SBMS assessment guidelines

General assessment guidelines

Course profiles

SBMS assignment submission coversheets

Deferred exams

A student cannot defer an already deferred examination. A student who is unable to complete a deferred examination may:

Do nothing. In this case, finalisation of the grade for the course will be based on the completed assessment without reweighting assessment; or
Apply for Removal of Course; or
For End-of-semester examinations only, apply for a rescheduled deferred examination where there are exceptional and unavoidable circumstances as defined in the Reasonable Adjustments - Students Procedure supported by documentary evidence, and where the circumstance does not affect the student’s ability to sit the examination on campus on the day following the deferred examination. See PPL clause 93 for more information.
There is no provision for students to reschedule a deferred in-semester exam.

Important note: It is expected that students are available during the deferred and supplementary exam period in the event that they need to sit one of these exam types. Students who defer an End-of-semester exam or are awarded a Supplementary assessment in their final semester of study will NOT be eligible to graduate in that semester’s graduation ceremony.

An SAP on its own is not sufficient supporting documentation for deferring an exam. Additional supporting documentation (e.g. a medical certificate) must be provided that covers the date of the exam.

Information on applying for a deferred exam can be found on the Deferring an exam website.

Exam script viewing

Students who wish to view their exam script(s) in order to review their answers, or who require further feedback on their performance, should complete the Exam Script Viewing Registration Form. You will be contacted by email shortly after registering with the date, time and location of the viewing session.

Any student who wishes to apply for a remark of an examination must view their exam script before submitting an Application for Re-mark of Assessment. The UQ Assessment Policy applies which can be viewed at: Assessment - Part G - Assessment Re-mark. Strict application deadlines apply.

If you have any questions regarding exam script viewing, please email the SBMS Student and Academic Administration Team at sbms@enquire.uq.edu.au.

Extensions

Students should submit a request for an extension as soon as it becomes clear that an extension is needed and no later than one calendar day after the assessment task submission due date and time.

If acceptable supporting evidence is not available at the due date and time, submit the request along with a personal statement explaining the circumstances. Late requests for extension will not be accepted for consideration unless evidence of exceptional circumstances preventing submission of the request is provided, e.g. due to hospitalisation.

The duration of the extension will be determined by the supporting documentation provided with the extension request, e.g. extensions on medical grounds cannot exceed the number of days a students suffered from a medical condition, as stated on the medical certificate. Students may have a maximum of 3 extension requests approved for a single assessment task. Extensions cannot exceed 28 calendar days* and may be capped at a shorter duration depending on the type of assessment task. Where reasonable supporting evidence is provided, the School may consider relevant days immediately preceding the assessment due date as part of the total extension period, up to a maximum of 14 calendar days. Refer to the Course Profile for the maximum extension duration.

* Approval for an extension longer than 28 calendar days is only possible in exceptional circumstances and with the approval of the Associate Dean (Academic).

When applying for an extension to an online quiz, there may be a delay between the extension being approved and the revised quiz settings being applied, particularly for extensions which are system-approved on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Students will be contacted via a separate email to confirm the quiz access window.

Refer to the UQ Assessment Procedure (Part D - Extensions to assessment due date) for more information on the different types of extensions.

Extensions and Student Access Plans or Student Support Extension Letters

If applying for an extension based on an approved Student Access Plan (SAP), the SAP must state that it may be used for extensions to assessment due dates. Requests must be submitted via my.UQ by no later than one calendar day after the assessment task submissions due date and time and the extension request must be the student's first extension request for the assessment task.

The maximum extension granted for applications based on a SAP or extension letter is seven (7) days or the maximum extension allowable for the assessment task (whichever period is shorter). Applications requesting more than 7 days, or are subsequent extension requests, must include additional supporting documentation (e.g. a medical certificate).

Late penalties, as specified in the Course Profile, will be applied to any submissions made after the due date and time of the approved extension.

Information on applying for an assessment extension can be found on the Applying for an extension website.

Hurdles

Late penalties

Late penalties will be applied to late submissions as follows:

Late Period Recorded from Time Submission is Due	Penalty
First 7 periods of 24 hours (or part thereof)	10% penalty per 24 hours of the maximum possible mark for the assessment item, or one grade per 24 hours if graded on a scale of 1-7, or equivalent penalty if an alternative grading approach is used.
More than 7 periods of 24 hours	100% penalty

Due to the timed nature of online quizzes, late submissions are not permitted. Submissions outside of the quiz window are not possible unless a student has an approved extension.

If you are experiencing technical difficulties uploading a submission (i.e. to Turnitin), please email a copy of your assessment to sbms@enquire.uq.edu.au so this can be logged on your behalf before the due date.

Re-marks

Prior to submitting a request for a re-mark students must have obtained feedback from their Course Coordinator or Lecturer and must write and attach a statement outlining how the original mark does not reflect their performance according to the relevant assessment criteria/marking rubric.

Re-marks are not available for:

Oral Presentations. As oral presentations cannot be replicated or duplicated they are not eligible for a re-mark.

Assessment that has been assessed by two or more examiners, and where post-marking moderation processes have been applied.

Information on assessment re-mark requests can be found on the Querying a result website.

Supplementary assessment

Students who fail a course with a grade of 3 (or a non-graded ‘N’) may be eligible for supplementary assessment. Supplementary assessment is designed to provide a second opportunity for a student to demonstrate that they have achieved all the required Learning Outcomes for a course. The highest grade that can be achieved following supplementary assessment is a 4 (or P).

Supplementary assessment may be in the form of an exam (written or oral), a written submission or another assessment as determined by the Course Coordinator. It may be made up of more than one component to allow students to meet any outstanding Learning Outcomes.

The standard form of Supplementary Assessment is an End of Semester theory exam. However, if a student’s situation warrants more than one form of supplementary assessment or a variation from the End of Semester theory exam, they will be notified by either a Blackboard Announcement or receive a personalised email from the School of Biomedical Sciences.

Students must PASS all supplementary assessment tasks (e.g. achieve 50% in each task) to be eligible to pass the course.

Supplementary assessment may not be available for all courses, or for some of the assessment items for a course. Details of the availability of supplementary assessment will be set out in each Course Profile.

Note:

Extensions to Supplementary assessment are not possible and Supplementary exams/assessment cannot be deferred. Late penalties, as listed above, will be applied to any late submissions.
All supplementary tasks will be listed in Brisbane local (AEST) time regardless of where a student is completing the assessment.
Once approved, supplementary assessment cannot be rescinded by the student.

If a student becomes eligible for Supplementary assessment following a Deferred exam, the Supplementary assessment will be scheduled within four (4) weeks of the date of the Supplementary assessment being granted.

Information on applying for supplementary assessment can be found on the Supplementary assessment website.

Timing of deferred exams and supplementary assessment

In-semester exams

Only courses with a centrally-managed In-Semester exam date will have their In-Semester Deferred exam scheduled on the “In-semester Saturday deferred examinations” date listed on the University’s Academic Calendar.

Deferred exams for In-Semester exams held on weekdays are typically scheduled on a weekday within four (4) weeks of the original exam date. A minimum of one week’s written notice will be given of the Deferred In-Semester exam date.

End-of-semester exams

Unless specified otherwise, Deferred End-of-semester exams and Supplementary exams/assessment will be scheduled during the official Deferred and Supplementary examination period for each semester, as per the University’s Academic Calendar.

Non-exam supplementary assessment will, where practicable, be scheduled within four (4) weeks of the date of the Supplementary assessment being granted.

If a student becomes eligible for Supplementary assessment following a Deferred exam, the Supplementary assessment will, for Semester 1 courses, be scheduled within four (4) weeks of the date of the Supplementary assessment being granted or, for Semester 2 courses, be scheduled in late January or early February of the following year. Supplementary assessments that are invigilated, digital exam, e.g. inspera or Blackboard, must be held on campus.