About reassessment and the Board of Examiners' outcomes

First, it’s important to know that there are variations in different departments, for example, just passing a module may not be sufficient to gain you the marks required for an overall pass.

During your studies you’ll take a number of modules, which are assessed by coursework (including in-class tests) and/or exams.

Each module will be made up of units of assessment which will each have their own weighting towards the overall module aggregate. When calculating the module aggregate the marks for all units are combined according to their weightings. For information on module weightings, you can use the Module Directory.

In most cases the pass mark for each module is 40. If your reassessment is capped the maximum mark you can achieve for that module, following reassessment, is the pass mark, ie. 40. In the Academic Year 2020-21 all reassessment is being offered as a free of charge, uncapped First Sit (unless you are already in capped mode or have an Academic Offence penalty that means a cap must apply.) This means that your mark will not be capped at 40. For full details on the above and any departmental variations that may apply please see the rules of assessment

If your results show that you have a decision to make, there are set deadlines by which this must be done.

For January 2021 Reassessment the decision deadline is Tuesday 30 March 2021.

Please note that this may be different for some courses. Please check the information in your ‘Board of Examiners Outcome Letter’ (sent as an email) or contact your department to confirm your deadline.

If you’re a final year student and have been offered further reassessment in August/September, the Board of Examiners will assess your results once you’ve resat your exams and/or resubmitted coursework to decide whether or not you’ve passed. If you have passed, and you’re eligible for a degree, you will receive your degree in September.

If you chose to take an alternative award in 2019-20, eg. an Ordinary Degree or a Diploma of Higher Education, and also undertook further reassessment and passed, you will only graduate with the higher of the two awards.

If you had an accepted extenuating circumstances claim, the action taken by the Board of Examiners will be noted on your results webpage.

If the Board of Examiners decides that your reassessment will be treated as a first attempt, due to extenuating circumstances, then your module mark will not be capped upon reassessment. In the 2020-21 Academic Year, all reassessment offered will be offered as an uncapped First Sit, unless otherwise specified.

The rules of assessment state that you have a maximum of three opportunities to undertake assessment in a module, however, the Board of Examiners can grant additional reassessment attempts based on accepted extenuating circumstances. This year all reassessment is being offered as a First Sit so this will not count as one of your attempts.

It is essential for your continued progression on your course that you undertake all compulsory reassessment.

If you have been offered voluntary reassessment, but you’ve decided not to take it, you will retain your current marks. You are not able to request this reassessment at a later stage.

If you opt to undertake your voluntary reassessment, but then you change your mind, the Board of Examiners can reinstate your previous module mark.

If you undertake any reassessment, compulsory or voluntary, the number of attempts at your assessment will show on your Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) but only higher mark will be recorded.

If you opt to undertake your voluntary reassessment, but do not undertake it, your HEAR willshow your previous assessment mark but will count the missed reassessment as an attempt.

Academic transcript

Once you have received your results, your full academic transcript, including your degree classification and final award, will be available electronically via your HEAR within five working days. You can then share this immediately with potential employers and other Institutions if applying for further study. We no longer issue hard copies of students transcripts as standard.

Award certificate

Once you have received your results, your electronic award certificate, including your degree classification and final award, will be available electronically via GradIntel within five working days. You can then share this immediately with potential employers and other Institutions if applying for further study.

You will also receive a hard copy award certificate, however, due to the increased risk level of COVID-19, and the Government announced lockdown in England, we are currently unable to issue these. You can check our website for updates, however, as soon as it is safe to do so, we will contact you directly with further information relating to receiving your award certificate. We apologise for any inconvenience. Please contact award-docs@essex.ac.uk should you require further assistance or additional support during this period.

We know that our graduation ceremonies are the highlight of the University’s academic year. They are the culmination of our students’ hard work and an important opportunity for our community to celebrate their achievements with their friends and family.

As a consequence of public health actions to minimise the spread of the COVID-19 virus, we had to take the very painful decision to postpone our Summer and Winter 2020 ceremonies. We want to reschedule them as soon as it is safe to do so.

While we want to offer graduation ceremonies in July 2021 for the graduating cohorts from both 2020 and 2021 if it is safe to do so, the continued prevalence of COVID-19 in the UK and globally means we need to keep the situation under constant review. We want to keep open the possibility of ceremonies taking place in some form for our graduates as long as possible and intend to take a final decision by mid-March 2021 at the latest.

We will contact all eligible graduates and those expecting to graduate in 2021 as soon as we have more information, so please ensure your external email address is up to date in your MyEssex so we can stay in touch. All updates will also be published on our website. Please contact graduation@essex.ac.uk should you have any queries in the meantime.

The Board of Examiners applies the Rules of Assessment and makes decisions based on academic grounds. It is not always possible for a sponsored student to choose some of the academic options given by the board due to the Immigration Rules, regulations and guidance. It is your responsibility to check our immigration pages for guidance on how possible outcomes may affect your visa.

If you complete your course earlier than expected then the University will be required to report this to the UK Home Office, which may mean your visa will expire early. The International Service Team will email you when a report is made to the UK Home Office to advise you further. In the meantime, if you require advice please contact our International Student Advisors by completing the online immigration enquiry form.

As a Student sponsor the University must comply with all the Home Office requirements. Please read our immigration guidance on Board of Examiner decisions and if recommended to or you would like clarification before making your choice you should contact our International Services team.

• If you are a Law student you should note that the Professional Statutory Body limits the number of reassessments permitted, modules that can be failed, and the length of time in which a student can complete an accredited course. Therefore, you should talk to the School of Law about the possible implications of these factors if you change course.
• If you proceed to your next stage of study with the fail in a compulsory Law society module, known as a Foundation of Knowledge subject, this failure will prevent you from obtaining a Qualifying Law Degree without a successful application for exemption to the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority or the Bar Standards Board.
• The lack of a Qualifying Law Degree will affect you if you are hoping to qualify as a barrister or solicitor in England or Wales. Please contact the Undergraduate Director in the School of Law for more information.
• The Solicitors Regulation Authority has strict requirements for students wanting to obtain a Qualifying Law Degree, and one of them is that students complete their degree in no more than the length of the qualification, plus two years. So, if you have a four-year degree, you must complete it within six years if you wish to practice Law in England and Wales.
• Solicitors Regulation Authority requirements do not apply to you if you do not plan to practice Law in England or Wales.
• You should also talk to the School of Law about the implications of changing course.
• If you fail optional modules to the value of 30 credits you will be eligible for a Qualifying Law Degree; however, you may wish to return to resit your failed modules to retrieve the fail. If you are unsure if the module you have failed is optional in relation to the Qualifying Law Degree, please contact the School of Law for clarification.
• If you fail compulsory modules to the value of 30 credits:
  • If you choose to graduate and return for voluntary reassessment, you will not be deemed to have obtained a Qualifying Law Degree unless the assessment is passed. If you pass the reassessment, we will then notify the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority and the Bar Standards Board, via the Joint Academic Stage Board, that you have met the requirements for a Qualifying Law Degree.
  • If you choose to graduate and return for voluntary reassessment, you will only be allowed one attempt at reassessment, not three as is the case with other module assessments. This means that if you fail the reassessment, you will be offered no further resits and you will not be eligible for a Qualifying Law Degree.
  • If you wish to be eligible for the maximum number of attempts, i.e. if you have only failed the module once to date, you may choose not to graduate in the summer, and then resit the module in September. This means that if you are unsuccessful at the resit attempt and have only had two attempts at the module, you will be offered one further resit attempt in the next examination period. If you wish to choose this option, please email examboards@essex.ac.uk by the decision deadline in your Board of Examiners outcome letter (sent as an email) stating your name, registration number and course, and confirm that you wish to choose to resit in the next relevant assessment period rather than graduating.
  • Please note that if you chose the option above – ie. to not graduate and take a resit – and you fail the resit, even though you may be entitled to a third attempt you are still bound by another requirement of a Qualifying Law Degree which is that you must graduate within the permissible maximum period of time.
  • All requirements of a Qualifying Law Degree are set out within the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority website.
  • If you’re unsure of which option to take, or if you have questions about the requirements of the Qualifying Law Degree, please contact the School of Law for guidance.

We understand that results time can be disappointing and that this can be a difficult time if you’ll be leaving the University before the anticipated end of your studies.

It’s really important that you access our range of student support services, so you have the right information to weigh-up the options and decide on your next steps.

• The Student Services Hub is available to offer guidance on accessing your results, deadlines and making decisions via the online portal.
• Our friendly and supportive Student Wellbeing and Inclusivity Service is on-hand to talk through any issues you might have at wellbeing@essex.ac.uk
• SU Advice provides expert and independent advice on University policies and procedures as a free service to all students.
• Other good points of contact to talk through your next steps are your departmental personal tutor and the University’s careers services.

You may decide that you want to continue your studies at another institution. Your Higher Education Achievement Record provides a record of your achievements at our University, which you can make available to another institution.

If you are repeating the year or repeating modules on a part-time basis you will be able to register online in the normal manner.

If you are undertaking reassessment without attendance, you will be registered automatically.

Find out more about registration.

Tuition fees

If you are entitled to the Tuition Fee Loan from Student Finance England, this will cover the tuition for the full duration of your course, plus one additional year, minus any previous years of study at Higher Education level.

You will be eligible for tuition fee funding for a repeat year or part-time repeat, where you have not yet used your additional year of funding or had previous Higher Education funding prior to your current course. If you have previously studied at Higher Education level or already used your additional year of funding, you will need to fund your own tuition fees during any repeated studies, ie. a repeat year or if repeating modules on a part-time basis.

If you are undertaking reassessment without attendance, then you will not be fully registered or liable for tuition fees, only resit costs, therefore this will not count as a year’s funding entitlement.

Maintenance loan and grants

If you are entitled to the Maintenance Loan from Student Finance England, this will cover the full duration of your course, plus one additional year, minus any previous years of study at Higher Education level. You should be eligible for full support for a repeat year, where you have not yet used your additional year of funding or had previous Higher education funding prior to your current course.

If you have previously studied at Higher Education level, or have previously repeated a year, you may still be eligible for some Maintenance loan funds, plus any supplementary grants, such as Parent’s Learning Allowance, Disabled Students’ Allowance.

In exceptional situations, known as ‘compelling personal reasons’ Student Finance England may grant you a tuition fee loan and full support for UK students, even if you have studied previously.

If you do have compelling personal reasons and have already used your 'gift year' you should submit a Compelling Personal Reasons Request to Student Finance England. You need to write a letter to explain how the compelling personal reasons have affected your studies and submit supporting evidence. UK Home funded students can submit this request via their online account, EU students need to post it.

Please contact the Funding Team (funding@essex.ac.uk) for further advice on Compelling Personal Reasons if required.

If you are undertaking reassessment without attendance, you will not be eligible for any funding from Student Finance England as they generally only provide support for students in attendance.

Any student who is in debt to the University will normally be required to pay the debt before registering for the next academic year. If you are unable to pay the debt, you should contact your Student Services Hub.

You can request to change your course via the Student Request Portal - where you can also find out more about:

• requesting a special syllabus
• intermitting
• withdrawing

If the Board of Examiners require you or have offered you the option to change course and continue your studies, you will not need to request a course change to action this, it will automatically be actioned for you. For information on course changes due to Board of Examiners outcomes please see the relevant pages.

For further information, see the changing course webpages.

If you are considering making an appeal against a decision made by the Board of Examiners, it’s important to be aware that there are limited grounds and strict deadlines for submitting an appeal. Check the deadlines as soon as possible on the appeals webpage.

You can also contact the SU Advice team for support with completing your appeal at suadvice@essex.ac.uk.