August/September referrals
If you pass a minimum 40 credits but have failed to meet the expected standard in up to 80 of the remaining credits, you will be able to have one more try at the assessment. This is known as ‘referred assessment’ and these assessments will normally take place over the summer period. This will all happen in good time for the examination board to make decisions on your progression for next year’s enrolment.
- No more than 80 credits can be referred
- Please note that it will be the mark that you obtain in the referral examination that will determine whether you obtain a pass in a unit (we do NOT take the better of marks obtained on the first or second attempt). The mark will be derived solely from the referral examination and will not include any coursework/eLearning component carried over from the first sitting, unless the exam is being taken as a first attempt.
- To give credit for passing referral examinations, any passed referral mark will be capped at 30% for the purposes of progression and will be recorded on academic transcripts as 30R. It is the mark that will be used to calculate your final degree classification.
- Should you still not pass the Examination on this referral (when the compensation rules will again be applied) the following decisions by the Board of Examiners may be taken.
You may be
- permitted to carry forward up to 20 failed credits to the next year. This decision is at the discretion of the Board of Examiners and will be based on your academic standing and any mitigating circumstances. Whole units must be repeated in attendance, with assessment taken in full. Marks are capped to the lowest compensatable mark. Failed non-compensatable units cannot be carried over to subsequent levels. See Section Pass marks and compensation rules (Level 1) (Level 2)
- permitted to repeat the year on your current degree programme. This option is at the discretion of the Board of Examiners and can only be granted after the Board of Examiners meets in September to discuss the results of the referral examinations. It will normally only be available where you can demonstrate that your current academic performance is likely to improve in the following year and will be dependent on availability of places for the following year.
- excluded from your Degree Programme
Dates for the August/September examination period are printed at the front of this handbook. Please bear this in mind when making plans for the summer. Should you be ill and be unable to take an examination in January or May/June you will need to be in Manchester for the referral opportunity. It is NOT possible to take referral examinations at another location or to reschedule them.
Note the referral examination is only provided to allow you to gain sufficient credits. The aggregate mark carried forward to your final degree mark is derived only from capped referral mark (see (c) above) or, if greater the original mark for that subject. However, it will be the mark that you obtain in the referral examination that will determine whether you obtain a pass in a referred unit (we do NOT take the better of marks obtained on the first or any subsequent attempt).