1. Guide 3: Examining Procedures at Liverpool Hope
Liverpool Hope University
External Examiner Guidance: 2018
Guide 3: Examining Procedures at Liverpool Hope
University Registrar

2. Contents
1. Publication of Results slides Arriving at the Results slides 6-8 in a nutshell 3. Arriving at the Results slides detailed procedures 4. Role of External Examiners slides And finally… slide 19

3. 1. Publication of results (a)
Electronically:
summary via ;
full details via the website;
all read from data approved by Boards of Examiners.
Summary:
Progression / Award Status, for example…..
Pass Level C[4]; Progress to Level I[5]
1st class honours
Retake Level I[5] with Attendance
Deferred Assessment Granted
[over 100 other possibilities…..]
Explanation of what the status means and what action is needed
or advised.

4. 1. Publication of results (b)
Full Details [continued on next slide]
Progression / Award Status & explanation.
Overall Grade & Mark for each undergrad. block or postgrad. module.
A+, A, B+, B, C+, C, D, E [undergraduate pass grades]
PD, PM, P [postgraduate pass grades]
FQ, F+, F, F-, U etc. [fail grades]
M etc. [mitigating circumstances grades]
Overall Result for each undergraduate block or postgraduate module.
Pass
“Not Yet Passed”
[for fail grades: reassessment opportunity;
[for “M” grades: deferred initial assessment opportunity].
Fail
[no reassessment opportunity].

5. 1. Publication of results (c)
Full Details [continued from previous slide]
Explanation of what Pass / Not Yet Passed / Fail mean, and what action is needed or advised.
Grade and mark for every assessment component. Note that the University has a standard mark system for qualitative pieces of assessment.
Key Themes Exam M 0
Major Authors Essay C 54
Practical Portfolio B+ 68
Placement Learning P
[Re]submission date for every component for which the student has an M, F or U grade, and a further assessment opportunity has been granted.

6. 2. Arriving at the results… in a nutshell (a)
Wherever possible, we use a single-stage procedure:
a subject-based Assessment, Progression & Award Board [“APAB”], attended by the External Examiner, will agree, for each student
marks, grades & results for u/g blocks or p/g modules;
overall Progression / Award outcomes.
In other cases, we use a 2-stage procedure:
subject based APABs [attended by the External Examiner] will agree
a subsequent University-wide Progression & Award Board [“PAB”], attended by a Faculty Examiner, will agree

7. 2. Arriving at the results… in a nutshell (b)
For Single Honours, we typically use the single-stage procedure
BUT at Level C we use the two-stage procedure to deal with students who take a second subject examined by a different team.
For Combined Honours, we typically use the 2-stage procedure
BUT we use a single-stage procedure for
students taking 2 Majors examined by the same examiners [eg History & Politics].
A single meeting may treat cohorts differently
The undergraduate Music meeting in June will:
agree block results AND progression/award outcomes for BA Music.
agree ONLY block results for students taking Music as a “Major”
in Combined Honours or a “Specialist Subject” within BA QTS.

8. 2. Arriving at the results… in a nutshell (c)
In order to achieve consistency in a devolved system….
We hold a meeting of the assessment coordinators in May, attended by representatives from all academic Departments at which the approach to examination boards is discussed.
Board members will receive a “Guide to Making Decisions About Students”, focussing on the cohorts to be discussed [summer 2018 version currently in preparation].
Before the meeting, the Registrar [or nominee] will liaise with the Chair of the Board to identify any relevant precedents set by previous Boards.
Where a Board sets a regulatory precedent, the Registrar will arrange for the Chairs of all subsequent Boards to be informed of that precedent.

9. 3. Arriving at the results….. detailed procedures (d)
During the APAB [continued on next slide]
Membership is internal examiners PLUS External Examiner[s] PLUS Registrar or nominee; chaired by HoD or nominee.
Receive list of all credit rated blocks and modules scrutinised by the Internal Examiners Committee.
External Examiners confirm that a sample of each assessment in each block/module has been moderated, and that they are happy to proceed on the basis of the internal marks.
If NOT, issues are resolved that this point.
[If appropriate] receive a note of which cohorts need to be considered via the 2-stage procedure, and formally mandate a named internal examiner to represent the Department at each PAB.

10. 3. Arriving at the results….. detailed procedures (d)
During the APAB [continued from previous slide]
For each student to be considered via the single-stage procedure:
receive a profile generated from SITS, comprising
marks, grades and results already confirmed by the IEC,
proposed progression decisions, award decisions and degree classifications [generated on the basis of the confirmed marks etc];
note any changes to the profiles resulting from external moderation;
agree confirmed progression/award/classification outcomes
SITS may propose generous interpretation of regulations - Board can over-ride,
consider classifications for any students for whom the Board can exercise discretion,
carefully consider outcomes for students with Fail results for U/G blocks and P/G modules,
if necessary, reconsider Not Yet Passed results in light of
overall decisions.

11. 3. Arriving at the results….. detailed procedures (d)
During a second-stage PAB
Transcripts will be scrutinised as at APABs, except that:
the student profiles will reflect any mark/grade/result changes agreed at the APAB;
for those students who are not being considered for an award, the Board will focus on those students for whom at least one APAB had agreed a Defer or Fail result for at least one block/module.

12. 4. Role of External Examiners general
Ensure that assessment processes and standards are applied appropriately, consistently and fairly.
Judge whether or not the learning outcomes of each U/G block or P/G module have been met.
Ensure that the learning outcomes are appropriate in the light of national standards and benchmarks.
Measure the outcomes against the appropriate programme specifications.

13. 4. Role of External Examiners moderating work (a)
Regulations
“It is not the role of the external examiner to act as a third marker where there is a disagreement between two internal markers. It is the responsibility of the internal markers to seek to come to an agreed grading and for the external examiner to confirm, or otherwise, the validity of that decision.”
“Although an External Examiner is entitled, on the basis of his/her scrutiny of a sample of work, to propose that, overall, the marks awarded on a block or module should be raised or lowered, she/he should not normally adjust the marks awarded to individual candidates whose work was included in the sample.”
“An External Examiner may reach the conclusion that the standards applied to the sample have been over-generous or too harsh and, as a consequence, may propose a change to the grades awarded. In such circumstances, internal examiners should reconsider the marks awarded to the whole cohort, not just to those students whose work was included in the sample.”

14. 4. Role of External Examiners moderating work (b)
Guidance
Please focus on whether broad standards are appropriate.
E.g.
At Level M[7] are assessments marked at A- grade or above consistent with the award of a Distinction?
At Level H[6] are grades of B- and B indicative of low 2i work?
Any adjustments agreed following external moderation will be applied to individual assessment components, NOT direct to overall aggregates.
As a result, aggregates will always be based solely on the marks for individual assessments.

15. 4. Role of External Examiners samples of work
You must be able to examine students’ work for a range of assessments for each module/block in your remit. [“All assessments must be undertaken in a way that enables external moderation”.]
Negotiate samples with your Departments. You can request further work if you cannot reach a judgement about standards.
Samples are expected to include:
work within the first class band [for undergraduates] or the distinction band [for postgraduates];
fails [particularly fails close to key boundaries];
a representative sample of other work [including, for undergraduates, a sample of work within each of the mark ranges corresponding to
particular degree classifications];
work from all Levels of Study [but Level C(4) can be less extensive].

16. 4. Role of External Examiners approval of proposed assessments
You should be asked to comment on draft coursework assessments as well as draft exam papers, before they are issued to students.
Please scrutinise carefully!

17. 4. Role of External Examiners in the APAB
Attend at least one APAB a year.
Summer 2018 dates have been agreed.
In May/June, agree attendance requirements for the reassessment meetings.
Give oral comments about: overall standards, examples of good practice, how the curriculum and/or its assessment procedures might be enhanced.
Help the APAB to identify and consider any generic issues that should be drawn to the attention of the Standing Sub- Committee on Assessment.
Ensure that the procedures for determining students’ entitlement to progress or to receive an award, are applied appropriately, consistently, fairly and in line with the University’s
regulations and conventions.

18. 4. Role of External Examiners Faculty Examiners
Each Faculty has, in addition to their subject external examiners, one 'Faculty Examiner' who is chosen from the ranks of experienced subject external examiners.
For a small additional fee, Faculty Examiners are asked to:
consider all external examiner reports within the Faculty;
attend PAB meetings, as agreed by the Registrar;
submit a written report in September of each year based on these two activities, reporting to the University issues, concerns and good practice in relation to assessment and examination board procedures and practices;
where appropriate, act as mentors for new or less experienced external examiners.

19. 5. And finally… We hope you have found this presentation useful.
If you have any queries please Dr Cathy Walsh [University Registrar] at