Guidance for marking exams

The marker will be informed if the student has the following learning adjustment:

Student should incur no penalties for spelling, grammar, punctuation and structure in examination scripts, take home exams or online content unless these are being directly assessed and are core to an understanding of the course.  Student should refer to School(s) for information regarding the administration of this adjustment in relation to take home exams.

This adjustment has been put in place as in exam situations spelling/grammar support is either not available, or cannot be guaranteed. 

This adjustment relates only to a student’s exam scripts as, unlike assessed coursework, a student does not have time to check the work for spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors before it reaches the marker. 

Some students will have the use of a PC with software that allows them to check their script before submission, but the student may still select the wrong spellings of words, the wrong words, or change grammar in a way that is still incorrect. Some errors may not be picked up by the software. 

Example of when spelling and grammar should be taken into account

• If a medical student uses “hypoglycaemia” when they were asked to discuss “hyperglycaemia”, the marker should take this error into account when marking, as understanding the difference is likely tied to a core learning outcome on the course.

Example of when spelling and grammar should not be taken into account

• If a humanities student uses “hypoglycaemia” instead of “hyperglycaemia” in a metaphorical sense, they should not be marked down, as it is unlikely to be a core learning outcome.

In marking an examination script if you are uncertain about whether to assess spelling, grammar, punctuation or presentation, discuss this with our Service.