Examinations

All pre-honours modules offered by the School involve an exam at the end of the semester the module is taught in. All end-of-semester examinations within the School will be assessed by an in-person examination. Before sitting examinations, all students must ensure that they have read and fully understand the University's Examinations policy.

Exam papers are checked by School staff, and by our external examiners to ensure they are appropriate. Questions are constructed to allow you demonstrate you have developed your knowledge and understanding of material covered in the module. Questions will likely require familiarity and competence with material from previous study, whilst some individual questions may cover material from multiple parts of the module. There is no suggestion that in one module exam the questions should be uniformly distributed from across the module. Additional information for students on exams can be found on the School's webpage: Information on the exam paper process.

Past papers (typically the last three years of exams) can be accessed via the University's MySaint portal. The School's Current students webpage contains an examination paper archive with one past examination paper and one sample solution for most current modules.

Exams may be scheduled close together, and so work to be on top of the entire semester's material well before the exam weeks start.

 
Deferred examinations

Deferral of an assessment refers to taking it after the end of the corresponding semester. This is not a right and permission will be granted only when the School judges that genuine and compelling grounds for deferral exist.

Requests for deferred exams in Physics and Astronomy should be directed to the School's Director of Teaching physdot@st-andrews.ac.uk, copying in the School's Assessment Officer panda-exams@st-andrews.ac.uk. Requests will be considered in line with the principles set out in the University’s Student handbook.

Deferred exams for sub-honours modules will have the same format as the original exam. It is expected that deferred assessment will take place before the next academic year. Full details will be provided via email to students eligible for a deferred assessment nearer the time. You are advised to check your email regularly to ensure that you do not miss the deferred exam.

Deferrals beyond the academic year will only be granted in truly exceptional circumstances and requires approval from the Deans. The School will refer the student to Student Services, the Registry Officer (Student Support), or the appropriate Associate Dean Students (UG students) or Associate Provost Students (PGT students). A deferred examination beyond the academic year will be set in the December diet (Semester 1 modules) or main May diet (Semester 2 modules) where appropriate. Please note that deferral beyond the academic year can have significant implications for progression and may require a leave of absence.

 

 
Reassessment

If you receive a Grade between 4.0 and 6.9 (inclusive) on a module, then you have failed but are eligible for reassessment. You will need to register with the University Exams Office to take the resit paper. Please see the page on Exams.

Sub-honours reassessment opportunities will normally be held before the next academic year. Full details will be provided via email to students eligible for reassessments nearer the time.

All reassessment grades will be capped at grade 7.0.