Results letters

Academic appeals

An academic appeal is a way of asking the University to review a decision taken by the Assessment Board.  You can only appeal decisions taken by the Assessment Board at this point and not for historical decisions taken by an earlier Board.

Academic Regulations and Degree Classification

Academic Regulations for Taught Programmes are the academic rules for all courses that lead to a taught qualification or award. This includes how degrees are classified. 

Assessment Boards

Assessment Boards have responsibility for ratifying (or confirming) marks and for taking decisions about progression and the award of qualifications. 

Codes

• R - if you have this code on any module on your results letter, this means that this is a reassessment/retake mark
• NS - If you have this code against an assessment, this is a non-submission and means that you did not submit or attend the assessment

Compensation

If your letter advises that you have been awarded compensation, this means that whilst you may not have achieved the pass mark for a module, you have been awarded the credits for the module. Compensation can only be awarded if the failure is a marginal failure and the failure is offset by good performance elsewhere on the course. The Academic Regulations for Taught Programmes, provides further information about criteria for the award of compensation.

If you have been awarded compensation, you are permitted to be reassessed on any modules that have been compensated in the next reassessment period (as long as you have not exhausted the number of attempts permitted by the regulations).

You are also permitted to retake any modules that have been compensated in the next academic year (as long as you have not exhausted the number of attempts permitted by the regulations). You should note that reassessments/retakes may involve stepping off the course, i.e. not progressing.

Speak to your School Office for more information. You will need to tell your School Office if you wish to be reassessed in a module/retake a module where compensation has been awarded. 

Concurrent Study

If you have been permitted to undertaken concurrent study, this means that you can progress to the next level of study, whilst trailing a module of no more than 20 credits from your previous level of study. 

Concurrent study only applies to undergraduate students on full-time courses. Concurrent study is not possible for students progressing from level 3 (foundation year) to level 4.  
 

Decision

Towards the top of your letter, there will be an overall decision about whether or not you can progress to the next year/level of your course or the classification you have achieved. This decision can be found in a section entitled 'Your Results'.

Graduation, Certificates and Transcripts

You can find information about graduation and certificates and transcripts on our dedicated webpages.

Level Mark

The level mark on your results letter is calculated from all the module marks at that level/stage of your course and represents a summary of your performance at that level/stage.

Undergraduate students should be aware that whilst you are required to pass all modules, the highest 100 credits will contribute to your overall programme mark and degree classification. 

Personal Mitigating Circumstances (PMC)

If you results letter indicates that your have submitted a PMC request, this will explain if your request was accepted or not. If accepted, then one of two things will happen:

•  If your PMC related to non-submission (NS) of an assessment, or non attendance at an assessment, you will be offered a replacement (or further) attempt at the assessment.
• If you PMC related to late submission of an assessment, and because of this your mark was capped, then any mark cap will be removed (first attempt only). 

Your letter will only show the latest PMC request you have made for an individual assessment. 

Programme Mark

Your programme mark determines the classification of your degree. In order to arrive at your programme mark, we use ratified or confirmed module marks with no discretion for altering the final classification. In other words, the process for arriving at your programme mark is a purely mathematical one. For further information, visit our academic regulations webpage below.

Resits, Reassessments and Retakes

If you do not pass a module at first assessment attempt, you will have the opportunity to undertake a resit/reassessment in the same academic year, for the failed components of assessment. Resist assessment marks are capped at the pass mark (40 for undergraduates and 50 for postgraduates).  

If you do not pass a module at resit/reassessment you will be able to undertake a retake of the module in the next academic year.  The module mark is capped at retake (40 for undergraduates and 50 for postgraduates).  There is no further resist/reassessment attempt possible after a retake. Retake opportunities are not available to students who are undertaking the final project/dissertation of a Masters programme.

If any module on your results letter is marked with an ‘R’, this means that this is a reassessment or retake mark. If you are unsure about whether or not you have any reassessments or retakes, please make sure that you contact your School Office as soon as you receive your letter so that you can check.

Skills

You can find information about developing your academic skills on our dedicated webpage.