Examinations

Examination Entry for your optional assessment units is done online via your Student Self-Service portal. 

You will be emailed when your Examination Entry window is open and you must complete your entry before your Examination Entry window closes; this date will be stated on the email and on Student Self-Service.

If you do not complete your Examination Entry by the deadline, you will have to pay a Late Entry Fee of £60 via the University’s Online Shop before you will be able to submit your entry.

You may change your option choices via your Student Self-Service portal whilst your Examination Entry window is open.

Once your Examination Entry window has closed you will need to complete a Change of Options form, available from the Academic Office, and pay a £60 Change of Option Fee via the University’s Online Shop.

If you have entered for any additional assessments, but later decide not to take them, you should inform the Academic Office as soon as possible and they will inform the University's Academic Records Office. If you do not do this before the examination date, or the submission date for essays or theses, then you may be charged a change of option fee, or you may be prevented from changing your options entirely if you have already completed all work for the option. You may only withdraw from optional assessments if it is still possible for you to meet the Examination Requirements for your course. You should discuss this with your subject department in the first instance. 

The University website includes a list of provisional start dates for examinations, listed as the week commencing.

If you think that you will have a clash with your University examinations and any specific religious observances, you should make an application for alternative examination arrangements, via the Academic Office, by the end of Michaelmas term. This will allow for your requirements to be taken into account when the examinations are timetabled by the University Examinations Team. If your requirements cannot be accommodated in your timetable, then the Academic Office will advise on potential alternative options. 

Official (final) examination timetables are published on the University website later in the academic year. Your personal timetable showing your individual papers and the dates, times and location at which they will take place will be published on Student Self-Service at least two weeks before your first examination.

If, due to a medical or other reason, you think that you will not meet a submission deadline for an essay, report, or dissertation/thesis you need to discuss this with your Tutor or Supervisor as soon as possible.

An application to extend your deadline can be made to the University Proctors’ Office via the Academic Office (or by a self-certification online form in some cases). If the need for an extension to a deadline is for medical reasons, a doctor’s medical certificate will also need to be provided to support the application (ideally from the College GP who have much experience of assisting students in these situations). Further information and guidance regarding problems completing your assessment can be found on the University website. 

If you fail to meet a deadline, and have not had an extension approved by the Proctors, the Examiners may impose an academic penalty for late submission. These penalties can be quite severe and so you are strongly encouraged to contact the Academic Office in advance whenever possible, to try to avoid this. 

If you require alternative examination arrangements, such as extra time, use of a computer, or rest time, due to a Specific Learning Disability or other disability, then an application for Alternative Examination Arrangements needs to be made via the Academic Office.

Some alternative arrangements can be managed by the Examinations Schools, such as the use of a computer or extra time; other arrangements, for example rest time or non-standard arrangements, may mean you need to take your examinations in college.

You should initially contact the Disability Advisory Service (DAS), who will talk through your requirements and advise the college on what arrangements you need for your examinations. Christ Church has a designated Disability Officer at the Disability Advisory Service, Pauline Graham. Christ Church also has a designated staff member who works with students with mental health conditions, Suzi Hughes.

If you need an SpLD assessment, the DAS will arrange this for you and will also offer guidance on what support you can get for your studies. It is best to contact the Disability Advisory Service as early as possible in the year, so if you do need assessments these can be arranged; requests for alternative arrangements should usually be made no later than the Friday of Week 4 of the term before the examinations are due to take place.

Examination arrangements approved for University examinations will also be applied to college Collections.

If you require last-minute alternative arrangements for your examinations, for example due to an injury, you should contact the Academic Office as soon as possible. You will need to provide a medical note which explicitly states what arrangements you will need.

If you need to take medication, for example inhalers or prescription medicine, food or drink for medical reasons, or medical/disability aids such as wrist splints or back-support pillows, into your in-person examinations you may do so if you take a signed letter from the College with you to each examination. Please contact the Academic Office in good time to request a letter (medical evidence will be required to support this).

If you feel that your examination preparation or performance in your examinations has been affected by a medical or personal issue, you can submit a mitigating circumstances notice for the Exam Board to consider (known as an MCE). In the first instance you should refer to the University webpage regarding problems completing your assessment for details and guidance.

You are welcome to contact the Academic Office or Welfare Team for further advice, or consult the Examination Regulations and 'Consideration of mitigating circumstances by examiners' guidance. You will need to write a statement outlining the particular circumstances and how they have impacted your examinations, for the Examiners to consider. This should be as specific as possible, and include a timeline. If your examinations were affected by illness or other medical reasons, you should also include a doctor’s medical certificate to support your MCE.

Mitigating circumstances notices should be submitted via your Student Self-Service portal as soon as possible after you have completed your examinations and/or submissions, and must be submitted before the final Exam Board meeting for your course. Applications made after results are known are not usually forwarded to the Examiners, except in very exceptional circumstances (following consideration by the University Proctors).

If you have to miss an examination due to illness, you must contact the Academic Office immediately on the day of the examination so that they can contact the University Exam Schools (to inform them that you will not be attending).

The Academic Office will then need to submit an application to the University Proctors for your non-appearance at the examination to be formally excused. A doctor's medical certificate will be required to support this application, so you should arrange an appointment with the College GP as soon as possible (on the same day). You must not start the exam, in-person or online, if you do not intend to continue, as it is not possible to apply for excusal if the question paper has been opened (or viewed online/downloaded).

The Academic Office will advise on next steps following this initial process.

If you think you need to withdraw from all your examinations, you should initially discuss this with your Tutor(s), and then contact the Academic Office for advice. The Academic Office will require a doctor’s medical certificate if you wish to withdraw on medical grounds.

If it is decided that withdrawal from examinations is definitely the right option for you, then the Academic Office should be informed as soon as possible, so the withdrawal can be processed.

Withdrawing from examinations must be done before the end of the last examination you should be sitting, otherwise your non-attendance would be considered to be a Fail and you may not be allowed to sit them at a later date. 

Examination Regulations can be found on the main University website.