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Academic Manual

Student Regulations for Exams and Assessments

Published for 2023-24

Exams and Assessments Hub

Visit the Exams and Assessments Hub  for all other guidance and support you need to prepare for assessments at UCL.

This page is also available as a PDF:

Student Regulations for Exams and Assessments 2023-24

1 Types of assessment

2 central and departmental assessments, 3 preparing for your assessments, 3.1 module verification , 3.2 candidate numbers , 3.3 assessment periods  , 3.4 assessment timetable, 3.6 it equipment and internet access, 3.7 demo flows, 4 reasonable adjustments and exam adjustments , 5 short-term illness and other extenuating circumstances, 6 durations and deadlines, 6.1 online controlled condition exams, 6.2 in-person controlled condition exams, 6.3 take-home papers, 6.4 quizzes & in-class tests, 6.5 practical exams, 6.6 coursework, dissertations/ research projects and other assessments, 7 starting the assessment, 7.1 assessment instructions (“rubric”), 7.2 queries about the question paper or instructions, 7.3 anonymity, 7.4 illegible scripts, 7.5 word count penalties , 8 maintaining academic integrity, 9 exam hall conditions, 9.1 entry to the exam hall, 9.2 what to bring to the exam hall, 9.3 candidate numbers, 9.4 question papers, 9.5  answer books and exam envelopes, 9.6 if you become ill during an exam, 9.7 late arrivals, 9.8 leaving the hall during an exam, 9.9 at the end of the exam, 9.10 emergency evacuation procedure, 10 online assessments, 10.1 digital assessment platforms, 10.2 protecting the integrity of ucl’s assessments, 10.3 submission window, 10.4 uploading files in assessmentucl, 10.5 submitting via flowassign in assessmentucl, 10.6 submitting via flowmulti in assessmentucl, 10.7 technical failures policy, 11 deferring an assessment, 12 if you do not make an assessable attempt  .

Library Services

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES

• Guides and databases
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Support for dissertations and research projects

• Sources and resources
• Literature searching
• Resources for your discipline
• Primary sources
• UCL dissertations & theses
• Can't access the resource you need?
• Research methods
• Referencing and reference management
• Writing and digital skills
• Further help

Where to find resources for your research

You may need to consult various types of resources and primary and secondary sources to inform your dissertation or research project. A wealth of content is available online. In this section we outline different types of sources and resources and how to find and access them.

• UCL dissertations & theses
• Resources from other libraries

Need a resource that is only available in printed form but can't access our physical libraries? Our Scan and Send Service allows UCL students and staff to request copies of journal articles and book chapters to be scanned and emailed to you directly.

Good academic practice in the use of sources

• Good academic practice in the use of sources This tutorial introduces considerations in the use of sources in your academic work to ensure good academic practice. A certificate of completion is available. The tutorial takes 30-40 minutes.

Accessing online resources from off campus

• Explore Paid resources, such as ebooks and databases, that UCL owns or subscribes to, should be accessed via Explore when you are off campus.
• E-resources problem report form If you have any technical issues with accessing an electronic resource, please contact us using e-resources problem report form.

Search Explore

Check out our Explore guide to find out more about how to use Explore for your research.

• Explore guide
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• Last Updated: Apr 10, 2024 4:54 PM
• URL: https://library-guides.ucl.ac.uk/dissertations

Centre for Doctoral Education

Publishing doctoral work

All doctoral students are encouraged to publish their work, and should expect guidance and support from their supervisors in doing so. Publishing is an important part of academic work, and publications provide opportunities for feedback on and development of work from wider communities.

Publications may also demonstrate that the work included in a thesis meets the requirements of a thesis (section 5.1). However, to avoid any doubt, there is no requirement to publish work in order to pass a doctoral examination; and furthermore, having doctoral work published does not oblige examiners to judge the work of constituting an original or sufficiently scholarly contribution.

Developing academic writing

It is important for doctoral students and supervisors to be clear about their expectations around publishing work. Such discussions could include what work to publish; when to publish it; whether it would be best presented as a conference presentation, journal article, book chapter, etc; where to publish it; and how to respond to feedback provided on drafts, for example through peer review.

Students and supervisors are encouraged to think about developing their experience with publishing their work across the whole of the doctorate. It may be helpful to plan this in terms of increasingly specialised audiences, or of moving discussions from relatively closed and supportive audiences (such as departmental work-in-progress seminars) to more open or critical fora (such as specialist conferences or peer reviewed international journals). A possible trajectory for development could involve, for example, contributing to the Institute’s annual poster conference or doctoral summer conference, taking part in the three-minute thesis competition, writing for blogs or magazines, presenting at external conferences, and finally producing work for journals or books.

Students and supervisors may also find it useful to review the support, guidance and materials available from the IOE’s Academic Writing Centre .

Joint authorship

Doctoral work may be published jointly with supervisors – but this is not required in all cases, and it is vital that students and supervisors discuss their expectations around this early in the supervisory process. This is particularly important where different disciplines are involved, since expectations about authorship can vary considerably.

Students and supervisors should be aware of UCL’s policy on publication and authorship . However, this does not mandate any particular model of authorship, instead drawing attention to issues that teams should consider.

More specific guidance is provided by specific scholarly societies or professional bodies, and students and supervisors are advised to consider any such guidelines that might apply to their work. There is variation between these, although there are many points of consistency – for example, that authorship (including the order of authorship) should not be claimed on basis of seniority or status.

For example, BERA’s ethical guidelines include the following:

The authorship of publications is considered to comprise a list of everyone who has made a substantive and identifiable contribution to their generation. Examples of substantive contributions include: contributing generative ideas, conceptual schema or analytic categories; writing first drafts or substantial portions; significant rewriting or editing; contributing significantly to relevant literature reviewing; and contributing to data collection, to its analysis and to judgements and interpretations made in relation to it. Academic status or other indicator of seniority must not determine first authorship; rather the order of authorship should reflect the relative leadership and contributions made by the researchers concerned.

The implication of this is that supervisors who had been active during the period of work covered by the publication would normally, but not always, be included as co-authors.

Similarly, the British Sociological Association’s guidelines state that “Students should normally be the first author on any multi-authored article based on their thesis or dissertation” and that honorary authorship is not acceptable, specifying that:

Everyone who is listed as an author should have made a substantial direct academic contribution (i.e. intellectual responsibility and substantive work) to at least two of the four main components of a typical scientific project or paper: a) Conception or design. b) Data collection and processing. c) Analysis and interpretation of the data. d) Writing substantial sections of the paper (e.g. synthesising findings in the literature review or the findings/results section). Everyone who is listed as an author should have critically reviewed successive drafts of the paper and should approve the final version. Everyone who is listed as author should be able to defend the paper as a whole (although not necessarily all the technical details).

The implication of this is that supervisors would not automatically be included as authors on papers for which they had not made substantive and direct contributions.

The British Psychological Society’s Statement of Policy on Authorship and Publication Credit includes this summary:

Authorship refers to not only the writing up of the work but also scientific contributions (origination and formulation of the research idea and hypotheses, design of the research, designing and conducting major analysis, and interpreting findings). Contributions (such as designing or building research apparatus, recruiting research participants, data collation and entry, and other administrative duties) should not necessarily be considered to constitute authorship, but should merit formal acknowledgement if the nature and extent of the contribution is insufficient to warrant authorship.

This differentiation between authorship and acknowledgement may be helpful in giving options for recognising the contributions of different individuals appropriately. The BPS guidance is that “The authorship of publications arising from doctoral work should, therefore, normally be joint (with the student listed first). The supervisory input provided must, however, justify the inclusion of the supervisor(s) as co-author(s).”

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How can I apply for 7-day extensions for coursework assessments (including essays and dissertations)?

This article provides an overview of the 7-day arrangements that can be made for disabled students when completing coursework. Students will be able to request up to 7 days of additional time to complete assessed coursework. 

This also includes: 

• Essays 
• Dissertations 

Important to know:  This adjustment cannot be made for assessments with short deadlines (less than 3 weeks between assessment details provided and the submission deadline). Similarly, it can't be made for written exams (face-to-face and online).

How can I apply for the 7-day extensions for coursework assessments? 

The first step is to make sure the 7-day extensions are added to your Personalised Assessment Arrangement (PAA). To do this: 

• Make sure you have a Personalised Assessment Arrangement (PAA). If you don't have a PAA, please refer to our article  Guidance for applying for Personalised Assessment Arrangements (PAA) .
• Go to your PAA application form on Student Records  and select the '7-day extension provision'.
• When this is approved by the PAA panel, you'll have the option to request 7-day extensions for your assessments via the Mitigating Circumstances Form.

Important to know: The Examinations Office are not able to help with 7-day extension queries after the PAA application stage. Please ask for help within your department instead.

How do I submit a request for the 7 day extension?

• Log on to  Student Records ;
• Select ‘Student Home Page’ within the banner at the top of the homepage;
• Select ‘My Mitigating Circumstances’ within the ‘My Modules’ area;
• Select ‘New Request’ within the ‘Submit a new Mitigating Circumstances request’ area;
• Select the “Extension Granted by PAA” option from the 'Nature of Circumstances' drop-down list;
• Fill in the details on the form, as applicable. 

You will need to complete these steps each time you want to request a 7-day extension for a coursework assessment.

What happens after my request is submitted?

Common questions about the application process

I'm a King's Online student, can I apply for PAA and 7-day coursework extensions? 

All disabled students can apply for 7-day coursework extensions. Please note that extensions are not always possible for assessments with short time frames. To learn more about the ways we support disabled students, please read our article  An overview of the provisions and support you can access for your disability at King's .

Why can't I select a 7-day extension request in the Mitigating Circumstances form? 

Before completing the Mitigating Circumstances Form, you need to apply for the 7-day extension via an application for Personalised Assessments Arrangements (PAA).

Please apply for all provisions that may be required. Have a look at our article  What are Personalised Assessment Arrangements (PAA)?  for further guidance.

I’ve submitted my application for PAA; why can’t I see the option to select a 7-day extension within my Mitigating Circumstances form?  

If you're not able to request a 7-day extension request in your Mitigating Circumstances form, your application for PAA may still be under review. To check the status of your application, please email the Examinations Office . 

Important to know:  For guidance on what to expect once you’ve applied for PAA, please read our article  After you have applied for Personalised Assessment Arrangements (PAA) .​​​​

Is there a restriction on how many requests I can make for a 7-day extension?  

You can only request one 7-day extension per assessment.

There's no restriction on requesting 7-day extensions for different coursework assessments.

If you request a 7-day extension and find that you need more than the 7 additional days, you’ll need to submit another Mitigating Circumstances form, and select another category. You'll need to provide an explanation of your circumstances and supporting evidence.    

Important to know:  Some academic departments may offer you a short extension that is longer than  the approved  seven days .  This may be for administrative reasons, or to keep within their assessment cycles, but you are able to hand in your work at any point during the agreed extension time. ​​​​​​

If 7-day extensions can only be applied to assessments where completion time/deadlines are set at least three weeks in advance, what about other assessments with shorter timings? 

E xtra time is available for timed tests and examinations, but assessments with short time frames (including 24-hour online examinations) usually have additional time built in, so that it is not necessary to add any further time for disabled students. ​​​​​​

Can I request a 7-day extension for a dissertation?  

Yes, you  are able to  request a  7-day  extension for a dissertation.

Can I request a 7-day extension for a presentation?  

This would not normally be appropriate, but if you are required to submit your presentation in a written format then you can request a 7-day extension for it.  

Important to know:  Verbal presentation deadlines can't be extended under this arrangement. You should speak to your personal tutor if you will not be able to present at the time given. To find out how to contact your personal tutor, read our article Who is my personal tutor & what do they do?

My tutor has set a task to complete for next week and won’t provide an extension, why is this? 

Assessments with short time frames (see above) are not covered by the 7-day extension arrangement. Assessments with short time frames are set with enough time for all students to complete them, including those who need extra time compared to others.   ​​​​​​

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Extensions and mitigating circumstances

Need help? Just ask

Graduating from UWL will open up a world of opportunities for you, but we understand that the journey to get there is not always easy - especially when you are combining studying with work, caring for others or dealing with illness. That is why we offer lots of support to help you meet your full potential and why we have been listening to you about what we can do to improve our processes around deadlines. 

Working with our award-winning Students’ Union, we have put together these simple steps if you are struggling with deadlines.

Navigating academic regulations

Academic regulations can be difficult to understand, especially when you need to apply for extra time on your deadline. We have put together a video to help you understand the application process and what to do in certain situations, such as if you have reached your self-certification limit.

1. Talk to us

Don’t struggle in silence.

Whether it’s your course/module leader, personal tutor or any member of staff – speak to them so they can get you the support you need to succeed.

2. Extend your deadline

If you have exceptional circumstances that mean you are not able to submit a piece of coursework on time, apply online for an extension. An extension will mean that coursework submitted up to 10 days late will not be penalised for late submission. Normally if you submit work late, the maximum mark you can receive is the pass mark.

You can ‘self-certify’ 3 assessments per academic year, for either an extension or mitigation. Self-certification means that a decision is made based on the reason you give for your request, but you do not need to provide documentary evidence. Once you have used your 3 self-certifications, you would need to provide evidence to support any further claims.

You can apply online for an extension using MyRegistry. Sign in, go to ‘My Assessments’, Look for ‘My Exceptional Circumstances’ and click ‘View, Add and Amend Requests’.

Before you apply

You should speak to your personal tutor or module leader and seek advice as soon as possible so that they can support you.

Read the exceptional circumstances regulations

How do I apply for an extension?

To apply for an extension you will need to:

• apply online for a mitigation using MyRegistry   before your deadline  (sign in, go to ‘My Assessments’, Look for ‘My Exceptional Circumstances’ and click ‘View, Add and Amend Requests’)
• or, complete the mitigation form on  our policies and regulations page  under the 'Study' heading and send it to  [email protected]

How is the 10 calendar days extension calculated?

The 10 calendar days extension includes weekends and holidays and may mean that you will need to submit your work on a weekend.

What are exceptional circumstances?

Exceptional circumstances are circumstances outside your control that mean you can’t submit your work on time or attend an assessment.

Exceptional circumstances could be:

• Serious short-term illness or injury
• Worsening of an ongoing illness or disability, including mental health conditions
• Symptoms of an infectious disease that could be harmful if passed on to others
• Death or significant illness of a close family member or friend
• Unexpected caring responsibilities for a family member or dependant
• Significant personal or family crises leading to acute stress
• Witnessing or experiencing a traumatic incident
• A crime that has had a substantial impact on the student
• Accommodation crisis such as eviction or the home becoming uninhabitable
• An emergency or crisis that prevents the student from attending an exam or accessing an online assessment
• A technical problem that prevents the student from accessing online teaching or assessment
• Safeguarding concerns

Exceptional circumstances are unlikely to be:

• Holidays, house moves or other events that were planned or could reasonably have been expected
• Minor illness such as common colds or hay fever, unless the symptoms are particularly severe
• Assessments that are scheduled close together
• Misreading the exam timetable
• Poor time management
• Minor transport disruption
• Computer or printer failure where the student should have backed up their work
• Normal exam stress
• Minor life events, unless the circumstances have had a disproportionate impact

What if I have an Individual Support Plan (ISP)?

An Individual Support Plan can be issued to students registered with the  Disability and Mental Health team  to detail the additional support they require.

If you need an extension because of the disability or condition in your ISP, you can apply as normal, but submit your ISP as the evidence to support your claim instead of self-certifying.

3. Delay your upcoming assessment until the next attempt (Mitigation)

If you have exceptional circumstances that mean you are not able to attend an exam, in-class test, performance, or other timetabled assessment, or an extension is not enough for you to be able to submit some coursework, you can mitigate to delay the assessment until later in your course.

You can ‘self-certify’ three assessments per academic year, for either an extension or mitigation. Self-certification means that a decision is made based on the reason you give for your request, but you do not need to provide documentary evidence. Once you have used your 3 self-certifications, you would need to provide evidence to support any further claims. You can only self-certify if you apply  before the deadline .

• Find out more about exceptional circumstances

Read the exceptional circumstances regulations

How do I apply for mitigation?

To apply for a mitigation you will need to:

What does mitigation mean for me?

Mitigation means you can delay your assessment until the next time it takes place.

There are a limited number of times assessments take place in a year, normally a first attempt date and resit date. Mitigating a resit attempt may mean you have to wait until the next year to try again and could delay your progression or graduation. The task or question may change for the next attempt.

Make sure you get in touch with your Personal Tutor, Module Leader, Course Leader or the UWLSU Advice team about the impact of mitigation on your workload and progression to the next level of your course.

4. Get an extra attempt at an assessment you’ve failed or not submitted (Mitigation)

If your extenuating circumstances mean that you’ve failed or not submitted an assignment, you can apply for Mitigation.

Before you apply for mitigation you should talk to your module leader or personal tutor about your circumstances, so that they can support you.

Read the exceptional  circumstances regulations

How do I apply for mitigating circumstances?

To apply for Mitigation you will need to:

• apply online  for Mitigation
• or, complete the mitigation form on  our policies and regulations page  under the study heading and send it to  [email protected]

You must provide evidence from a professional involved in your circumstances. The evidence must be directly relevant to your circumstances and the date of your assessment.

We strongly advise that you get in touch with the  UWLSU Advice team , who can help you fill in your mitigation form and support you in getting evidence for Mitigation.

How can successful mitigation help me?

You automatically get two attempts at an assessment, a first attempt, and a resit attempt (where your mark is capped at the pass mark). Mitigation allows you an extra attempt at the assessment you failed or did not submit. The task or question may change for this attempt. 

You can also Mitigate to get a free retake of a failed module (including teaching), or for a penalty for late submission to be lifted, just let us know that's what you want. 

Remember, there are a limited number of times assessments take place in a year. Mitigating a resit attempt may mean you have to wait until the next year to try again and could delay your progression or graduation.

You cannot mitigate the same assessment more than three times.

Make sure you get in touch with your Personal Tutor, Module Leader, Course Leader, or the UWLSU Advice Team about the impact of mitigation on your workload and progression to the next level of your course.

Can I apply for Mitigation if I have passed an assessment?

No, you cannot mitigate for an assessment you have passed.

How do I attach evidence to my mitigation application with the online form?

Review your applications and attach evidence using the  online form  (Sign-in, go to ‘My Assessments’, Look for ‘My Exceptional Circumstances’ and click ‘View, Add and Amend Requests’, then find your application in ‘Requests Awaiting Further Evidence or Awaiting Statement’, under the ‘My Extensions’ or ‘My Mitigations’ tab). You can also scan and email evidence to  [email protected] .

Late submission without extension or mitigation

Work that is submitted after the deadline, without an extension or mitigating circumstances, will have the mark limited, based on how late it is:

• Late up to 10 days from the deadline: the element mark will be capped at the pass mark.
• Late over 10 days from the deadline: the piece of work will be recorded as a non-submission and you’ll need to resit/retake it.

Getting help with your studies

Get the most out of your course

We want you to get the full benefit from your course and get the best from yourself during your time here. We are here to help you throughout your studies and offer a range of study support including:

• Specialised support with English, Maths and IT
• A peer-mentoring service to get support from another student
• Drop-in sessions to discuss concerns
• Skills workshops