Behaviour

When you take your seat you may fill in the ID slip and the details on the front cover of the answer booklet. You must not write anything else before the invigilator has announced the start of the exam.

Writing anything else (eg jotting notes on the cover of the question paper or answer booklet), turning over or opening the question paper or attempting to start the exam before instructed will be considered academic misconduct. 

Smoking (including electronic cigarettes) is not permitted in any venues. 

What not to bring to an exam venue

Personal belongings and valuable items (including bags, coats or notes).

• Where space allows, an area at the back or immediately outside an exam venue will be provided for bags and coats. Notes should be left in your bag. The University cannot accept responsibility for any items left in these areas, so we recommend you do not bring anything of value to your exams.

Smartwatches, mobile phones or any other items capable of storing data should not be on your person in the exam room, nor are you permitted to have any items at all in your pockets.

• Invigilators may ask to check your pockets. If you are found with any items in your pockets it will be considered to be academic misconduct, even if they are not items that could have provided you with an advantage during the exam.
• Alarms or any audible noise (including that made by vibrations) from smart or electronic devices will be reported as a case of academic misconduct. If any electronic device capable of storing data is found to have been left switched on during an exam it will be treated as academic misconduct, regardless of whether or not you accessed the device during the exam.

Items such as wallets and keys can be stored underneath your chair for the duration of the exam. If you leave an electronic device under your chair it must be switched off.

What to bring into an exam venue

Water

• You cannot bring any food or drink, except for a small (500ml maximum) clear bottle of still water into the exam venue.

Calculators

• For those exams deemed to require them, you may use your own calculator, but it must be from the University approved list of calculators. You cannot request the use of a calculator if the rubric of the exam does not specify it. It is your responsibility to familiarise yourself with university calculators in advance should you need to - invigilators will not provide assistance in using calculators during exams. 

During an exam

You should not talk to anyone other than an invigilator during an exam. If you do, it may be treated as academic misconduct.

If you are taken ill during an exam you need to tell the invigilator as discreetly as possible so as not to disturb other candidates. The invigilator will give you a form to take to your doctor or the Health Centre.

At the end of the exam

• At the end of the exam you must stop writing immediately on instruction from a member of the invigilation team.
• Do not finish what you were writing even if you were in the middle of a word or sentence.
• Wait for the invigilators to collect your answer booklet and advise you that you can leave. You must not leave the room without the permission of an invigilator. You must leave all exam materials on the desk.
• Do not remove any exams' property (eg calculators) from the room. 

You should refer to the Guide to Assessment, Marking and Feedback for detailed guidelines on conduct in exams and other useful information about assessment.

Academic misconduct

The University regards any form of academic misconduct as an extremely serious matter. You are not allowed to:

• cheat ie fail to comply with the rules governing examinations, for example by making arrangements to have unauthorised access to information.
• collude ie assist another candidate to gain an advantage by unfair means, or receive such assistance.
• fabricate ie mislead the examiners by presenting work for assessment in a way which intentionally or recklessly suggests that factual information has been collected which has not in fact been collected, or falsifies factual information.
• personate ie act, appear, or produce work on behalf of another candidate in order to deceive the examiners, or solicit another individual to act, appear or produce work on your own behalf.
• plagiarise ie incorporate within your work, the work (published or unpublished) derived from another person without appropriate acknowledgement.

You are not allowed to bring written or printed material or equipment (including calculators) into the exam room unless specifically permitted for a particular exam. You are not allowed to have anything written on your hands, arms or elsewhere on your body, even if it is irrelevant to the exam. 

Any device capable of storing or displaying data, including smartphones and smartwatches or any other wearable technology such as a Bluetooth headset must be stored underneath your chair. Failure to place these items out of reach will be treated as academic misconduct (regardless of whether or not you access the device during the exam).

You must not communicate with anyone except an invigilator during an exam.

You must not start writing anything other than your details on the ID slip and the front of the answer booklet before the invigilator has instructed you to do so, and you must stop writing immediately when instructed to do so. 

If you breach any of the requirements given above, the examiners will take account of it in determining a mark for the work affected. This may result in a mark of zero with consequent effects on the evaluation of your overall performance, and this might lead to failure in the module as a whole.

If the examiners believe that the case is of particular gravity, they may also recommend that further disciplinary penalties be applied. The penalties available are:

• suspension or exclusion from the University.
• a lowering of the class of degree to be awarded.
• failure of the degree.
• withdrawal of any entitlement to redeem the failure.

The above extracts have been taken from Ordinances and Regulations (Regulations governing University Assessments [Regulation 5.2]). Candidates are strongly advised to read all the sections in this handbook dealing with the conduct of examinations and appeals procedures, particularly the regulations governing academic misconduct [Regulation 5.7].

Exam materials

Students are reminded that ALL answer books, statistical tables, databooks, calculators etc provided to candidates in exams are University property and must not be removed from examination rooms. Exam candidates are reminded that the deliberate removal of such materials constitutes theft.

Exam candidates must not write in items such as statistical tables, databooks etc which are provided only for reference purposes within the examination.