Exams & Assessments
Welcome to your one stop shop for common Exams/Assessments FAQs. If your query isn’t listed, get in touch on Instagram or email advice@tudublinsu.ie and the Advice and Advocacy team will do their best to get the answers for you. Best of luck!
Before Exams and Assessments
Feeling stressed or worried about exams is normal; the good news is that there is help available from the University Counselling Service. You will find information on how to Book an Appointment to speak to someone to help you cope with your anxiety and other supports that are available to you.
Exam timetables (as they are released) are available on the TU Dublin website.
The timetables do change occasionally due to unforeseen circumstances so students should check the online schedules or their student email regularly for any relevant updates.
Don't save the timetables or screenshot them as they may change!
You can contact the exams office on the TU Dublin website.
You can bring
- Calculator
- Drawing Instruments (Maths)
- Students ID
- Water Bottle
- Pens.
You cannot bring
- Books and Notes
- Electronic Devices (including mobile phone)
- smart watches.
Can I bring a calculator to the exam?
Only approved calculators can be brought into the Exam Hall. The University has adopted the rules of the State Examination Commission in relation to the use of calculators in Examinations. View the list of permitted and prohibited calculators in TU Dublin City Campus Examinations (Link not working). If a particular type/brand of calculator is not listed here it is prohibited so don’t bring it in with you.
Can I bring a Log tables to my maths exam?
There’s no need as these are always provided by the Exams Office.
What if I think there’s are mistakes or questions missing from the Exam paper? If you think there are errors or omissions on the exam paper, you should notify the Invigilator immediately who will alert the Exams Office so that it can clarified with the relevant lecturer(s).
The staff in the Libraries are always very helpful to students in assisting them with resources available you complete your assignments, help with revising and referencing.
Contact the library for more information.
There are currently two different ways to access past papers online.
1. Via the Library
- Visit TU Dublin Library
- Select your campus location i.e. Blanchardstown, City Centre, or Tallaght
- Follow the on screen instructions to access the papers.
2. Access the Exam Papers via the Library Catalogue
- Visit the TU Dublin Library Catalogue
- Choose the required Faculty
- Choose the required year
- Use your TU Dublin account to log in
Please get in touch with your home library or Faculty Liaison Librarian if you require assistance finding or accessing past exam papers. Please note that not all past papers are made available.
You should contact your Year Tutor to explain the situation and they will be able to go through the various options available. You can also fill out an Extenuating Circumstances Form:
- The Extenuating Circumstances (EC) Form is provided by TU Dublin for students who believe their performance in an assessment was adversely affected by unforeseen personal or serious difficulties.
- The form determines: if a student should undertake an alternative form of assessment or if a student’s next attempt at an assessment/examination will be considered as their first or second (or subsequent) attempt.
- The EC Form cannot be used to alter a mark or exempt a student from completing the learning outcomes of the programme.
- The EC Form should not be used for reporting quality assurance issues, concerns relating to general work pressure, informing the University of personal disruptions, informing the University about financial constraints, providing unsupported reasons for missing assessments/examinations/deadlines, complaining about tight deadlines, or complaining about lecturing standards.
- The EC Form must be supported by ‘independent authoritative evidence’ (i.e., a completed Professional Opinion Form).
- Both forms must be completed and returned, by email, to Academic Affairs at ecforms@tudublin.ie within specific timescales.
- For course work, the deadline for submitting an Extenuating Circumstances form is normally not later than three working days after the scheduled hand-in date for the assignment.
- For examinations, the completed form should be submitted normally not later than three working days after the last examination taken.
- The provider of independent authoritative evidence shall be any professional individual who has dealt professionally with the student submitting the EC Form and who is aware of the extenuating circumstances leading to the student submitting the EC Form. Examples include:
- TU Dublin Health Service/Medical Practitioner
- TU Dublin Councilling Service/Mental Health Professional
- Gardaí/Fire Service Office
- TU Dublin Chaplaincy Service
- Examinations Representative
- IT Helpdesk
- The Extenuating Circumstances Form and supporting evidence should be completed and returned, by email, to Academic Affairs at ecforms@tudublin.ie in MS Word or pdf format only.
- It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure the form is submitted on time, within the timeframe allowed.
- As the forms may contain sensitive personal data, students are advised not to copy other email addresses on the forms being submitted.
- PLEASE NOTE: Submission of a form does NOT guarantee that it will be accepted by the Exam Board.
You can also get support from the TU Dublin Counselling Service and book an appointment. They are available all through the summer.
You should contact the relevant Exam Office asap and they will be able to sort it out for you. It might be simply an administrative error that can be rectified easily.
Exams Office
Staff in the Examinations Offices on each campus are always available to answer any questions you might have about your examinations, e.g. if you have any issues with your examination timetable, queries about the marks for different components in your modules, accessing your results and any other random question you might have. They are always very helpful and happy to clarify any queries you might have.
Health Service
The Student Health Service is available on all sites for students to use, these are free of charge to most undergraduate and postgraduate students. Services include general medical, sexual, psychological and social aspects of student health.
Counselling Service
The TU Dublin Counselling Service is free to all students and is where you can discuss any personal problems, mental health matters or any other concerns that are affecting you in a safe, non-judgmental environment. After you make an appointment for your initial needs assessment you will meet with a trained Counsellor who will discuss options that will suit your circumstances.
Contact the Student Counselling Service
Disability Service
The Disability Support Services are there to help any student with a disability to successfully complete their programme in the university. This is based on the principle that students should not experience any disadvantage as a result of their disability and to ensure they have all the information and specific supports necessary for their full participation in the educational opportunities available to them.
Students can avail of a confidential one-to-one needs assessment once registered with the service. Following on from that the required supports are put in place based on the student’s needs and this is then communicated with the relevant school and academic staff.
Guide to Online/Open Book Exams
Environment
- Check your environment and that you have all the information, stationery, etc ready to go.
- Check your laptop etc. is charged, you have internet access etc.
- Have a clock to hand or set a timer so you know how long you have left in the examination.
- Make sure family/friends etc. are aware of your plans and time duration for the online exam.
- Ensure you are hydrated and have access to any required food for the duration.
Completing the paper
- Write your student number clearly on the top of every page. (Advice: have these prewritten to give you extra time during the exam and so you don’t forget your student number on any pages when you are finished).
- Write page numbers on the top of every page so the order is clear. (Advice: have these prewritten to give you extra time during the exam and so you don’t forget any numbering of any pages).
- Write the main question number (Q 1, 2, etc.) and section (a, b, c, etc.) clearly.
- Creating PDFs of Handwritten solutions
Study Tips, Organising your time and workspace
Plan your revision and make sure you have all the notes etc; if you are missing material ask your Tutor, the lecturer, or a classmate to sort you out. Wikipedia can be great for clarifying very general information just for your personal understanding of general information, but can be edited by others, so always look for an academic source to back it up, or don’t use that information at all (it’s too risky).
Do out a study/work schedule and try to stick to it. Discipline is key, and we are habitual creatures, so if you start off good, you’re far more likely to stick to a plan after a few good sessions of study.
The absolute best ratio of study time to break time is 3:1. Studying for 45mins and taking a 15-minute break may seem like you’re throwing away 25% of your time, but after 45 minutes the concentration levels drop considerably, and the study you get in the following 45 minutes will be far more effective after giving your brain a rest.
Eat well – limit junk food and sweets!
Don’t overdo the booze or eliminate it as much as possible. A night of heavy drinking doesn’t just cost you an evening’s study, it can often rule you out of being effective for the next day.
Get regular exercise.
Sleep well – get the 8 hours a night and this will keep you clear-headed for study and assignments. All-nighters seem like a good idea at the last minute, but two hours of study starting at 2am will only net you a fraction of what you get out of the same time the next morning.
Remember you can talk to your FREE student Health Centres or a Student Counsellor, who provide confidential support for students who are experiencing feeling of distress or worry.
If you get sick or have some personal difficulty that’s getting in the way fill out an Extenuating Circumstances Form and get a medical cert or other verification and hand it to the Exams Office or Email, it into them.
During Exams & Assessments
You should flag this in advance to the Exam Office and they will contact ICT services to see if there are any additional supports that can be put in place so that you will be able to complete your exams. If difficulties arise on the day, you can document this on an Extenuating Circumstances Form.
In most cases lecturers will have a staged level of penalties for students that miss the deadline to hand in assignments. For example, it's you are late by one day you might lose 10% of the marks available. This might gradually increase over a week or so.
Information about such penalties should be available in your Student Handbook or should be provided by the lecturer when they issue the brief or topic for the assignment. The best thing to do is to make yourself aware in advance of the date /time the assignment is due and the implications of being late.
You should get in touch with your local Disability Support Services to discuss your needs and find out what steps you should take to ensure that all your accommodations are in place. The Support Officers will be able to liaise with your School and the Exams Office on your behalf. Any supports that were available for semester 1 and 2 MUST be provided for the repeats as well.
It's good practice to have your Student Card ready the day before the exams starts! But if you lose it or mislay it on the day of the exam don't panic and spend hours looking for it. Bring some other kind of photo ID with you and then get a replacement Student Card as soon as possible as students are required to have official TU Dublin identification while on campus.
Generally speaking, the answer is no, unless you/class have specific permission from the lecturer who set the exam paper stating that you are allowed to do so. This must also be confirmed by the Invigilator on the day.
Officially students are only allowed bring water into their exam.
Make sure to leave enough time to get to the exam hall in time because if you’re more than 30 minutes late you won’t be admitted or if another student has left before you arrive you cannot be admitted.
Switch off the phone, put it in your bag, or face down on the floor beside your seat; having a phone on your person e.g. (in a pocket) during an exam (regardless of whether its switched on or off) is a breach of the assessment regulations. You could get you into serious trouble as a consequence of forgetting. The best way to avoid this happening is to remember to switch it off and put it in your bag before you enter the exam hall.
You will need to alert the Exams Office by email here straight away and explain in detail what the issue was, and they will be able to assist you further.
If you are finished answering all the required questions and confident that you don't need to write any more, you can leave up to 30 minutes before the official finish time.
Do make sure you have read over all your answers thoroughly before you leave, sometimes you can get inspired to add some final useful information right at the last minute so it's probably a good idea to wait until the time is up!
After Exams & Assessments
As there is no other official exam sitting before the start of the 2022/3 academic year missing an exam can have serious consequences for progression, ‘Carrying’ modules isn’t always allowed or a good idea due to the additional workload involved. For final year exams it can delay graduation. So, we strongly advise you to confirm and remember all the dates, times, locations so that you find yourself in this situation.
If you missed an exam because of unexpected circumstances such as illness or an accident you need to fill in in the Extenuating Circumstances Form so that you when you repeat it at the next sitting it will not be capped at 40% or whatever the pass mark is.
Students will be notified by e-mail to their student email account outlining the specific dates and times for release of exam results. You can find more information on TU Dublin Exams Results.
In the first instance, you should contact the Exams office, especially you have a technical query. For instance, they will be able to advise if your query is about the marks recorded in the grade book system for components of a module.
You can also email the lecturer to get clarification on your marks and to get feedback on your performance in the exam, or your continuous assessment marks as well.
Hopefully that won’t happen. You may be allowed ‘carry’ but that’s not automatic. Carrying a module is only allowed in some situations, for instance it can depends on several factors such as the credit weighting of the module, if it’s a required module that you need to have passed for the following year or if it’s a core subject area that has to be passed this year etc. It’s also tricky in terms of the workload for the following year and as such many Schools don't allow it, especially if progressing to an award year. The precise rules on progressing for your programme should be outlined in your Handbook.
In final year it will delay graduation as all modules have to be successfully completed to get your degree awarded.
This varies depending on the circumstances, for instance if you are resitting due to unexpected extenuating circumstances such as illness, accident or bereavement your marks probably won’t be capped.
WHAT – You can see how your exams and assessments were marked.
WHY – Helps you understand how the marking scheme was applied, and is very useful especially if you are dissatisfied with or ‘surprised’ by the results.
HOW – Contact your School Office or the lecturers to get details of when/where.
WHEN – Your Schools has to organise viewing & feedback session within 4 days of the publication of your results.
WHAT – Confirmation that all parts of each question attempted and answered were marked, added up correctly and recorded accurately.
WHY – If you suspect that mistakes have been made in the recording of the marks for your exams or assessments.
HOW – Complete a Re-check Form and submit to the Examinations Office, it's €15 per module.
WHEN – Within 3 days of the scheduled Script Viewing.
WHAT – A Re-mark is a re-reading of your assessed work taking into account the assessment criteria and marks allocated. Note: the final result may increase or decrease).
WHY – If, after viewing your script/ assessment, you believe that mistakes were made in how it was marked you can apply for a Re-mark.
HOW – Complete a Re-mark Form and hand in to the Examinations Office, the fee is €60 per module. Then the Head of School or nominee arranges for the re-reading of the assessment to take place.
WHEN – Within 5 days of viewing a script or 2 days of a Re-check.
WHAT – If you want to dispute the decision of the Examination Board in relation to marks given for any exam or assessment you can submit an Examination Appeal.
WHY – If you believe your examination results do not meet your expectations or that the assessments were not conducted correctly as set out in the General Assessment Regulations.
- That the General Assessment Regulations have not been properly implemented.
- That circumstances exist which may not have been specifically covered by these Regulations.
- That there is new, attested, documented and relevant valid information that was not made available to the Exam Board for justifiable reason, and therefore not considered.
HOW
Hand in a completed Appeal Form to the local Exams Office, the fee is €75. (This is refunded if your Appeal is upheld). Firstly, the Appeal is reviewed and if deemed eligible under the Regs, it is then considered by the Appeal Panel and you can choose to present your case in person.
WHEN
Appeal must be submitted within 7 working days of the viewing of examination scripts.