Assessment

Saturn's rings. photographed by Cassini

overview

Your performance in the first year astronomy modules will be assessed using a variety of methods:

• an end-of-semester examination;
• assessed homework exercises or progress tests;
• laboratory work;
• essays and reports.

To pass a module, and be awarded the corresponding credits, you must achieve an overall mark of at least 40%. In some cases, particularly the lab modules, you may be required to pass particular components separately – for example, in PHY115 we may demand that you pass both the Positional Astronomy course and the physics course individually (e.g. 62% in the physics and 0% in the astronomy would not constitute a pass even though the overall total is 0.65×62 = 40.3%). This is because the two parts of this module teach different skills, and both sets of skills are needed later in your course.

Of course, assessed exercises can only be passed if they are handed in! See below for what to do if you miss an examination, progress test or homework deadline.

the end-of-semester exam

For the taught modules PHY111, 104 and 106, this is the most important item of assessment, contributing 70-80% of the total module grade. Each exam lasts for 2 hours, but the exact format varies from module to module: see the module descriptions for details.

Exams are traditionally used for assessment because they are fair (everyone works under the same conditions – it doesn't matter if your pal has a better computer at home than you do) and unambiguous (because they are taken under carefully controlled conditions, it is clear that the work being assessed is definitely the work of the candidate). But they definitely represent an artificial environment, and good exam technique is essential to achieve your full potential.

The basic rules of good exam technique are

Plan your attack.

First, read the paper all the way through, noting the questions that you are sure you can do. Also read the instructions, to make sure that you know what is expected of you (if you are told to answer two questions in Section A and one in Section B, don't do the reverse). Then start with the questions you find easiest, leaving the harder ones till later. This way you make sure that you get the easy marks before you start running into time pressure.

If you have attempted more questions than the rubric allows, you are asked to indicate on your paper which questions you want marked. This is to encourage you to focus on a few questions instead of writing down partial answers to every question on the paper: answering five questions when you are expected to answer only three is definitely not the most effective use of your time.

Read the question.

Make sure you understand what you are being asked to do before you start. Answer the question that has actually been asked - don't just reproduce the relevant section of your lecture notes. For example, if the question asks you to compare the evolution of a massive star with the evolution of the Sun, simply describing the two evolutionary paths separately is not an answer to that particular question. This is one of the most common sources of lost marks, especially in descriptive questions.

Similarly, do not fill pages with material that is not an answer to the question, in the hope that the examiner will give you marks for the fact that you know something, even if it's not what you were asked! It won't work, and - although it will not directly lose you marks - it takes up valuable time you could be using to start another question.

Finally, make sure that you did in fact tackle all the parts of a multi-part question: many questions have an easy one-sentence supplementary question at the end, and it is surprising how many candidates simply overlook it.

In summary, "Answer the question, the whole question, and nothing but the question!"

Read the mark allocation.

Don't write three pages for a one-mark question (you are wasting time); similarly, don't write three lines for a five-mark question (you are losing marks). In an exam marked out of 50, a five-mark question is designed to take about 10-15 minutes to answer (10% of the 2 hour total time); in an exam marked out of 30, it should take around 20 minutes.

Write down your working.

If your algebra goes pear-shaped halfway through a calculation, you will get credit for the bit you got right, if it's written down. But if all you write down is the (wrong) answer, the examiner cannot give you anything but 0. On the same lines...

Don't cross anything out unless it has been replaced by something else.

If a mathematical derivation hasn't come out, don't cross it out in frustration: it may be almost right! Only cross things out if you have replaced them with a different answer.

Check your answers.

For numerical answers, do take the few seconds necessary to ensure that your answer

• has the right units;
• makes sense (for example, the combined brightness of two stars in a binary should be brighter than either one taken separately);
• is numerically reasonable (a stellar mass should be between 0.1 solar masses and 100 solar masses).

It's often easy to find and correct a mistake – but first you have to know that you've made one.

Keep calm.

Don't let the exam conditions get to you. Abandon a question if you get bogged down – don't waste 20 minutes trying to make a 2-mark derivation come out right – and conversely don't panic immediately if you can't do question 1. Of course, the best preventative for panic is to know that you have done your preparation thoroughly – but even if you have gaps in your knowledge, careful reading of the exam paper will disclose some bits that you can do, and once you start more will come back to you.

All examinations are marked anonymously: you will label your exam script with your registration number from your UCard, not your name (your name does go on the paper, but is covered by an adhesive flap). This is University policy, and is designed to prevent examiner bias from affecting your results. In astronomy papers, where there is a well-defined correct answer, bias is unlikely to be a serious problem in practice, but anonymous marking still increases confidence in the fairness of the system.

Most homework exercises are marked using the same system: you will download a coversheet from the Departmental website and attach it to your work. Note that the coversheet is personalised with your own registration number and a matching barcode: you cannot ask someone else to download it for you, nor can you use a photocopy of someone else's. If you are ill or can't make it into the Department for some reason, you will need to download the coversheet yourself and get it printed out, or (if this is not possible) contact the Teaching Hub to explain the problem.

homework exercises and progress tests

These have two objectives:

• to provide practice in problem-solving;
• to provide you, and your lecturers and tutors, with diagnostic information about your progress to date.

In many modules, individual homework exercises contribute only a few percent to your module grade. You may feel that this is negligible, and you can safely skip a few homeworks. But this is a really bad idea – our experience shows that students who do not hand in homework are disproportionately likely to fail the end-of-semester exam. This is partly because problem-solving skills are learned primarily through practice: the more you do, the better you will get. It's also because homework marks help you to identify areas where you are having trouble, and therefore let you plan your studying more effectively.

Progress tests (PHY111 and PHY106) obviously differ from homeworks in that they are time limited and you do not have access to your reference books. This makes them a more realistic preparation for examinations. In particular, the PHY111 progress tests are intended to give you some flavour of what you are expected to know and remember for examinations.

The advice for homework technique is fairly simple:

• Don't miss the deadline: penalties will be imposed if you do.
• As with exams, make sure you read the question carefully and check that your answer actually does address the points asked for.
• Always try to answer homework questions: in an exam, it may make sense to omit part of a question if you are pushed for time and don't see how to do it, but this is never the right thing to do in homework. The harder you are finding it, the more it will teach you!
• If you are really stuck, do ask your tutor (or the lecturer) for a few hints: we recognise that you will learn more if you manage to finish the question after a little help than you will if you get stuck straight away.

The advice for progress tests is similar to exams:

• Make sure you know what the test will cover and what sort of questions to expect. If in doubt, ask the lecturer.
• You will always be given at least one week's notice of a progress test. Use that week: don't leave all your revision to the night before!

You get your marked homeworks and progress test papers back. Look at them — don't just file them and forget them. If you don't see what you did wrong, or you can't work out how to put it right, ask your lecturer or your problems class leader. Homework and progres tests are your best guide to how you might fare in the exam, so use them to identify and address any areas you are having difficulty with.

laboratory work

essays and reports

• plan it – examiners want to see a well organised essay with a good flow and a clear structure;
• get the English right – you will be penalised for errors in grammar and spelling;
• don't steal it – plagiarism will get you a zero grade, a note on your student record, and quite possibly a summons to the Head of Department.

missed assessment?

What happens if you miss a deadline or fail to turn up for a test? There are two distinct situations:

Assessment missed for good reason (usually illness)

We require documentary evidence of the reason: just turning up the next week and saying "oh, I had flu" will not suffice.

• Illness: get a proper medical note, signed by Student Health or — if you've gone home to be fussed over — your family GP. A "self-certification form" without a doctor's signature is not acceptable. Hand the note in to Student Services, and give a copy to our Departmental Office just in case Student Services don't send it on promptly.
• Serious personal problem, e.g. family bereavement: get some responsible person to write a letter, or get a copy of the official report if there is one (for example, if you missed an assessment because your house had been burgled).
• Transport problems: make contact as soon as possible — for example, if you're going to miss an exam because of a cancelled train, phone from the station to say so. If possible, get someone to provide written confirmation of the problem.

This may seem like a lot of trouble to go to when you are ill or distressed, but it is necessary to be fair to other students: we must be sure that people who miss assessments for genuine reasons are distinguished from those who simply couldn't be bothered to turn up.

Note that if you have chronic health problems, or a disability such as dyslexia, you should contact the Disability and Dyslexia Support Service, who may be able to provide you with additional support suited to your needs. You should also inform any relevant lecturers or lab heads: we try to accommodate students with particular problems, but we need to know what they are!

Assessment missed without good reason

In the case of homework exercises, penalties are applied for missed deadlines. It is still worth handing the work in, especially if it is worth a lot of marks (e.g. the PHY111 Directed Reading) — half of your assessed mark is better than nothing. In the case of progress tests or other in-class assessment, the marks are simply lost — you cannot expect a lecturer to make up a new progress test just because you overslept. If you managed to miss the end-of-semester exam, you will get a zero grade for the module, but will be able to resit the exam in August along with those who failed it at the first attempt.

Students who missed an item of assessment for good reason will not be penalised for doing so. If you missed a progress test or the last call for homework because you were ill, it will simply be omitted from the calculation of your module grade (if you missed a 5% progress test, we will 'double up' the mark for your other progress test, or mark you out of 95 and then scale to 100, whichever seems more appropriate). If you have missed the deadline, but not the last call, you will be asked to hand in the work as soon as you can, and the late penalties will not be applied. If you missed the exam, your module grade will be returned as "Not Assessed", and you will sit the resit paper in August as a first attempt. [Note, however, that if you fail this "first attempt", it is not in general possible to give you a chance to resit it: there simply isn't time between the end of the resit period and the University deadline for approving marks.]

failed?

If the worst happens and you fail one or more modules, do not panic immediately. There are resit exams in August, so you could still make it through. Note that you cannot resit the laboratory-based modules PHY115 and PHY116, so failing either of these really is a disaster. If you feel you are falling behind with the lab work or failing to cope, talk to someone as soon as possible. We will try to help, but if you leave it too late the situation may be unsalvageable. For the taught modules, the resits provide an escape route, but you need to look carefully at what happened, especially if this is a first semester module (so that there is still time to make changes for the second semester).

Why did it happen?

Be honest with yourself here: if you were out clubbing with your mates five nights a week during term time, the answer is almost certainly "because I didn't do enough work". You may need to look at how you are organising your time – maybe you should study more through the semester, and not rely so much on last-minute cramming.
If, after a long honest look at the way you worked, your conclusion is that you failed because the material was too hard for you, you need to talk to your tutor, a friendly lecturer, or your Academic Advisor (whichever you feel most comfortable with). It may be that you are in the wrong degree programme, and if so there is no shame in changing to something that will suit you better.

How bad was it?

The pass mark is 40, so a returned grade of 35 is a near miss, whereas 15 is a disaster. If you know you didn't do enough work, and you got something around 30, it is probably reasonable to conclude that with some hard work over the summer you will be able to put things right. But if you got around 20, you should consider asking your tutor for some help – your grasp of the material may be too weak to let you turn it round by yourself.

Where was the problem?

Ask the lecturer, or the Year Tutor, where your weaknesses were (you may already know!) and focus on these for your revision. It is tempting to stick to the revision questions you can do – it makes you feel better – but if you are to pass the resit you may have to attempt at least one question in the area you are not so happy with (you can't pass PHY104 by answering only questions on binary stars). Note that in a few cases (e.g. PHY111 directed reading) it is possible to resit the coursework; however, marks lost because of failure to sit progress tests or hand in problems class homework are gone forever.

Is there a non-academic issue as well?

Maybe you did not do yourself justice because you are homesick or unhappy. In this case, do seek help: the Nightline phone, the University Counselling Service, your family or friends. We want your time at university to be a pleasant and life-enhancing experience, not a prison sentence. If you want to talk to a member of the department, remember that pastoral care is one of the duties of your Academic Advisor, and that interviews with the Advisor are confidential if you request it.

The first year at university represents a big change in your life. It is not really surprising if things do not go quite as smoothly as they did at your school or college, and students have turned round poor first-year results to go on and achieve a satisfactory degree. But the courses in later years do build on the material you are learning now, so you need to get to grips with it: do look at your performance, work out where your weaknesses are, and deal with them before they come back to haunt you.