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How do I check if I think a mistake has been made in my final unit grade?

• Appeals Against Grades Procedures
• Appeal Against Final Grades Form (PDF)
• Dean of Students Information Sheet

If you have reason to think a mistake may have been made with your final unit grade, you can:

• ask for your final unit grade to be checked
• ask for your final unit grade to be reviewed
• ask to view your exam script ; and
• appeal against a final unit grade.

You cannot request that your exam paper be re-marked.

It is very important that you follow the correct procedure and use the Appeal Against Final Grades ' form even if you just have a query and are not yet sure whether you want to go ahead with a formal appeal. The Dean of Students information sheet contains useful information that you should read before proceeding.

Things to consider before appealing

It pays to take a short cooling off' period after you have received an unsatisfactory result. You may be unhappy with the grade but consider the following:

• Your own assessment of your performance in the exam is not always the most objective or accurate. Markers have been selected as experts in their subject areas who can objectively assess your performance relative to that of your peers and against stated criteria. The pressure of the exam environment can sometimes mean that students don't always recall when they didn't fully answer all parts of the paper to the best of their ability.

• Some units require a pass in the exam in order to pass the unit, irrespective of grades achieved in coursework during semester. Consult the relevant unit outline for information about its assessment criteria.

• Macquarie University grades are descriptive rather than numeric; they range from High Distinction to Fail . A number also appears on your results. This is known as the Standardised Numerical Grade (SNG). The SNG gives you an indication of how you have performed within the band for your descriptive grade. It is a ranking system, like the UAI for Australian school leavers, which compares your performance with that of unit classmates, and also takes into account rankings for the same unit in previous years and across other units in the current semester. As the SNG is the result of scaling the weighted sum of your raw marks, you won't be able to:

  1. work out your exam mark based on the assignment marks you already know and the SNG

  2. determine that you were "one mark away" from a different grade.

  If your SNG is close to the cut-off for a higher grade your scripts will already have been reviewed.

• Grading standards protect the value of your degree. Institutions which readily alter grades can develop a reputation for low standards. Consider what your lecturers have told you about the standards they are expecting. It is not generally helpful to compare your Macquarie University grades with grades received at another institution it is the Macquarie standards that now apply. Only academic considerations are taken into account when assigning grades; no other factors play a part unless special consideration has been granted.

If, having considered all the above, you are still unhappy with the grade you have received, DON'T DELAY in consulting your lecturer in writing as soon as possible after results are released.

Valid grounds for requesting that a grade is checked and/or reviewed

Mistakes occasionally occur in marking papers and recording grades but this is rare and the majority of grade appeals are NOT upheld. However, if your grade is unexpectedly low it may be the result of an error and this can often be resolved at Step 1 of the process (consultation with the Lecturer-in-Charge). Questions to ask include:

• Were all sections of the exam script marked?
• Was the mark correctly calculated and recorded?

The Appeal Against Final Grades ' form contains a complete checklist of the possible grounds for appealing against a grade.

Invalid grounds for requesting that a grade is reviewed

The following are NEVER accepted as grounds for reviewing a grade:

• It is the last unit I need to pass in order to complete my degree and
  • I have a job lined up
  • my visa will run out soon
  • I didn't fail by much etc.
• I don't agree with the marker's assessment of my performance.

Deadlines and Processes

There are deadlines for each stage of the process that you must adhere to. Your rights are best protected if you have followed all the steps of the process correctly and met all deadlines.

 

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