Assessment, feedback and submissions
Assessment and submissions
Whether you are a finalist, or a first or second year progressing student with resits, you may have questions about your next steps. We have put together answers to some frequently asked questions below:
Undergraduate 1st and 2nd year Resit FAQs
- A3 Finalist Resit Assessment Instructions
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Creative and Critical Practise
**UPDATED ** Department of Language Studies
- A3 Progression Resit Assessment Instructions
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Creative and Critical Practise
Department of Language Studies
- A3 Trailed Resit Assessment Instructions (Only Use if Instructed)
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If you have received an email directing you to this section for trailed resit information, please find the instructions for your module below.
- Handing in work
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Your Sussex Direct webpages will give all assessment details, including whether the assessment is to be submitted via e-submission through Canvas.
For assignments that need to be submitted online, see Student Hub guidance on:
- What to do if I submitted the wrong submission/ am unable to submit/ have submitted late?
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Deadlines for assessed coursework are absolute.
It's important you make every effort to hand your work in on time.
Find out about the penalties for submitting work late.
Find out about the options you have if you upload the wrong document or have not been able to submit due to technical issues - e-submission error process
- Exceptional Circumstances
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If there are good reasons why you cannot submit your work on time
If you believe you have a good reason why you cannot hand in your work, or you will need to hand it in late, you can make an exceptional circumstances claim.
Making your claim early may also speed up an assessment of entitlement to additional support, should your circumstances indicate ongoing health or support issues.
- What is included in the essay word count?
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The maximum length for each assessment is made clear. The limits as stated include quotations in the text, but do not include the bibliography, footnotes/endnotes, appendices, abstracts, maps, illustrations, transcriptions of linguistic data, or tables and their captions.
- If you exceed the word limit
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Examiners will read up to 10% above the word count (e.g. 1,100 words for a 1,000-word essay).
Examiners can use their judgment and mark downward for excessive length if:
- your essay is overlong because it is poorly written or conceived
- they feel the extra length gives you an unfair advantage over students who kept to the prescribed length.
Additional words over the 10% allowance will not be read.
- Avoiding academic misconduct
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Plagiarism, collusion, and cheating in exams are all forms of academic misconduct, which the University takes very seriously.
Every year, some students commit academic misconduct unintentionally because they were not careful in their use of sources or did not understand the definitions of plagiarism. Whether or not it is intentional, the consequences for committing academic misconduct can be severe, so it is important you familiarise yourself with what it is and how to avoid it.
See Skills Hub for advice on writing well, including definitions of academic misconduct and tips on how to avoid it.
- Do I need to pass every module to progress to the next year?
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Yes. You need to achieve 120 credits to progress to the next year, and it’s only possible to do that if you pass all of your modules.
If things don’t go as planned and you end up failing one or more modules you will be given a second chance.
You’ll be set resits in the summer vacation, but this is something you really want to avoid because:
- resits take place in August, so they may limit your travelling plans or paid work, and
- resits are capped at a mark of 40%.
If you are in your second year or beyond, a capped mark may negatively affect your degree classification.
More information about resitting an assessment.
- How is work marked?
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So that our marking processes are transparent, the School of Media, Arts and Humanities uses marking criteria for marking.
Find information about marking criteria used for undergraduate and postgraduate.