Glossary of Terms for Assessment
Scope
All taught programmes leading to an award of City University London
To be read in conjunction with
Quality Manual Section 3
Quality Manual Section 6
Glossary of Terms for Assessment
Academic appeal
“A request from a student for a review of a decision made by an Assessment Board regarding
his/her assessment, progression or award” (Senate Regulations 20 and 20b) – for taught
students
or
“A request from a student for a review of a decision concerning his/her registration status or
the outcome of an examination” (Senate Regulations 21 and 21b). – for research students
Academic
Misconduct
See http://www.city.ac.uk/about/student-administration/student-appeals-and-complaints
Academic misconduct is any action that produces an improper advantage for the student in
relation to his/her assessment or deliberately and unnecessarily disadvantages other students.
It can be committed intentionally or accidentally. (Senate Regulation 19.13)
Definitions of different types of academic misconduct can be found in the Assessment and
Feedback Policy.
Academic
Misconduct and
Extenuating
Circumstances
Panels
Academic Services
See
http://www.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/68921/assessment_and_feedback_policy.pdf
Panels that are established by Boards of Studies that will consider Academic Misconduct and
Extenuating Circumstances (see Senate Regulations 19.12 and 19.13).
Academic Services is responsible for supporting:
 Programme development, including 1) new educational developments within the
University and through validation and partnerships, 2) programme amendments, 3)
programme monitoring
 The enhancement of student learning
 The development and implementation of academic policy
 Appeals, complaints and disciplinary cases, including those associated with
extenuating circumstances or academic misconduct
 Admissions
 Educational transitions
The Unit reports to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and works closely with School staff including
Associate Deans (Education) and Programme Directors; validated institutions; the Students’
Union; the Learning Development Centre; and University Academic Leads such as the Dean of
Students and the Dean of Validation.
Anonymous marking
Assessment
Assessment
component/elements
See http://www.city.ac.uk/about/education/academic-services
A process where an assessment component is marked without the student’s name/identity
being made known to the marker (this is also known as blind marking). The University
encourages the operation of anonymous marking systems for other forms of assessment in
addition to exams. (Assessment and Feedback Policy, marking and moderation section).
See
http://www.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/68921/assessment_and_feedback_policy.pdf
The method(s) used to assess student achievement.
A module may be assessed by one or more pieces of assessment (eg coursework,
examination, performance). These are referred to in PRISM and SITS as components.
There is a defined list of assessment tasks that can be used in conjunction with the Key
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Assessment criteria
Assessment pattern
Assessment
specification
Award
Information Set, SITS and PRISM. This can be found in the Programme and Module
Specifications paper considered at the February meeting of the Education Committee.
Assessment criteria provide mechanisms by which the quality of a student’s performance in an
assessment can be measured. They explain what a student needs to demonstrate in order to
complete an assessment successfully. These provide the minimum requirement expected of
students. Assessment criteria will differ according to the discipline, the type of assessment and
the level of the students.
See
http://www.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/68921/assessment_and_feedback_policy.pdf
The assessment (most often coursework and examinations) students are expected to
undertake to pass a module.
Descriptions of the nature and format of an assessment, providing students with clear
information on what they are expected to do, how they are expected to go about it and how
their marks will be allocated (either specifically or through reference to assessment or graderelated criteria).
The assessment specification is included in the module specification.
A qualification or certificated credit conferred upon a student who has achieved the intended
learning outcomes and passed the assessments required to meet the academic standards set
by an institution for the award.
Awards may be divided into modules, units or elements at various levels and with different
volumes of study, each of which has attached to it intended learning outcomes and academic
standards to be achieved by students in order to receive the final award. (QAA CoP
Assessment Definition of Terms)
Clerical check
Compensation
Conduct of
Assessment Boards
Discretion of an
Assessment Board
Double marking
sometimes referred
to as Double blind
marking
Extenuating
circumstances
External Examiner
Appointments
An award name will appear on certificates and transcripts.
A process a student can request to ascertain that an examination script or a coursework
assessment has been marked completely and marks have been added correctly and entered
into the student record system correctly.
Where the Programme Specification identifies modules that can be compensated, the
Assessment Board may apply compensation, within limits defined by the University
Assessment Regulations, on the basis of which credit will be awarded for the module which
has technically been failed. Compensation may only be applied if it can be demonstrated that
the learning outcomes for the programme have been met.
This is the way in which an Assessment Board discharges its duties.
For further information, see: http://www.city.ac.uk/about/education/quality-manual/6assessment
Identifies the extent to which an Assessment Board has flexibility in the decisions that it makes
concerning individual students. (Senate Regulation 19.2(f)(vi))
This is where an assessment is independently assessed by more than one examiner and the
marks from the first marker are not known to the second examiner.
See also second marking.
Extenuating circumstances are circumstances, either external or personal, which are beyond
the control of a student and which prevent a student from completing an assessment, affect
his/her performance during the assessment or are deemed to have affected his/her capacity to
study prior to the assessment. (Senate Regulation 19.12)
Expands on the requirements set out in the Assessment Regulations to ensure that sufficient
numbers of External Examiners are appointed to cover the provision. (Senate Regulation
19.4(a) and External Examiner’s website).
See http://www.city.ac.uk/about/education/quality-manual/7-external-examining
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External Examiner
appointment criteria
Taught programmes: The requirements against which the University determines the suitability
of a potential External Examiner. They are included at the end of the Appointment Form EE1.
See http://www.city.ac.uk/about/education/quality-manual/7-external-examining
Research programmes: The requirements against which the University determines the
suitability of a potential External Examiner. They are referred to on the Appointment Form
RDF5.
External Examiner:
resignation,
interruption and
premature
termination of
appointment
External Examiners’
reports, identification
of issues for specific
response
Feedback to
students
See http://www.city.ac.uk/about/education/quality-manual/9-research-degrees
(Taught programmes) The resignation, interruption and premature termination of appointment
relates to circumstances where an External Examiner is no longer able to continue their
appointment.
See
http://www.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/69017/resignation_interruptions_exex.pdf
(Taught programmes) External Examiners’ reports are reviewed independently upon receipt.
The identification of issues in External Examiners’ reports for specific response is a part of this
independent review. Issues identified may be good practice, strengths or areas of potential
concern.
See http://www.city.ac.uk/about/education/quality-manual/7-external-examining
Either
1) feedback on assessed work, which comprises a marker’s comments on a student’s
performance in an assessment component; or
2) feedback on a student’s performance and progress, which comprises any comments given
to students regarding their performance and progress in a module to support their learning and
academic development.
For more information on feedback, including some examples, see the Assessment and
Feedback Policy.
Feedforward
Formative
assessment
Graded
Grade-related
criteria
See http://www.city.ac.uk/about/education/quality-manual/6-assessment
Information to students which is similar to feedback but is provided in advance of an
assessment task to support student learning and development prior to completion of the
assessment. Feed-forward is considered to be an important mechanism for supporting
student learning.
An assessment task which has a developmental purpose and is designed to help learners
learn more effectively by giving them feedback on their performance and on how it can be
improved and/or maintained. Reflective practice by students sometimes contributes to
formative assessment. (QAA CoP Assessment Definition of Terms)
A module or an individual assessment is graded unless it is assessed on a pass/fail basis only.
The standard module pass mark is 40% for undergraduate level study and 50% for
postgraduate level study. Any alternative pass mark would require approval as an exception to
the Assessment Regulations (this would normally only occur for PSRB reasons). (Senate
Regulation 19.5)
See http://www.city.ac.uk/about/education/academic-services/senate-regulations
Grade-related criteria explain what a student needs to demonstrate in order to achieve a
certain grade or mark in an assessment. These enable students to be positioned within
the overall set of marks available for an assessment. These may be customised as
appropriate according to the discipline, assessment type, level of study or the module or
assessment in question.
See
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Home programme
Home School
Interim award (also
known as an exit
award)
Interim or Module
board
Marking
Model answer
Moderation
Module or interim
board
Panel marking
Pass/fail (ungraded)
Pass requirements
Progression
requirements
Project
http://www.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/68921/assessment_and_feedback_policy.pdf
The programme on which a student is registered.
The home school is the School that owns a programme or module.
An award which is available if a student has not met the full credit requirements for their target
qualification but has nonetheless obtained sufficient credit for a lower award (eg a
Postgraduate Diploma where a Masters degree was aimed for). In most cases students may
not enrol directly for an interim award. Interim awards are only available if approved as part of
the programme specification and will not normally be awarded where a student is still seeking
to achieve the main qualification.
An Assessment Board that takes place at a designated point within a Part of a programme
which is not the progression or award point for that Part. (Senate Regulation 19.2(k). The
Assessment Working Group is currently considering the ToR of these boards
The process used to assess a student’s achievement of learning outcomes and the academic
standards in a given assessment component. (Assessment and Feedback Policy, marking
and moderation section).
See: http://www.city.ac.uk/about/education/quality-manual/6-assessment
The assessor’s explicit view of what an answer to an assessment task should contain. Model
answers are more commonly used where the right answer can be defined precisely (QAA CoP
Assessment Definition of Terms)
A process intended to assure that an assessment outcome is fair and reliable and that
assessment criteria have been applied consistently. Forms of moderation include:
 Sampling, either by an internal or external examiner
 Additional marking, for example of borderlines, firsts and fails, or where there is
significant difference between the marks of different markers that cannot be resolved
without the opinion of another marker.
 Review of marks, where there is a significant difference between several assessment
marks, within or between parts of a programme, which indicate the marks may need to
be reconsidered.
(Assessment and Feedback Policy, marking and moderation section)
See Interim or Module board above. The Assessment Working Group is currently considering
the ToR of these boards
Panel marking is marking where a number of assessors, normally more than two, consider
practical aspects of performance in an assessment. This approach is most commonly found in
arts performance.
Individual assessment components within a module or the assessment for a complete module
may be assessed on a pass/fail basis, without a grade being awarded. The results of
assessment which is pass/fail only will not contribute to any aggregate mark calculations
although credit will be awarded for successful completion.
Pass requirements are determined for each module and for each award. These are stated in
programme and module specifications.
A set of rules, located in the Programme Specification, detailing how students may proceed to
the next part of the programme.
An extended piece of work submitted by a student for their first degree as a result of a task
which might encompass applying theory to practice.
Dissertation
An extended piece of written work which may include an extensive literature review or a small
scale study focused on a topic related to the degree it is being submitted to achieve and this
would normally be at master's level.
Thesis
Provisional marks
An extensive report based upon original research conducted for the award of a doctorate.
Marks for an individual assessment within a Module given to a student before the marks have
been approved by the Assessment Board. Provisional marks must be accompanied by a
statement that they are provisional subject to the approval of the Assessment Board and
Senate (Senate Regulation 19.14 (d))
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Qualifying mark
Repeat
Resit
Rounding of results
Sampling
Second marking
Summative
assessment
Synoptic
assessment
Transcript
Ungraded (pass/fail)
Validity of
assessment
Weighting – award
level
Weighting – module
level
SITS terminology for the minimum progression mark of an assessment component. This can
be the pass mark for the module or, if programmes allow this, a mark lower than the pass mark
at which students are able to progress if their performance in other assessment components
justifies this.
The process by which a student may be offered another resit opportunity. Repeats can
happen as partial repeats with attendance, partial repeats without attendance or full repeats
with attendance. The processes governing repeats are listed in the Assessment Regulations
(Senate Regulation 19.6 and 19.7)
The process by which a student may redeem failure in a module or component of a module by
undertaking further assessment as specified by the Assessment Board. . The processes
governing resits are listed in the Assessment Regulations. (Senate Regulation 19.6 and 19.7)
Refers to the process to create a whole number from one that has one or more decimal
places, according to the rules set out in the Assessment Regulations (Senate Regulation
19.2(vi)).
Most commonly used in the process of moderation (see above). It normally involves internal or
external examiners scrutinising a sample of work from a student cohort. Sampling may be
based on the desirability of checking borderline marks of any kind, or to test that assessment
criteria have been applied consistently across the assessment of students in the cohort. (QAA
CoP Assessment Definition of Terms)
This is where an assessment is independently assessed by more than one examiner and the
marks from the first marker are known to the second examiner.
See also double marking.
A form of assessment used to indicate the extent of a learner's success in meeting the
assessment criteria used to gauge the intended learning outcomes of a module or programme.
(QAA CoP Assessment Definition of Terms). Usually undertaken at the end of a period of
learning.
An assessment that encourages students to combine elements of their learning from different
parts of a programme and to show their accumulated knowledge and understanding of a topic
or subject area. A synoptic assessment normally enables students to show their ability to
integrate and apply their skills, knowledge and understanding with breadth and depth in the
subject. It can help to test a student's capability of applying the knowledge and understanding
gained in one part of a programme to increase their understanding in other parts of the
programme, or across the programme as a whole. (QAA CoP Assessment Definition of
Terms)
A formal record of the academic achievement of a student, identifying (as a minimum) the
modules passed, the grade achieved, the Level and credit value of the completed modules.
See pass/fail (ungraded)
Refers to the need for assessment schemes and assessment components to be designed so
they adequately tests learning outcomes and are sufficiently transparent to allow for
moderation to take place where required.
The weighting of module marks normally relates to the credit value of each module as a
proportion of the total credit for a part or an award. Where a programme contains parts, the
contribution of each part to the overall aggregate mark for the award may also be weighted (eg
for an undergraduate degree comprising 3 parts, the aggregate mark for part 1 may be
weighted at 10%, for part 2 at 30% and for part 3 at 60%). The overall aggregate mark for an
award will be used to determine classification of the award.
Weighting of assessment marks may be applied to assessment components or subcomponents in order to calculate an overall aggregate mark for a module. The weighting
indicates how much each component or sub-component contributes towards the module mark.
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