Exams

Our exam cycle

There are three main exam periods for the typical undergraduate student:

Autumn semester examinations

Autumn semester exams are taken in late January or early February. 

Results are released to students online in early March.

Spring semester examinations

Spring semester exams are taken in late May or June. 

Results are released to students online in early July.

Resit examinations

For students who need to retake modules they didn’t pass either in the Autumn or Spring semesters, resit exams are taken during three weeks in August. 

Results are released to students online in early September.

---

Results

The 'Results and awards' page explains how and when your child will receive their results and what they mean:

Results and awards

---

Resits and repeats     

If your child fails a module and has to retake it, they must be available during the three-week August exam period.

Exams cannot be rearranged, including for holiday commitments. 

Maximum mark

If your child fails a module and has to retake it, the maximum grade they can be awarded for the re-take is 40 at undergraduate level and 50 at postgraduate level.

For medicine and dentistry students the maximum mark is the pass mark for that particular exam/assessment.

Resit attempts

If your child is a first year undergraduate student and received a Fail in their exam, they can resit that exam a maximum of twice.

All other students can resit a failed exam once.

Repeating the year

If your child has to repeat the year to re-take failed modules, they can do so via three possible routes:

Repeating externally: students pay to retake the assessment for the module they failed only.

Repeating internally: students attend classes as a registered student to re-take the failed module.

Repeating the whole year: some first year students may be allowed to repeat the entire year and start again.

---

Absence and extenuating circumstances

If your child experiences exceptional, short-term problems that affect their ability to sit their exams or assessments (for example, bereavement or illness) they should inform their academic department as soon as possible using the form on the page below.

These circumstances may then be considered by the department when their exams/assessments are marked.

---

Progressing to the next level of study

For your child to automatically progress to the next level of study at undergraduate level (for example, from first year to second year), they need to achieve 120 credits.

Students may be able to progress from first year to second year with 100 credits if they have:

• Passed all the core modules; and

• Obtained a grade of at least 30 in any failed modules

This will be automatically discussed at the Exam Board and is at the discretion of the examiners.