Exam Requirements:
Important information on Academic Simplification for pre-final
year Undergraduate Students
Academic Administration
November 2012
1
One Year = One Stage = 60 ECTS credits
• Full-time Undergraduate degree programmes are normally
organized into Stages, each corresponding to an Academic Year.
• Each Stage has Learning Outcomes and is made up of modules to
the overall value of 60 credits. These credits are known as ECTS,
which stands for European Credit Transfer and Accumulation
System.
• For completion of a Stage fulltime students are required to
successfully complete 60 ECTS.
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Will Academic Simplification affect my
programme?
• In September 2012, all 1st year students started their
programmes under the principles of Academic Simplification
• From September 2013, all undergraduate students will
complete their programmes under the principles of
Academic Simplification.
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How do I pass under the new regulations?
To successfully complete each Stage, students must either:
1. Achieve the pass mark of 40% in every module;
Or
2. Achieve:
• An overall aggregate of over 40% across all modules in their year of
programme AND,
• Not score less that 35% in any module; AND,
• Those modules with scores 35%- 39% must account for no more than
15 ECTS (of the 60 ECTS credits for the year of programme).
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Exception: Course Requirements
• In some Programmes, Compensation may not be allowed in
core or mandatory modules or groups of modules (these are
known as course requirements) as to do so would undermine
the achievement of the Learning Outcomes for the Stage or
Programme.
• These specific regulations will be set-out in the College’s
Programme Descriptions and Regulations for the relevant
degree programmes.
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How will my Final Degree Mark be Calculated?
• At degree level, honours will be calculated on the basis of
30% of the aggregate mark obtained at the pre-final stage
Examination and 70% of the aggregate mark obtained at the
final stage Examination.
• Therefore, your pre-final year exams will count towards
30% of your Final Degree Mark
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What does this mean for me?
If you are now in 2nd year of a three year programme, your end
of year results n June 2013 will contribute 30% of your
overall degree mark in June 2014.
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How will Honours be Calculated?
Honours at degree examinations will be calculated
as follows:
• H1
70% on the aggregate
• H2.1 60% on the aggregate
• H2.2 50% on the aggregate
• H3
40% on the aggregate
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Exception: Year Abroad or Placement
• If the pre-final year of your degree is spent at a University
Abroad or on placement, (usually the 3rd Year of a 4 year
degree) then 30% the previous year’s results, 2nd year, will
count towards your final marks.
• Check with your College or in the College’s Programme
Descriptions and Regulations for the relevant Degree
Programmes or see Slides 13, 14 and 15.
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Examination Structure for all Undergraduates in
2013-14
• Each formal end of semester exam is 2 hours long
• There are three exam sessions per day at:
• 09:30
• 13:00
• 16:30
• You will not have more than 2 exams in a single day
• You will not have back-to-back exams, on the same day
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Tips for all Exam Sessions
• Always have your Student ID Card - €30 fine if you don’t have it
• Do not bring any phones, tablets, laptops, PDAs etc. into exams
• Do not bring any notes into exams, in any form (that includes on
hands and arms!)
• The University has a very strict disciplinary policy for any
breach of examination regulations (check these at
www.nuigalway.ie/exams)
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Help is on hand
If you’d like help, especially coming up to exams, you can contact:
• Your College office;
• Your lecturer;
• The Student Information Desk (SID);
• Student Counsellors;
• Chaplains
All will be ready to help…you just need to ask.
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Good Luck !
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Programmes for which 2nd Year Rather than
3rd Year will contribute 30% of Final Marks
• College of Business, Public Policy and Law
• B. Comm (International) – All Instances
• B. Comm (International Experience)
• B. Commerce (Accounting – International Experience)
• B. Corp Law (International)
• B. Civil Law (International)
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Programmes for which 2nd Year Rather than
3rd Year will contribute 30% of Final Marks
College or Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies
• BA (International)
• BA with Children’s Studies
• BA with Creative Writing
• BA with Film Studies
• BA with Global Women Studies
• BA with Human Rights
• BA with Irish Studies
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Programmes for which 2nd Year Rather than
3rd Year will contribute 30% of Final Marks
College or Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies
• BA with Latin American Studies
• BA with Theatre and Performance (programme is being retitled BA with Performing Arts Studies for September 2013
entrants)
• Denominated BA (Drama, Theatre and Performance)
• BA (Cumarsáid)
• BA (Gaeilge agus Léann an Aistriúcháin)
• BA (Riarachán Gnó)
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