UG FAQs - Marks, Marking and Feedback

1. How can I find out my grade for a recent piece of work?

Your grade and feedback for your work can be accessed through Yorkshare VLE and through eVision. The University regulation is that marked coursework will be ready to access no later than 4 weeks after submission. However, the Department attempts to make coursework available for students three weeks after the submission deadline. If the work is not available after this time and you have not received notification as to why it is delayed, please speak to reception in the first instance. They will be able to investigate further.

2. How do I get feedback on my work?

For essays and reports individual feedback will be provided on your work to help you interpret your mark and understand how you can improve in the future. The feedback will encompass points that you did well and also point that need improvement. These are provided to help you understand what good elements of your work contributed to the mark that you got, and what areas could have been better, and would have contributed to a higher mark. There will also be annotated comments on the work itself. To access this feedback, you should visit the assessment section on the relevant VLE page. 

In addition to this individual feedback, course tutors will give a report on the overall standard for each piece of work and any common strengths or weaknesses that were found by the markers.  These will be posted to the VLE.

For multiple choice questions (MCQ) exams individual feedback is not provided, only a mark plus general comments applicable to the whole student cohort. To gauge your likely performance on MCQ assessments, you should make good use of practice questions found on the VLE.

3. What does my mark mean?

At Stages 1-3 (i.e., Years 1-3 on both the BSc and the MSci programmes) the University uses an undergraduate mark scale of 0-100. Grades fall within five bands: 1^st (70 and above), 2:1 (60 to 69), 2:2 (50 to 59), 3^rd (40 to 49), Fail (0 to 39). 

At Stage 4 (relevant for Year 4 MSci students only) the university mark scale at taught postgraduate level is adopted. This scale has four bands: Distinguished performance as postgraduate level (70-100), Good performance at postgraduate level (60-69), Satisfactory performance at postgraduate level (50-59), Fail (0-49). Note that a fail mark of 40-49 is potentially compensatable (see below), and marks of 0-39 and fail marks on pass/fail modules are outright fails.

The marking guidelines are available on the student wiki pages. These documents outline what standard of work is required for each grade. There are different requirements for essays and practicals, so there are separate guidelines for each.

4. I am having problems interpreting the meaning of my feedback.

For every essay and practical report, the Department holds a feedback drop-in session which is hosted by the Module Organiser. The dates, times and locations of these sessions are on your timetable and occur once students have had their marks and pieces of work returned. If you are experiencing problems with your feedback, you should attend these meetings to discuss any issues with the module leader. Please note that the purpose of these sessions is not to challenge the mark you have been awarded but to help you understand the feedback and how you can improve for your next piece of work. 

5. I have followed all the steps above and still don’t understand my feedback, or I think there may be a problem with it.

 If you still have unresolved issues after going through the steps above, contact the Chair of the Board of Studies (Sally Quinn) and explain your specific problem succinctly.

6. How does the Department use Year 1 marks?

You probably know that under the University's modular scheme, your first year marks do not contribute to your final degree classification. However, this does not mean that Year 1 marks are unimportant. They form the basis of decisions about whether you can progress into Year 2 of the course, and part of the basis on which the British Psychological Society recognises the degree course.

For information on how to calculate your overall Year 1 mark, see here.