Student Handbook - The School of Language, Linguistics and Film

e-sit it at the next available opportunity but still fail to pass it, you will have one more
attempt to re-sit the module at the next available opportunity should you wish to do so.
Students who commenced their programme of study in 2011 or later - You have two
attempts to pass a module – one original attempt (where you study for the module for the
first time) and one re-sit attempt which must be taken at the next available opportunity.
If you have exhausted all your permitted attempts to pass a module but still have failed to
pass it, the mark that will remain on your transcript and that will be used in your degree
classification calculation is the highest mark you have achieved for the module, not the most
recent.
First sitting modules
Students who have not attended an examination or who have not submitted coursework and
have submitted an application for extenuating circumstances which has been accepted by
the Examination Board (see § 4.2 EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES) may be offered a
first sit in that module at the discretion of the Examination Board. The timing of the first sit
will depend on your individual circumstances:
If you have met the progression requirements for your degree programme, the first sit will
take place in the following academic year. If the missing item of assessment is an
examination you will sit in the following May alongside your other examinations. If the
missing item of assessment is coursework you will be set a deadline for submission in the
following academic year. You will not attend classes in the module which you are first sitting.
If you need to pass the first sit to meet the progression requirements for your degree
programme, the first sit will take place during the summer vacation of the same academic
year. If you pass the first sits and meet the requirements for progression you will be able to
progress into the next year of your degree programme in September.
Please note that the decision regarding the timing of first sits is made by the Examination
Board not by the student. Under the College’s Academic Regulations final year students are
not permitted to take late summer first sits and therefore must wait until the following
academic year.
First sit modules are not pegged at 40E and the full range of marks will be available.
Retaking an academic year (First Take)
Students can only be permitted to re-take an academic year in very exceptional
circumstances. This is known as a “first take”. You must have applied for your extenuating
circumstances to be taken into account before the Examination Board meets (see § 4.2
EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES). If the first take is authorised, you will attend all
classes and submit the entire assessment for your modules again. You must take the same
modules in your first take year that you were registered for on the original attempt (unless
the School is not offering that module again). Results for first-taken modules are not pegged
at 40E and the full range of marks will be available.
Marking and examining
Marking and examining of work which counts towards classification (assessed coursework
or written examination) is done by teachers who have had to be formally approved as
Examiners. There are three stages in marking to ensure that a fair mark is arrived at: the
work is marked by two teachers and if, after serious discussion, there remains any
uncertainty about the appropriate mark, it is sent to an External Examiner, who has a right to
see all the students’ work for that module, who thus has an overview and whose final
45