April 2014
1
Plan
Section 1
 Entering and calculating marks
Section 2
 Running exam board reports
Break
Section 3
 Unfair practice, discounting, secondary rules, any other
business
2
Section 1
Enter marks
Enter all component
marks
Throughout year
Calculate
marks
Calculate overall
module mark (includes
capping/extenuating
circumstances
information
Before running
Examining Board
reports (deadline
agreed with Student
Records)
Award and
Progression
Rules
Student records will
calculate PROVISIONAL
year result
Ideally a couple of days
before Examining
Boards
3
Print
Examining
Board reports
Identify cases
that require
action
Post Exam
Board
Business Objects
(SIMS Exam Board
Reporting /
Assessment Matters)
Any Extenuating
Circumstances
Missing marks
Send annotated
schedule and
paperwork to
Student Records
Export to Excel or as
PDF
Ensure amendments
are annotated on
results schedule
Day after Exam
Board
4



Via SIMS Online
All marks must be calculated before
Examining Board reports can be generated for
the Board
Final date for inputting to be agreed but we
suggest 3 days before Board meets so you
have chance to check report (some schools
like longer, some like less. If you are running
on the day of board, ring us to run rules)
5
P
Pass
PM
Pass Module
F
Fail
PX*
Student has withdrawn
PC*
X
No submission or absent
PD*
Pass Module but this module could be eligible for
discounting in the final award classification
Pass module following condonement
This grade will show on any modules ‘condoned’
before 2013/4 session
A
Student has had extenuating circumstances
accepted and no remedy has been possible
before the Exam Board
FR/AR
Resit assessments in the resit period before the start
of the next academic session
B*
Student has had extenuating circumstances
accepted relating to a protected characteristic
FE/AE
Resit assessments in the following academic session
UP*
An allegation of unfair practice is being
investigated.
FI/AI
Retake module as an internal student in the following
academic session
UA*
Following investigation into an allegation of
unfair practice, the mark for this assessment has
been set to zero
UM*
Following investigation into an allegation of
unfair practice, the mark for this module has
been set to zero
XW*
Student is required to withdraw from module (either
FW/AW because they have had the maximum number of
attempts or the module will no longer be available
QR*
QE*
I*
Student is on interruption of study or module
needs to be closed down
QI*
QW*
*
NEW FOR SESSION 2013/4
II*
Module failed due to failing an assessment with a
qualifying mark. Resit assessments in the resit
period before the start of the next academic session.
Module failed due to failing an assessment with a
qualifying mark. Resit assessments in the following
academic session.
Module failed due to failing an assessment with a
qualifying mark. Retake module as an internal
student in the following academic session.
Module failed due to failing an assessment with a
qualifying mark. Student is required to withdraw
from module.
Student is on interruption of study or module needs
to be closed down
6
NB: PGT codes will be prefixed by PG- and UG codes will be prefixed by UGPP
Pass Progress
PC
Progress and carry Module(s)
PA
Pass Award
PS
Pass Subsidiary Award
PT
Pass Transfer
CN
Continue studying (used for part time)
CC
Course Complete
NN
Resit in current year
NR
Resit in Following Year
NW
Required to Withdraw
RN
Resubmit Dissertation (non-submission)
RR
Resubmit Dissertation
AB
On Interruption of Study (not prefixed with PG- or UG-)
WD
Withdrawn (not prefixed with PG- or UG-)
UP
Unfair Practice – Awaiting outcome of investigation into allegation of unfair practice
IC*
Institutional credit – used on block 1 only (subsequent blocks where the student failed to achieve
the necessary credit would exit with a year result of PS)
Other codes you may see
NP*
Obtained enough credits to progress, but has outstanding modules that need to be resat
NH*
Decision required by exam board, eg a module has a *W code but is not a required module or a
final attempt
RV*
Review required, eg modules not calculated
* NEW FOR SESSION 2013/4
7



Student Records will run the Progression and
Award rules against your Programmes on the
day agreed.
You will receive an email when this has been
done confirming you can now run your
reports.
Using the Exam Board code to generate your
Business Objects report will let you group
similar courses together
8
Go into ‘Assessment
Management’ tab in SIMS
Online
Reports are found here
9
Module Results – Calculated and Not calculated
10

You will not be able to run your exam board report withouth
an exam board
11

The progression set and award classification method have
been added to existing tasks in SIMS Online
Go to ‘Reports
for Staff’
Progression and
classification
information
have been
added to these
tasks
12
Checking your progression set and award
classification method
On ‘Programme Information’ tasks:
On ‘List of Programmes in a School’ task:
13
Section 2




Two main types of reports (one for Modules and one for
Programmes) for use in Board but supporting reports
available to help prepare for and support Board
Several formats – choose the one that suits your Board (or
different versions for different roles)
Save as PDF or Excel
Go to https://borep.cf.ac.uk
Why not consider


Booking on a Business Objects training course to see whether
you are using all the current functionality?
Normally one course run each month
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/insrv/businessobjectsonline/training.
html
14
Preferences:


Under ‘General’, set ‘Document Viewing’ to “In multiple
fullscreen browser windows, one window for each
document”
Under ‘Web Intelligence’, set ‘When viewing a document’
to “Use my preferred viewing locale to format the data”
15
Report name
When used
How used
Report 1 – Module Results
by Module (UG and PG).
Module boards Used for Module Boards
Report 2A – Summary
Report
Main board
Recommended that ‘Detailed’ tab
is returned to Student Records
post-board
Report 2B – Full Report
Main board
Can return this report to Student
Records post-board
Report 3- Extenuating
Circumstances, Final Year
Fails and Discounting
Pre-board
To help you prepare pre-board
Report 4 – Quality and
Standards
Main board
statistical information
Report 5 – Transitional
Students
Pre-board
to provide you with module
information for those students
who you will need to consider
against the old rules
16


Reports will be found under ‘Assessment Matters –
University Exam Board Reports’
Report 2A ‘Detailed’ tab or Report 2A is the
preferred report for returning confirmed results to
Student Records
Use this
folder
No longer used
17
Report 1: Module Results by Module (UG and PG)
Key points:
 All prompt fields must be entered in uppercase letters
 The ‘wildcard’ (%) can be used in all prompts, except the ‘optional’
prompts which can be left blank;
 The ‘Enter Assessment Date From’ will bring back all modules
calculated after the date entered;
 Choosing ‘View’ – ‘Draft Mode’ will show all results on one page
 Choosing ‘Save to my computer as’ saves all tabs on the report;
 Choosing ‘Save report to my computer as’ just saves the current tab
 ‘Statistics’ tab gives data at module level for the past 5 years on:
• Mean
• Median
• Highest
• Lowest
• Standard deviation
• No of students (excludings students with mark of zero)
• No of students with zero mark
18
Results sorted from
highest to lowest
Components with a
qualifying mark
indicated with Q
Student
names
hidden
Ext circs at
component level
shown
Zero module
marks excluded
from stats
Resits shown in
section below –
after the summer
this component
will be populated
19
Report 2A: Exam Board Summary Report
Key points:
 Exam Board Code MUST be entered;
 The ‘Academic Year’ shows the student’s information at that point;
 The ‘Enter Assessment Date From’ will bring back all modules
calculated after the date entered (NB this is important because the
credit count will be dependent on how many modules are retrieved);
 ‘Spreadsheet list by Student’ brings back all students on that exam
board code, and does not display module selection status. This
report would be useful where students across programmes are
evaluated together;
 Year result is not shown for final years, only award mark.
 The statistics tab displays classification information for the
programme(s) for the past 5 years;
 The ‘code reference’ tab gives a description of the assessment,
module and year result codes
20
Report 2A: Spreadsheet List by Programme
Exam board code will
be displayed
Progression rule will
be displayed
Selection status will be
displayed on
Spreadsheet List by
Programme tab (not by
Student tab)
Year average
(excluding
exempt
credits) will
be displayed
Indication
of ext
circs
Indication of
discounting
Student
names
hidden
Withdrawn student – no
year average created
Student with credit
exemptions – no average
calculated
21
Report 2A: Detailed (this is the report you will return to
Registry)
Academic Year: 2013/4
Name hidden
Year module was taken
Semester and module
selection status
Any module grade
other than PM will
show after the mark.
Attempt number
greater than 1 will
show in brackets after
the mark
22
Key points:
 The Full report allows you to look at modules from past academic years;
 The ‘+ Assessment’ tab allows you to see all the assessments the student
has done on that module;
 The assessment information indicates any qualifying marks, and indicates
where ext circs have applied;
 The first sits are in the top grid, and the subsequent sits are in the
‘Reassessments’ grid below;
 The Full report provides tutor information
23
Report 2B: Full Report – Modules and Assessments
First sit assessments
shown in top grid
Indication of ext
circs and any
qualifying marks
Progression and
award information
UG-PP
Resit assessments shown
in bottom grid
24
This report is designed to help you prepare for the exam board. It reports:
• Modules with extenuating circumstances where the student has a choice
to resit or the exam board has to take action
• Failed modules where the student is in their final year (to help decide
whether the student should resit or not)
• Final year module information where the student has either had
discounting applied, or where no discounting has been applied but there
are modules affected by extenuating circumstances. This report will
help you decide if the best degree outcome has been given.
25



Where a student has failed a module and has
approved extenuating circumstances on at least
one component, a mark of AR (or AE or AW) will
have been calculated (unless a component with a
qualifying mark has been failed, when the grade
will be QR/QE/QW).
Where a student has passed a module, the result
will show as PX.
Use Report 3 to identify these students.
26
Identifying where the student has a choice to
resit a passed module affected by extenuating
circumstances
Module
Grade
Assessment
grade
Outcome
PX
At least one B
Student has choice to resit assessment(s)
affected by Extenuating Circumstances relating
to protected characteristics. A report will
identify these.
PX
At least one A
where the
assessment has
been passed
Student has to accept pass, but Module
potentially eligible for discounting at
classification stage
PX
At least one A
where the
assessment has
been failed
Student has choice to resit failed assessment(s)
affected by Extenuating Circumstances
27
Report 3: Extenuating Circumstances tab
Student has
choice to resit
as ‘B’ code
Only applicable for Schools with modules which have
qualifying marks
Student has
choice to resit
as component
with ext circs
was failed
Ext circs on component
with Q mark – student to
resit as 1st attempt
component with Q mark
was failed with NO ext
circs – student to resit as
2nd attempt
28
Report 3: Final Year fails tab
29
The below grid can help the board to decide whether it is worth the student
retaking failed modules
40:60 weighting
Year contributes 40%
Year contributes 60%
Module credits For each 10 marks
Final mark changes by:
Final mark changes by:
10
10 marks
0.333
0.500
20
10 marks
0.667
1.000
30
10 marks
1.000
1.500
40
10 marks
1.333
2.000
30:70 weighting
Year contributes 30%
Year contributes 70%
Module credits
For each 10 marks
Final mark changes by:
Final mark changes by:
10
10 marks
0.250
0.583
20
10 marks
0.500
1.167
30
10 marks
0.750
1.750
40
10 marks
1.000
2.333
30
Extenuating Circumstances (discounting)

SIMS will calculate both:
◦ A student’s final mark with no discounting; and
◦ A student’s final mark with the lowest module marks (up to
1/6 of the contributing credit) discounted;
i.e. with the marks of modules impacted by extenuating
circumstances removed from the calculation.

SIMS will choose the best out of the two marks and
will use this to give the provisional classification of
the student’s award.
31
Manual discounting

Boards may wish to consider checking whether
SIMS has calculated the best possible outcome for
the student where:
◦ students have modules impacted by extenuating
circumstances in different years (given these will have
different weightings);
◦ where the results of the eligible modules for discounting
include some results above the student’s final mark.
Use the flow chart in Appendix A to help make manual discounting
decisions
32
Report 3: Discounting tab
Report will show details for final years where award has been discounted, and where
discounting has not been applied but degree affected by extenuating circumstances
Discounting
applied
30%
70%
Modules
affected by ext
circs
33
There will be a report providing statistical information for your
programme for the past 5 academic years
34
• Transitional students are those students who studied assessments
contributing to their award in 2011/2 or earlier
• You have been asked to confirm your transitional students to us
• You can use wildcards (%) on all prompts apart from exam board
code, which is required information
• The report will bring back the following information for all the
students you’ve identified to us as transitional, so you can calculate
results by your previous rules and compare outcomes
* Criteria used: exam board code = UFPSYCH
35
Section 3




Students where SIMS has been unable to calculate
a result – look for blanks in the year result.
This will usually be because there are missing
marks, either because you haven’t calculated the
module mark or they haven’t been given to you
for inputting yet.
If it is for a small number and it is a Progression
rather than an Award Board, annotate at Board.
Large numbers or it is for an Award, update asap
and phone Student Records to have rules re-run.
36





An students with an outstanding allegation of
Unfair Practice will have a module grade of UP,
and a year result of UG-UP
Outcomes need to be known before result can be
issued to student.
Once you know the result, enter the final mark
and grade and calculate the module result.
Contact Student Records to have the year result
calculated for the student.
Once Exam Board has confirmed result, send the
schedule for that student to Student Records
37

The Chair of the Exam Board or nominee must
complete the Pro-Forma Change of Examination
Results and return to Student Records.

All Change of Exam Results have to be approved by
executive action of the Chair of the Academic
Standards & Quality Committee.

However, please note that changes which arise from
extenuating circumstances must be administered
under the Verification and Appeals procedure.
38





Calculated when the progression and award rules are
run;
Modules condoned this session onwards will have
module grade of PC (modules which were ‘condoned’ in
previous sessions will be identified via a grade of PD,
and won’t count towards the condonement limits as
stated in the Senate Regulations);
Automatic condonement will only be applied where it
would enable a student to progress;
It will not therefore be applied to any student who has
grades of AR or AE in the period of study that is being
considered for condonement.
For full condonement criteria, please see Senate
Regulations for Taught Modular Programmes –
undergraduate and postgraduate
39
 change marks, apart from in exceptional
circumstances:
• When defects or irregularities in the conduct of the
examinations (e.g. error on a question paper) are
identified;
• When the External Examiners determine that the
marking is out-of-line with expected standards;
• In disciplines where ‘scaling’ is used as part of the
agreed assessment strategy.
 discuss the details of unfair practice cases - only the
chair should be aware of allegations or penalties;
 use discretion, even if applying the ‘old’ rules
40

You will be able to see if the final mark used to classify the
degree has been upgraded as there will be a ‘Y’ in the
‘secondary rule applied’ box in report 2A detail, report 2B and
report 3
Example: upgrade to a First Class Honours on a 3 year degree:
 final mark of 68% or 69%;
 Module mark of 70% or more in modules at level 5 and 6 to
the value of at least 120 credits;
 At least 60 of these credits achieved at level 6
41
“For the purposes of classification, ALL Modules
pursued at Level 5 and Level 6 and, where
appropriate, Level 7 will be combined according to
the weighting adopted … to provide a Final Mark.”
(i.e. it is not the best 120 credits, it is all credits
taken at a contributing level – so if a student
replaced a failed level 4 module with a level 5
module, that mark will contribute to classification.)
42
Once the Exam Board has met, Schools have to
submit the following to Student Records:

Hard copy of the Results Schedule (Report
2A Detail OR Report 2B) with handwritten
annotations showing Exam Board
amendments and signed by Chair

Awards and Progress Committee Pro-Forma

Examining Board Checklist.
43

School number 79555

Back-up 79204

Alternative numbers will be given in email
confirming the Award and Progression rules
have been run
44
Appendix A
3.3 Discounting: process map (i.e. where a student has modules impacted by
Extenuating Circumstances that can be removed from the calculation used to classify an
award)
Where a student is eligible for an award, but has passed a module(s) that has been affected by
Extenuating Circumstances, the Board may remove affected (up to one sixth of the contributing)
credits from the calculation that determines the classification of that award (discounting); provided
that a sufficient remedy has not been applied previously. A Board may also discount failed credit
that has been affected by Extenuating Circumstances, provided the student has achieved sufficient
credit to be eligible for that award. The Board shall discount module(s) from this calculation, only
where it benefits the student.
Are all the module
marks awarded in
the impacted
modules greater
than or equal to
the student’s ‘Final
Mark’?
The ‘Final Mark’
recorded in SIMS
will give the student
the best outcome
YES
NO
Confirm the mark
and award using
the mark recorded
in SIMS.
Identify the modules that, if discounted,
would have the most beneficial impact
on the student’s final mark, and
re-calculate the final award (i.e. taking
account of the weightings that apply to
different years), by removing these
modules from the award calculation.
Annotate the revised ‘Final Mark’ on the
Exam Board Report prior to the meeting,
noting the modules that should be
discounted.
The ‘Final Mark’
recorded in SIMS
MAY NOT give the
student the best
possible outcome
Is the revised ‘Final Mark’ now within
2% of the higher classification band?
YES
Where applicable, (i.e. in
Undergraduate programmes) apply the
‘Secondary Rule’ to identify if the
student’s classification will be raised to
the higher band.
NO
Confirm the revised ‘Final Mark’ and
classification to be given to the student’s
award on the report at the Exam Board
meeting.
45
Appendix B
Checklist
Pre-board – please ensure that you have:
• Calculated all your module results
• Run the business objects reports
• Ensured that any students with extenuating circumstances where
the exam board has to intervene have been identified
• Ensured any discounting scenarios needing checking have been
done
Post-board – please ensure that you have:
• Returned a handwritten annotated copy of the report, signed by
the Chair of Exam Board
• Returned the awards and progress committee pro-forma
• Returned the examining board checklist
46