate medical evidence or have a full diagnostic assessment. This must be done before the annual deadlines as set out by the Examinations Office on the websiteLink opens in a new window. Requests made after this deadline may not be accommodated.

The 20-point scale is the University-wide marking scale. It maps the five broad class categories into a 20-point marking scale and is used only in the marking of essay-type questions (assessments and examinations).

For those modules in which the examination paper is made up of a combination of different types of questions, the 20-point scale is relevant only for the essay elements. The final mark will continue to emerge as an aggregation of individual marks and this means that the aggregate mark may not be on the 20-point scale.

Details about all assessments and how to submit them are available on the module webpages. Assessments on most Economics modules are submitted electronically via Tabula. Tabula is also where you receive your marks and feedback. Paper submission will rarely be required. If you are submitting assessments to another department, you should familiarise yourself with that department’s particular submission deadlines and methods.

Economics and Management students and any students taking IB coded modules are required to submit IB module assessments on my.wbs.

Your assessment should include your student I.D., page numbers, and have any graphs or equations included as part of the electronic submission. A bibliography should be included at the end of your assessment.

Word limits are strict. We do not include a 10% margin above the word count. Do not include additional material in the form of lengthy footnotes or appendices unless this is specifically authorised for the coursework assignment.

If you are required to upload multiple documents, use the ctrl button and click each document you want to submit. It is your responsibility to check that you are submitting the correct document(s) to the correct module assignment and you should check the files before finally submitting.

More guidance on e-submission can be found on our assessment webpages.

If you submit work after the deadline, you will receive a five percentage points (marks) deduction per day (excluding Saturdays and Sundays, Bank Holidays, and University closure days) thereafter, with a minimum mark for that assessment of zero.

It is your responsibility to ensure that you are submitting the correct assignment to the correct link by the deadline. If you initially submit the wrong document and either you or the marker identifies this, you can still submit the correct one, but a late penalty will be applied as detailed above. Penalties cannot be adjusted if you or we later find that you have submitted the wrong file or a corrupted document. Penalties cannot be removed in situations where the network was busy around the time of the submission deadline.

If a piece of group work is submitted late, penalties will be applied to all group members. Penalties will not be removed on group work if you thought that another member of your group was supposed to submit.

During the year there may be times when you are unwell and this might occur close to assessment deadlines or on the day of a test or examination. In all cases of mitigating circumstances, evidence should be submitted via the Personal Circumstances tab on Tabula within one week of the deadline or date of the assessment. Extensions can be applied retroactively, lifting any late penalty you might have already received for that assessment, if the evidence justifies this. Evidence that is not in English must be accompanied by an official translation. If you are taking a module in another department, it is still your home department (Economics) which makes the decision on an extension or a waiver. Further details regarding mitigating circumstances for examinations are given in section 4.8.5 of the Handbook.

All extension and waiver requests are considered by the Student Support and Progression Officer. If an extension is granted, a new deadline will be set. Submission of work after this new deadline will be subject to the normal late submission penalties.

All applications and evidence are considered against the twin criteria of force majeure and evidence. If your request is necessitated by factors over which you have no control, and which you could not have reasonably anticipated (force majeure), and if these factors can be documented in some way, your request will normally be approved. Extensions or waivers may be granted on compassionate grounds, e.g. death or serious illness in your immediate family.

For assessments that are spread over a long period of time, such as dissertations or coursework, many students will encounter some difficulties in their lives during this period. As a result, it is anticipated that you will handle these situations without impacting your final submission. Thus, low-level and short-term illnesses and factors such as problems with computers will not be considered as a basis for an extension for this type of work. Solutions to some assessments may be discussed in classes soon after submission, meaning extensions cannot be granted.

The Department cannot grant an extension to a test or reschedule the date of any test. If you are unable to take a mid-term test or your illness is of such a long duration that it prevents you from submitting a piece of work within an appropriate extension, you can apply for a waiver so that the work is condoned.

Please note that you can only be condoned for the non-submission of assessed work up to 6 CATS in any one academic year (and up to 3 CATS on any individual piece of assessment and up to 4 CATS in any one module). If you exceed these limits, you will automatically be awarded a mark of 0 for any subsequent assessments that are missed. Any claims for missed assessed work that are put forward for condoning by the Student Support and Progression Officers will have the weight of that component equally redistributed across all the other components for the module, including the exam. You should check with other departments on their policies relating to waivers.

EC-coded module assessments are not eligible for self-certification. Some WBS and PAIS modules are eligible for self-certification. Only two self-certifications are permitted each academic year. If your assessment is eligible you may request this on Tabula under the Personal Circumstances tab, Self-Certification. Other formal extension requests must be made on Tabula under the Personal Circumstances tab and Mitigating Circumstances portal with valid evidence.

We have a rigorous and robust marking and moderation process, as set out on our Assessment and Feedback pages, where you will also find lots of additional information on marking processes.

You are not permitted to question the validity of your mark on any assessed work, as academic judgement cannot be challenged. You are encouraged to use all the forms of feedback available to clarify and deepen your understanding and knowledge.

A percentage mark will be awarded and recorded on each piece of assessed coursework. Any assessment that is worth more than 3 CATS will also be moderated across the range of marks and across markers to ensure consistency. Usually this involves taking a preliminary sample, then sampling more thoroughly where the preliminary sample indicates discrepancies.

Marked assessed work (excluding examinations and the final projects for EC331 and EC346) will normally be available to you on Tabula within 20 University working days after the submission deadline. Please see the University Policy on the Timing of the Provision of Feedback to Students on Assessed Work. There may be exceptional circumstances that delay marks and students will be communicated to in advance.

The agreed marks on all assessments, including examinations, remain provisional until confirmed by the Final Year Exam Board. Due to moderation, the mark on your assessment may not be the same as the mark on Tabula. The mark on Tabula is your final moderated mark. Any concerns or feedback about the assessment process should be directed to the Director of UG Studies (Assessment and Feedback).

We take very seriously the provision of feedback to you on assessed work, most of which is electronic.

Feedback will be provided in a variety of ways and will probably be very different from what you received at school/college. Most feedback for Economics and PAIS modules will be given via Tabula and may include annotations or comments on your work in a variety of areas and how to improve, or the correct answers for a test, together with your mark. In addition, we provide generic feedback on assessments, which provides general comments on the cohort’s performance on the assessment, including descriptive statistics, allowing you to compare your performance to your peers. Feedback on WBS assessments will be on the modules section via my.wbs.

If you are not satisfied with the quality of the feedback you have received, you should approach the module lecturer. However, prior to doing this, you must be able to demonstrate that you have reviewed your personal feedback and the generic feedback and reflected on both through re-reading your work. You are also advised to make use of Advice and Feedback hours to further discuss your feedback, noting, however, that markers are not permitted to re-read or re-mark your assessment and that academic judgement cannot be challenged.

It is also important to remember that there are many other ways in which we give you feedback beyond that on your assessed work. You can find examples of this on the department’s assessment and feedback webpage.

Please see section 4.7.4 for information on examination feedback.

You should only query your mark if you still believe there is an error after reviewing and reflecting on your mark and all feedback and having spoken to the module lecturer. In these circumstances, you should complete the Assessed Work Mark Check formLink opens in a new window for any Economics module and send this to the UG office within seven working days from the day the marks/feedback were released. Your work will be reviewed by the Director of Assessment and Feedback and a mark check will be carried out. If no discrepancy is found, you will be advised of this and there is no right to a further check. If a discrepancy is found, a corrected mark will be uploaded onto Tabula. The mark can be adjusted up or down. For WBS modules, if you are not satisfied having spoken to the module leader, please contact the WBS UG office directly.

Academic integrity means committing to honesty in academic work, giving credit to the ideas of others, and being proud of our own achievements.

A breach of academic integrity is called 'academic misconduct'. This term can include deliberate cheating, but also includes unintentional things, such as failing to reference or acknowledge sources correctly. It is important that you are familiar with academic misconduct and poor academic practice so that you can avoid breaching them. Academic misconduct includes but is not limited to:

• Plagiarism or close paraphrasing of another’s work, including self-plagiarism;
• Unacknowledged quotations;
• Presenting another’s concepts as your own, including through the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence, e.g. ChatGPT;
• Contract cheating;
• Colluding on individual assignments;
• Allowing others to use your work for submission;
• Impersonating someone in an exam or allowing someone to impersonate you;
• Attempting to access assessment material in advance of an assessment;
• Submitting fraudulent mitigation claims.

Poor academic practice is less serious than academic misconduct, but should be avoided nonetheless:

Poor academic practice is the failure to observe principles of academic integrity. It typically (but not exclusively) occurs when referencing is inadequate, but not in a way suggesting that the student attempted to gain an unfair advantage. (A4.1 Regulation 11).

Should poor academic practice be identified in your work, the Department will provide you with resources to help you to improve on your academic practice skills. Please also see the section on Academic Referencing further on in this section of the Handbook.

If you have any questions on academic integrity, you can check universityLink opens in a new window and department webpagesLink opens in a new window, speak to your lecturer or Personal Tutor or speak to the Academic Services Manager on economics.integrity@warwick.ac.ukLink opens in a new window.

It is important that you acknowledge sources and reference them correctly in your work, as this can be an easy way to avoid unintentional academic misconduct. You must familiarise yourself with proper academic referencing, noting that approaches in departments do vary. The one we favour takes the form of abbreviated references in the text (rather than footnotes or endnotes) coupled with a list of references with full detail at the end. Each text reference is limited to the author's last name, date of publication, and page reference.

There are numerous online resources to help you grasp proper academic referencing including a dedicated Economics webpageLink opens in a new window within the library website. We also have an Economics Librarian who is available to help and guide students. You should also read the department’s webpages, which explain when you need to acknowledge a source and how you can do this for textbooks, journal articles, newspaper articles etc. Further guidance is provided in the Moodle courseLink opens in a new window.

If you are ever in doubt about referencing and avoiding plagiarism, speak to your module leader/tutor or your personal tutor, before you submit your piece of work. Further information can be found on our Academic IntegrityLink opens in a new window webpage and in our Economics Academic Referencing guideLink opens in a new window.

Each module leader can decide whether or not to allow the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in their coursework assessments. If AI is permitted, its use must be appropriately referenced and documented, as set out in University webpages. Please also refer to the guidance on our Academic Integrity webpageLink opens in a new window for further information.

If you are using AI, you are required to keep accurate records of its use, such as screenshots. Please be aware that when submitting coursework on Tabula, you will have to declare that the submission complies with these guidelines.

AI use is not permitted in online tests unless explicitly authorised by the Module Leader/Lecturer.

If you have any doubts about whether AI use is allowed in a specific piece of work, ask the module leader/lecturer/tutor.

All written assessments must be completed in the student’s own English, unless stated otherwise (for example, in language modules). The use of automated or assisted translation of the student's work from another language is not permitted and may be considered academic misconduct.

Breaches of academic integrity are regularly detected and penalised. All cases are reviewed by the Department’s Academic Integrity Team to determine if there is a need for further investigation and if the student(s) involved will be required to attend a meeting of the Academic Conduct Panel (ACP). If an investigation concerns group work, all members will be asked to attend a meeting.

Please note that the level of proof required for suspected academic misconduct to be found proven or not proven is the civil standard ‘the balance of probabilities’; that is, on the basis of the available evidence it is more likely than not that the student(s) committed academic misconduct.

The penalties are strict and severe, even if it’s the first time your work has not met standards of academic integrity. The penalties for academic misconduct range from reductions in marks for specific parts of an assessment to up to a 100% reduction in mark for an assessment and will be applied to all members of a group where relevant. All decisions and penalties are reported to the end of year Exam Board who will make the final decision on progression, outcomes or resit examinations. Any mitigation submitted will be considered at the Final Year Mitigation Panel and Exam Board. Students can appeal the decision of the ACP under certain circumstances. Please refer to our dedicated webpage for further information.

In 2024/25, 130 cases and 172 students were investigated in the Department, with 51 students required to attend an Academic Conduct Panel, which resulted in 32 students having penalties applied to their marks.

There are two examination periods, with the main exams held in May/June and resit exams in August/September. For more information on the exam periods, please see Student Administrative Services: Modules Marks and Assessments Team (MMA)Link opens in a new window.

Please note that the MMA team is responsible for scheduling exams and, as such, the Department has no control over which exams are held on which day. The scheduling process is very complex and, whilst direct clashes will be avoided, it is quite common for students to have two papers on the same day, or papers on adjacent days. This is comparable to the position at other UK universities similar to Warwick in size and complexity.

It is your responsibility to check the date and time of your exams and ensure you arrive at the exam venue ahead of the exam. Exams usually start at a set time (either 9.30am GMT/BST or 2pm GMT/BST). Exams with reading time start at 9.10am GMT/BST or 1.40pm GMT/BST. Students with Reasonable Adjustments may be asked to start their exams at an earlier start time of either 9.00am GMT/BST or 1.30pm GMT/BST. If you are late to an exam, you will be permitted to enter up to thirty minutes after the start time, but you will only receive the time remaining on the exam. If you miss an exam, you are not permitted to sit at a later time and you will be marked as absent. You will receive a mark of zero.

The marking and moderation process for all examinations is fair, consistent, robust and reliable. All examination scripts have a first marker and a moderator and undergo a further administrative check to ensure the marks have been totalled correctly. All results are considered by a Board of Examiners.

Following the September examination period, you will be provided with feedback from the summer examinations for a limited period of time on each module with sufficient students to protect student anonymity. This will normally include the exam paper, summary statistics and marker comments per question on the cohort’s performance. The feedback is to help you reflect on your performance. You are not permitted to discuss the feedback with any member of staff.

If you are a student in the Economics Department or on one of our joint degrees, you will automatically be sent a copy of your exam script, if and only if you have failed a module and must resit it in order to progress to the next year. No other exam scripts are available to students. Class tutors and lecturers will not be able to provide further individual feedback or explanations and you will not be able to use the script to challenge marks. Please note that the moderation process may have had the effect that the final mark on your script does not coincide exactly with the marks given to each part.

In some extreme cases, scaling of marks across a module may be required. This could be a change to every student’s mark on the module to ensure the marks on that module are in line with department expectations and do not advantage/disadvantage students who have taken a particular module. In all cases, external examiners are consulted.

There is no provision under the University guidelines for you to challenge the academic judgement of the examiners or to dispute the marks awarded in individual modules or pieces of work.

If you have any concerns or feedback about the examination process, then please contact the

UG office: economics.ugoffice@warwick.ac.ukLink opens in a new window.Link opens in a new window 

Exam Boards in each of the three years fulfil different roles. The first and second year exam boards simply determine if a student has passed the year and can progress to the next year. It is only at the Final Year Exam Board where a degree class is determined.

Examination boards are obliged to adhere to Examination Regulations. The examination regulations are designed to establish quality standards for all Warwick degrees and to ensure equity of treatment across all candidates. Regulation 10 details all examination regulations.

The first year of all single and joint honours degree courses in Economics (except for GL11) is a qualifying year. Results are considered by the Board of Examiners for Economics and ratified by the University. This Board usually sits in the first week of the summer vacation. At this time, the decisions available for each candidate on an Honours degree and taking first year exams for the first time are normally for the candidate:

• to proceed to the second year;
• to proceed to the second year, but with an option to resit failed optional modules;
• to resit exams in failed modules, normally in August/September.

To proceed to the second year, you must:

• Pass your required core modules (40% is the pass mark);
• Pass 90 CATS (including required core modules) with an overall average mark of 40% over a minimum of 135 CATS (for L100 and LM1D).

If you are not permitted to proceed, but have achieved an average of at least 40%, you will be required to resit all failed required core/optional core and optional modules for a capped mark of 40%. Each module mark will now be based 100% on the examination. If you have failed other modules, you also have the right to remedy failure, as outlined in section 4.8.4.

Secretaries to First Year Boards of Examiners will inform you of the modules that you are required to resit and what you have the option to resit. Resit examinations normally take place in August/September. You are only given one chance to resit your examinations.

There is a second meeting of the Exam Board after the August/September examinations. At this time, the decisions available to the Board, for each candidate on an Honours degree and resitting first year exams, are normally for the candidate:

• to proceed to the second year;
• to be required to withdraw. In this case, you may be considered for an Exit Award and receive a Diploma of Higher Education.

If you fail to meet the progression criteria after your resits, you will normally be asked to withdraw from the University. Under defined circumstances you have the right to appeal against this decision. More information on the appeals process can be found onlineLink opens in a new window.

If a student is unable to take an exam in May/June and has submitted medical and other documented information, the department may grant a deferral or further first attempt (FFA) of the exam. This is also possible if a student is unwell during or just before an exam. This means that the student is offered the chance to sit that exam as a first attempt (i.e. retaining the right to resit in the event of failure) in August/September. In the event that the first attempt of the exam is failed in August/September and where that exam is a core/optional core module, the next opportunity to resit the exam is in the following May/June exam period. This means the student will not be able to progress until the following academic year.

Please see Section 4.8.5 for more information on illness affecting exams and what you need to do. You will find full conventions on theexaminations websiteLink opens in a new window.Link opens in a new window 

The Second Year Board of Examiners makes recommendations that are subject to confirmation by the Senate. Please note that all marks are provisional and will only be confirmed at the final year exam board. The Board usually meets in the second week of the summer vacation.

At this time, the decisions available to the exam board are normally for each candidate:

• to proceed to the final year of an Honours degree course;
• to proceed to the final year of an Honours degree course but with the option to resit up to 30 CATS of failed modules;
• to resit failed modules in the next exam period;
• to proceed to a Pass degree;
• to be required to withdraw. In this case, you may be considered for an Exit Award and receive a Diploma or Certificate of Higher Education.

If you are not permitted to proceed, you will be required to resit failed modules for a capped mark of 40%. Each module mark will now be based 100% on the examination. If you have failed other modules, you also have the right to remedy failure, as outlined in section 4.8.4.

Secretaries to Second Year Boards of Examiners will inform you of the modules that you are required to resit and what you have the option to resit. Resit examinations normally take place in August/September. You are only given one chance to resit your examinations.

If a student is unable to take an exam in May/June and has submitted medical and other documented information, the department may grant a deferral or further first attempt (FFA) of the exam. This is also possible if a student is unwell during or just before an exam. This means that the student is offered the chance to sit that exam as a first attempt (i.e. retaining the right to resit in the event of failure) in August/September. In the event that the first attempt of the exam is failed in August/September and where that exam is a core/optional core module, the next opportunity to resit the exam is in the following May/June exam period. This means the student will not be able to progress until the following academic year.

Please see Section 4.8.5 for more information on illness affecting exams and what you need to do. The University publishes rules on progression Link opens in a new windowfLink opens in a new windowor intermediate year students.

Although the Examination Boards follow standard guidelines, in exceptional circumstances, they can exercise discretion when awarding a particular class of degree to take into account relevant individual circumstances such as health. This is not done lightly or arbitrarily and will only ever be done if there is sufficient evidence to justify it. This discretion can be used in two ways.

Firstly, if a student has mitigating circumstances that affects an assessment or test and is accepted by the mitigation panel, the mark can be condoned. University restrictions are in place and this can only be used up to 3 CATS on one piece of work, up to 4 CATS within one module and 6 CATS across an academic year.

The second option applies when classifying degrees at the final year exam board and may mean placing more weight than usual on some parts of your performance than others - for example, on the final year, if the second year was known to be affected by illness.

The Exam Board will not change a degree class just because of illness, if there is insufficient evidence in your academic record to justify the higher degree class. The Exam Board will never alter marks.

One or more external examiners (i.e., examiners of professorial or equivalent status from another university) must be present at the Final Year Exam Board and must confirm its decisions. One of the most important functions of external examiners is to ensure that the Board's decisions are fair. External Examiners also contribute towards the upkeep of standards of marking by moderating a sample of student assessments and they write a report on their views of the quality and standards of the assessments and examinations conducted in the Department.

For more information on the role of External Examiners, please see the dedicated EPQ webpage and the website of theQuality Assurance AgencyLink opens in a new window.Link opens in a new window 

First-year and intermediate-year students have the right to appeal only against a decision that they will be required to withdraw from their course of study, and then only if they are in possession of relevant evidence which was not available to the Board of Examiners when its decision was reached and an explanation for why it has only just become available. Under certain defined circumstances, final-year students may appeal against the award of a particular degree class or if they have not been awarded a qualification. The appeals process cannot be used to challenge the academic judgement of examiners or to dispute marks.

Students are encouraged to speak with their Year Tutor or a Student Support and Progression Officer before submitting an appeal. If you decide to submit a formal appeal, you should consult the Student Administrative Services: MMA webpagesLink opens in a new window.Link opens in a new window You will be required to complete a form and your appeal must be lodged in writing within 10 University working days of the publication of the exam or degree result which is the subject of the appeal.

Further appeals information and forms can be found in theUniversity Reg 42:Link opens in a new window Governing Academic AppealsLink opens in a new window.