Examinations

General

University information on examinations (including rules and policy, JSA1 arrangements, past papers, directions to exam halls, etc.) is available on the 'current students' page

Please consult your appropriate year handbook for level specific information regarding economics exams.

The Degree Examination Timetable

The timetabling of the Degree Examinations is organised centrally by the University. It is an extremely complicated process since the University must be very careful to ensure there are no clashes and all examinations take place in venues with adequate capacity. The School of Economics & Finance does not control either the dates or the venues of our exams (although we can make requests regarding timetabling, and provide information to the University Examinations Office regarding potential timetabling clashes). Since the process is complicated, the University publishes a provisional timetable. The provisional Degree Examination Timetable will normally be published no later than week 8 of Semester 1 and week 7 of Semester 2. You will be advised via the Wednesday memo when the provisional timetable is available for checking. Please ensure you check the timetable carefully. Whilst every effort is made by the School and the Examinations Office to prevent timetable clashes, these can occasionally occur. Where such a clash is identified, students should contact the University Examinations Office (examinations@st-andrews.ac.uk) as a matter of urgency.

The confirmed timetable will be published during week 9 or 10 of each semester. You can also download a Personal Student Examination Timetable from the main timetable page. Please note that the confirmed timetable can be very different from the provisional timetable. Do not make any travel plans based upon the provisional timetable. Please note that students are required to make themselves available in St Andrews for the full duration of the January and May Examination Diets, dates of which are detailed under the key dates section of this Handbook (Section 12). When returning to St Andrews for an examination, you should ensure that you schedule your travel arrangements so as to arrive in good time. This is especially important in January, when bad weather can often delay public transport. Poor scheduling on a student’s part will not be acceptable as a valid excuse for missing an examination. You should also be aware that you should be present up until the last day of the Semester.

Information on the University's examination processes may be found at: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/students/academic/Examinations/

Reassessment Examination Timetable

If you are offered the opportunity to take re-sit examinations and/or deferred assessments at the September (Reassessment) Diet you must register individually in advance for the diet, via the online registration facility. You will be notified directly by e-mail when this is available in late June. Where a re-sit examination is being taken, a fee is payable at the time of registration (please refer to http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/students/academic/Examinations/ to obtain details of the current fee rates).

Students sitting deferred examinations must also register in advance, but will not be liable for a fee.

Guidelines for taking exams in economics

Exams are a form of assessment, but they also provide an occasion for you to revise and synthesise the material you have learned in the course: you should find by the end of the revision process that your understanding of the subject is much greater.

It is essential to spend several minutes thinking about the question (what exactly is it getting at? what needs to be explained more, and what less?) and working out a plan for your answer. Resist the temptation to start writing immediately in order to get down as much as you can on a given subject. It is far better to spend more time thinking first and to target your answer. Then stick to your plan and don't ramble.
Short sentences are better than long ones.
Your answer should have a brief introduction indicating how you are going to handle the question.
Your argument or analysis should have a clear conclusion; in some cases it will be sensible to state this briefly in your introduction.
If you do not understand something that you write, the reader will not understand it either.
Make as many relevant points as possible, going into more detail on the most important points.
One (or sometimes more than one) model can provide a useful framework around which to organise an answer.
You should feel free to use equations and diagrams as much as you think is appropriate for the subject concerned; exam answers in economics need not consist entirely or even primarily of verbal text.
Use headings and sub-headings where appropriate; this breaks up the text and indicates the structure of the argument to the reader.
It is conventional in economics to make only minimal use of the first person.
Quantitative answers should be clearly laid out in the sort of way in which solutions to problems are set out in maths and statistics texts.
It is of fundamental importance that you answer the number of questions specified in an exam. Keep an eye on the clock and do not allow yourself to ramble on in one answer at the expense of the time you will have for other answers (think of the marginal return in marks per unit of time spent on a question. This is likely to diminish sharply after a certain point).
Write clearly.