Programme specifications are concise descriptions of the intended outcomes of learning from a higher education programme; and the means by which these outcomes are achieved and demonstrated. See the Programme specifications area of the site for more details.
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Note: whilst the answers here will be specifically relevant to our Undergraduate External students most of the information will also apply to our Postgraduate students.
The short answer is No. The aim of the subject guide is to give an introduction to all key areas of the syllabus for each unit/subject. However, as their name suggests, they are ‘guides’ that provide a broad introduction to the key areas of the syllabus, and provide a base for wider reading. It is essential to supplement subject guides with wider reading as identified in the guides and bibliographies. Doing so will help you to gain more detailed and in-depth knowledge of your subject area than is intended to be covered in the subject guide. This approach will help prepare you for sitting the exam.
We cannot stress enough how essential it is that you read the Regulations thoroughly each year, as they contain the rules governing your degree or diploma. This is why a copy of the Regulations is sent to students who have been offered a place on one of our programmes, so that you receive detailed information from the outset. Copies of the latest versions of the Regulations are also posted on our website for ease of access. We are aware that Regulations may contain extensive information, but it is important that you read them thoroughly.
Yes. We strongly advise all students to read the syllabuses for each unit they are studying. Syllabuses are contained in the Regulations for your degree or diploma and these should be your point of reference. It is important to make sure that you refer to the Regulations for the year in which you are sitting exams, as syllabuses may be updated.
Yes.. Exam questions may be set on any aspect of the syllabus. Therefore there is no way to predict which areas of the syllabus examiners will focus on when setting exam questions.. Even if a specific topic/area has been an exam question in consecutive exam sessions, there is no guarantee that this will appear in the next session’s exam paper. If you are studying at a Teaching Institution, your lecturer or tutor may decide to focus on a specific aspect of the syllabus. However, you will still need to ensure that you are familiar with the syllabus as a whole in order to be fully prepared for the exam.
The University has a policy that not more than 30% of a students’ overall mark can be arrived at through coursework. As you will know, the External System examines many thousands of students each year all across the world. Unseen written exams are sat in a controlled exam setting where invigilators are present which helps to ensure that plagiarism does not occur. We realise that formal written exams are challenging. However, many employers value the discipline required to sit unseen exams, and this contributes to the fact that the University’s awards are internationally recognised.
Exam timetabling takes account of the fact that students sit exams in many countries worldwide. Where possible, we schedule exams for each programme in the same one to two week slot each year, to help give you a good idea of when your exams are likely to take place. In addition we post advance exam timetables on the External System website. We say that advance timetables are provisional, just in case we need to change dates due to factors out of our control. However, this rarely occurs so it is highly likely that the advance dates are correct.
It is not a feature of External programmes to provide feedback to individual students on their performance in exams. It is a sizeable administrative task to ensure that scripts are securely returned to the University and then allocated to the examiners, particularly as 70,000 exam papers were sat by External students in 2005. As all scripts are assessed by two examiners, we need to appoint many academic staff from within the University to mark your scripts. Students studying the same or similar degree as an internal student are generally not likely to receive specific exam feedback either.
You will receive some useful information with your Notification of Result to help explain what your exam results mean, so it is important that you read this carefully. Also we provide general feedback to help you with exam technique and performance. For example, you will find this type of guidance in your student handbook. Also, those of you who read the Winter 2005 edition of ‘London Connection’ may have seen guidelines on effective exam techniques. Many of you also tell us that you find the Examiners’ Reports useful. The Reports are written by examiners at the end of each session to comment on how well students answered each question. The External System’s Academic Board recently agreed that Examiners’ Reports should be written for all exams which will extend their availability across units/subjects. Access to Examiners’ Reports will also be increased by making more of them available online.