For the 2022/23 academic year, the University will be running a mixture of online and on-campus (in-person) centrally-timetabled examinations. For further information on specific arrangements for your examinations, please contact your home department in the first instance.

View the examination dates and times for the 2022/23 academic year.

December 2022 Examinations

Status: Published

Click here to access the December 2022 Exam TimetableLink opens in a new window

January 2023 Examinations

Status: Published

Click here to access the January 2023 Exam TimetableLink opens in a new window

March 2023 Examinations

Status: Published

Click here to access the March 2023 Exam TimetableLink opens in a new window

April 2023 Examinations

Status: Not yet published

The April 2023 exam timetable is due to be published w/c 20th March 2023

May 2023 Examinations

Status: Not yet published

The May 2023 exam timetable is due to be published w/c 17th April 2023

Summer 2023 Examinations

Status: Not yet published

The Summer 2023 exam timetable is due to be published w/c 1st May 2023

Summer DA 2023 Examinations

Status: Not yet published

The Summer DA 2023 exam timetable is due to be published w/c 1st May 2023

Resits and Deferrals 2023 Examinations

Status: Not yet published

The Resits and Deferrals 2023 exam timetable is due to be published w/c 14th August 2023

In April 2020, the University made available a web based tool, called the ‘Alternative Exams Portal' or AEP. The AEP displays your personalised timetable with the time and duration of your centrally timetabled assessments. The AEP also provides access to your online assessments during assessment weeks. View the Alternative Exams Portal Student Guidance.

Each of your exams will be one of the following three types of online assessment:

• Open book assessments
• Multiple choice question sets which can be taken online

These will usually take place in the Alternative Exams Portal (AEP) or an alternative online tool such as Questionmark Perception (QMP) or Moodle. Online revision classes may be provided by your department to enable you to understand more fully the nature of the tasks which will be set, and how you should approach them. View resources to help prepare for exams.

You will be given your assessment instructions within AEP when you view your assessment. Your lecturers have been asked to be very clear in setting out what is expected.

The assessment instructions will either give you the assessment questions so you can start working on them directly in the AEP, OR you will be given a link through to a quiz tool or a multiple-choice tool (such as QMP/Moodle) where you will take your assessment. In a limited number of cases, departments may use another tool you will already be familiar with.

Assignment instructions will be specific to the assignment set. You are likely to receive guidance on what is expected in online revision classes in advance of the assessment period or receive advice from your department in another way. If you have questions about your assessment, you should contact your Module Tutor for that assessment.

For students taking centrally scheduled assessments in the AEP, trial assessments (not discipline related) have been developed to give you the experience of engaging with the AEP and other assessment tools. These are not compulsory, nor are they marked, rather they give you a practice run of engaging with the AEP ahead of your assessments. You will receive an email once these are available in the AEP.

Some departments are also providing mock assessments (discipline related) which will also appear in the AEP. These will be related to your discipline specifically. You can find trial assessments and mock assessments (if your department has provided the latter) in your AEP. Departments will provide online support as appropriate for your subject area.

We do recommend that you undertake one or more of the trial assessments. Experience and feedback from students has shown that doing so reduces exams anxiety associated with the online assessments since you become more familiar with the platform when it comes to the formal exams.

At the specified date and time of your assessment, log into the Alternative Exams Portal and go to the module you’re sitting. You can then start your assessment.

1. Click on the relevant Assessment block to access your assessment paper. Your assessment time has now started. Once you have started, you cannot go back. Do not start until you are ready to sit the assessment.
2. You will first be asked to confirm you understand and accept the academic integrity rules (addressing plagiarism, cheating and collusion). You will not be able to proceed without agreeing to this statement.

Note: Students who have an entitlement to extra time/rest breaks under an agreed reasonable adjustment will have their additional time automatically added within the AEP.

3. You will be given your assessment instructions. Your lecturers have been asked to be very clear in setting out what is expected.
4. The assessment instructions will either give you the assessment questions so you can start working on them, OR you will be given a link through to a quiz tool, a multiple-choice tool where you take your assessment. In a limited number of cases, departments may use another tool you will already be familiar with.
5. If you are referred to another tool (Moodle, Questionmark Perception, MyWBS) you will complete your assessment there. If you have been given your assessment questions in a file, you will be uploading your assessment yourself through the AEP. A box for this is provided with an upload function. Once you have uploaded your assessment you must tick the box in the AEP to ensure you have finished your assignment. Do not forget to do this. You cannot return to your work after uploading your assessment.
6. Once you have uploaded your assessment, do not resave it on your device. This means that it will have the correct date and time stamp.

Your time starts from the moment you click to access your assessment paper. If you are taken to a different tool (Moodle, Questionmark Perception) then your time counter will restart there.

If your assessment takes place in Moodle or Questionmark Perception, your department has been advised to ensure the additional time for technical matters (45 minutes). You should still aim to work within the timescale set out for the assessment. Your assessment will carry a time stamp allowing your department to see whether you have used more than the time allotted and will check whether this is justified.

Your Department has made one of two choices with regards to the timing of online assessments. These are:

Timed assessment to be completed within a 24-hour window

This is a timed assessment, however, you will be able to start your assessment at any time within the 24 hour window. The counter will start running from the time at which you access your assessment. If you are taken to a different tool (Moodle, Questionmark Perception) then your time counter will restart there. It is not possible to ‘stop the clock’ during the assessment.

Timed assessment starting at a set time

Your assessment will take place at a set time, and has to be completed by a set time. You must start your assessment at the time stated. If you start after this time, you will be deemed to have started late and you will not have the full duration for your assessment.

To note: Timings may vary if your assessment is taking place in Moodle or QMP. Please read carefully the guidance provided by your Department.

In designing their assessments, departments will have chosen one of the above options. Where the discipline allows, departments will have designed for asynchronous online assessment specifically, noting amongst other things, the need to avoid plagiarism or collusion. In some disciplines this is far more difficult and this is likely to have informed their decision to select the timed assessments option.

Timed assessment up to 24-hours duration

In a limited number of cases, there may be assessments that can be completed at any time within the 24-hours with no time constraints. Your department will advise you if this is the case. The counter will start running from the time at which you access your assessment.

For example, you could start your exam at 9 am and work on it until 10 am and return to finish it at 2 pm. Your department may give an indication of a suggested amount of time to spend on the assessment.

Download/upload

You are given an additional 25 minutes in total to download your assessment and to upload your answers. 25 minutes may seem like quite a lot of time – but please remember that download and upload speeds can be slow. Please be careful not to assume that this additional 25 minutes can be used for additional working time.

Once you have uploaded your assessment in the AEP, you must ensure to tick the box below the uploading function to ensure you have fully finished your assessment. Do not forget to do this. If you are asked to use Moodle (MyWBS) or Questionmark Perception, you do not need to do this.

Late submission

If you attempt to upload after the end of the 25 minutes submission window, a mark of 0% will be applied to the assessment. However you may still submit a claim through the mitigating circumstances portal if you believe you had good reasons for not completing your assessment on time. You must notify your department within 24 hours of the examination ending if you wish to submit a mitigating circumstances case. If you do submit a case, you will need to explain:

• what happened during the 25 minutes submission window which meant that you could not submit your work on time;
• how you used the 25 minutes; and
• how and when the problem was resolved

Please include evidence of technical difficulties, such as time-stamped photographs or screen shots of notifications of loss of internet connection. You are also able to request an information log of internet activity on the page within the AEP where you take your assessment. This is available from 1 hour after the end of the examination.

Reasonable adjustments

Students who have an entitlement to extra time/rest breaks under an agreed reasonable adjustment will have their additional time automatically added within the AEP. Further guidance can be found here.

Exam invigilation looks a little different in online assessments. Your module convenor (or nominee) is asked to log in to the AEP at the start of the assessment. For a two hour assessment, they will be available for the first two hours. For a 3 hour assessment, they will be available for the first three hours. When they sign out, they will leave any messages in the AEP that you need to be aware of if you start the assessment later (in the case of an assessment running in a 24hr window).

Technical support, invigilation and general oversight of proceedings during the online assessments is only available between 9:00 and 17:00 GMT/BST on assessment days. If you encounter technical problems during the assessment, i.e. you may not be able to complete the assessment in time, or at all, please submit your assessment by email to your department and make sure you use the Mitigating Circumstances portal to raise any such issues. Your department will take appropriate measures to consider your position.

You must notify your department within 24 hours of the examination ending if you wish to submit a mitigating circumstances case. If you do submit a case, you will need to explain:

• what happened during the 25 minutes submission window which meant that you could not submit your work on time:
• how you used the 25 minutes; and
• how and when the problem was resolved.

Please include evidence of technical difficulties, such as time-stamped photographs or screen shots of notifications of loss of internet connection. You are also able to request an information log of internet activity on the page within the AEP where you take your assessment. This is available from 1 hour after the end of the examination.

Logging issues

Please note that you can log any issues with the assessment paper, but there is no individual two-way communication possible. Where invigilators (module convenors) find there is an issue that has relevance to all students, they will make an announcement to resolve the matter. This message will remain available for as long as the assessment is open.

You can log issues through the AEP only, so if your assessment takes place in another tool (Moodle, MyWBS or Questionmark Perception) please do not close the tab to the AEP, as that is where you are able to log any issues.

Find out more about invigilation in the AEP. If you have any other queries, take a look at our FAQs.

Assessment FAQs

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