Thursday 23-04-2020 - 13:32

your student officers have been encouraging the uni to develop a no detriment policy for exams and assessments taking place during this period, as studies have been affected by COVID-19.

the uni have now announced plans to implement a no disadvantage policy! this is a big win for students.

we’ve broken down what it means for you, and answered any Qs we think you might have.

 

what is no disadvantage?
the uni interpret ‘no disadvantage’ as making sure all students will be treated fairly and their assessment and exam marks won’t suffer as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.

their plans affect you differently depending on what year of study you’re in, and if you study a course which is accredited by a professional body, this may not apply to you so you should contact your course leader to discuss.  

 

if you’re a level 3 or 4 student (Foundation or Year 1)
you’ll only be assessed on a pass/fail basis, because your mark doesn’t count towards your degree. the pass mark will be at 40%, and if you fail, you can retake as usual.

if you study a course that may lead you transferring on to a course accredited by a professional body, your course director will be in contact.
 

if you’re a level 5, 6 or 7 student (Year 2, 3, Postgrad)
if you’re a student in one of these, your marks do count towards your degree, so the uni is allowing anyone unhappy with their mark to get mitigating circumstances to retake their work and attempt to do better.

once you get your marks, decide if you’re happy with them. If you want to apply for mitigating circumstances, you’ll have 5 working days (starting from the day after your marks are released to OSIS) to apply for mitigating circumstances (done via ‘your studies’ tab on OSIS).

you don’t need any evidence for this, so all claims will be approved!

 

if you apply for mitigating circumstances in this way, your first mark will be cancelled and replaced by your new mark. you won’t be able to choose the higher mark of the two, and if you don’t sit the retake, you’ll get a mark of zero.

it’s important you only apply for mitigating circumstances if you’re 100% sure you can retake and confident you’ll do better next time.

 

what if I don’t know if I should apply?
speak to your personal tutor or course leader – they can tell you if they think it’s a good idea! (but remember, its your decision primarily)

 

is this for just assessments/exams?
both! it stands for any assessments or exams taken since 17th March 2020 and ongoing. once you get your marks, you’ll have five days to apply for mitigating circumstances through OSIS, then you can retake.

 

what if I already have my marks?
if you’ve already got your final marks back on OSIS (not canvas) for an assessment or exam and want to retake, you’ll need to apply for mitigating circumstances by the end of the day on Thursday 30th April.

 

when will the retakes happen?
the uni are still in discussion about this, so we’ll update you as soon as we hear more.

 

what should I do next?
right now, we suggest setting reminders (on outlook, your phone, circle it on your calendar etc) for every result you’re expecting, as well as a reminder for your last chance to apply for mitigating circumstances.

you can have a look at the mitigating circumstances form on OSIS before you get your results (it’s up now!), so you’ll know how to apply smoothly when you get your marks if you decide to.
speak to your personal tutor or course leader if you aren’t sure whether to apply.

anything else I should know about?
the uni are also ‘benchmarking’ assessment grades against those taken in previous years (i.e how the year above you did in the same module) or in other modules if it’s a new module. this to make sure whole groups of students haven’t been disadvantaged by the crisis.

for example, if a whole class in a module on average did 5% worse than last years class, then all marks could be scaled up by 5%. this would happen automatically before you get your results.

your student officers are also encouraging the uni to consider how the BME attainment gap is affected by the crisis and when benchmarking grades. we'll keep you updated with the conversations we're having!

 

I still need support!
we’re here to help! pop us a message if you need support or have any questions. if we can’t help, we’ll do our best to direct you to someone who can.

 

we hope this announcement goes a little way to help during this period of uncertainty. if you have any other issues, your student officers are still in discussion with the uni so let us know and they’ll pass it on.

 

in the meantime, stay safe and we hope we’ll see you soon

Your friends at Union of Kingston Students