Assessment Policy FAQ

Does this mean that all assessment tasks in Autumn and 1H sessions 2021 are no longer mandatory?

Clause 22:Mandatory and threshold assessment tasks should only be assigned if required by accreditation and/or if an academic rationale is approved through the Courses and Units Approval process.  These assessment tasks should be clearly indicated in the Learning Guide. Schools should progressively review the requirements for each unit through the scheduled review process for courses and units.

Any curriculum approved under the previous Assessment Policy is still valid.  Under that Assessment Policy all assessment tasks were mandatory, unless the School Academic Committee approved otherwise. 

Clause 22 of the new Assessment Policy will apply to units when they are reviewed, or if the School wants to make changes sooner than that e.g. in bulk. Clause 22 of the new assessment policy also applies to all new unit proposals.

See the Mandatory Requirements guide for more information.

How do I keep track of units that have or do not have mandatory assessment?

The Unit Coordinator will have access to unit approval documents that includes the date when the unit or revisions were approved.  These documents include information about assessment tasks.  Academics should contact the EPS team for a copy of the D18 information from the CAMS system.

How will mandatory assessment tasks be indicated to staff and students under the new policy?

Any mandatory assessment tasks that meet conditions in clause 22 of the new Assessment Policy should be clearly indicated in the Learning Guide. The Interim workaround is for the appropriate text to be added for each assessment item.

Will changes to mandatory assessment be implemented through TUC forms or unit proposal and variation forms?

Changes to assessment can be implemented when the unit is reviewed and amended through approval of either a Tracking Unit Change (TUC) or Unit Proposal and Variation process.

Which units need to be revised to meet the new policy requirements?

The new Assessment Policy applies to all units that are revised after 15 February, 2021.

Relevant assessment information will be included in unit outlines as units are reviewed, noting that these are intended to provide prospective students with information about the unit that has been approved through the course and unit approval process.

Some clauses in the Assessment Policy refer to Learning Guide, not Unit Outline. The Learning Guide is the relevant document here, as it sets out the details of the assessment for a unit of study. However, these details must be consistent with the approved unit documentation, as summarised in the Unit Outline.

Are all students who score 45% - 49% automatically entitled to a supplementary assessment?

Clause (48): Students will be eligible to apply for a supplementary assessment attempt where they:

a. have failed a unit either by failing one item or multiple items whose cumulative total amounts to less than 50%

b. have come within 5% of the passing grade for the unit (scoring 45-49%).

Students need to write to the Unit Coordinator within 5 days of receiving their results. Supplementary assessments can only be provided when the conditions in clause 48 of the new Assessment Policy are met.

If a student meets these conditions the School needs to contact the student to organise the supplementary assessment. Schools will need to establish their own business processes for managing supplementary assessment tasks as these are not centrally managed.  

The outcomes of any supplementary assessments must be reported to the relevant School Academic Committee (SAC) following Clause 49 of the new Assessment Policy.

Clause 49 A Summary of the outcomes of any supplementary assessments offered under Clause (48) must be reported to the relevant SAC.

The new policy says that students are entitled to apply for a supplementary assessment if they score 45 – 49%. Does this entitlement apply as soon as the new policy is applicable?

Yes.  Clause 48 of the new Assessment Policy applies from 15 February, 2021. 

Clause 53 refers to ‘the assessment task(s) they have failed’. Does this mean that each assessment item in a unit should have a supplementary assessment option, not just the final assessment task?

Clause 53: The supplementary assessment should be designed by the Unit Coordinator (or equivalent) to allow staff to determine as efficiently as possible whether the student has met the desired learning outcomes for the assessment task(s) they have failed.

Clause 29: All assessment tasks, including examinations, must allow reasonable adjustments to reflect students’ Academic Integration Plans (AIPs), as long as the inherent requirements have not been compromised.

The supplementary assessment should be designed by the Unit Coordinator (or equivalent) to allow staff to determine as effectively as possible whether the student has met the desired learning outcomes for the assessment task(s) they have failed. There is no need to reassess learning outcomes the student has already demonstrated they have achieved.

What advice can you provide to UCs who will be designing supplementary assessment options for assessment types that are not easy to replicate for individuals, such as group work or an industry project?

The Unit Coordinator can set a supplementary assessment based on the aspect of the unit the student failed.  If this was a group task, a student can be given a related individual task depending upon the Learning Outcomes.  The same applies to an industry project. Some threshold and mandatory tasks may include learning outcomes that cannot be assessed through an individual task, for example team work, or a mandatory placement or WIL component.  If a student fails this component then they may fail the unit.

Education Advisors in Learning Futures can provide advice on supplementary assessments that will confirm that learning outcomes have been achieved.

Clause 29: All assessment tasks, including examinations, must allow reasonable adjustments to reflect students’ Academic Integration Plans (AIPs), as long as the inherent requirements have not been compromised.

What will the process be for supplementary exams?

As with other assessment tasks, the student needs to write to the Unit Coordinator within 5 days of receiving their results. Supplementary assessments can only be provided when the conditions in clause 48 of the new Assessment Policy are met.

Supplementary exams will not be run centrally.  If a student is entitled to a supplementary assessment, the Unit Coordinator needs to decide if this will be an exam or an alternative assessment format to enable the student to demonstrate achievement of learning outcomes.

Clause 29: All assessment tasks, including examinations, must allow reasonable adjustments to reflect students’ Academic Integration Plans (AIPs), as long as the inherent requirements have not been compromised.

Will a student be able to apply for a supplementary exam if they have failed a deferred exam?

Yes.  See the Deferred Exams procedures – these are designed to be equivalent to a final exam.  Rules for supplementary assessment also apply to deferred exams. 

Are students eligible for supplementary assessments even if they don't submit one or more assessments?

In units that have been approved under the previous Assessment Policy, students are not eligible for supplementary assessments unless they have submitted all mandatory assessments.  This will apply until the unit is revised and aligns with the new Assessment Policy

For units approved or revised under the new Assessment Policy, a student who has not completed all assessment tasks is eligible for a supplementary assessment provided they meet other conditions in Clause 48 of the Assessment Policy.

Clarification is sought on the application of the provision as it concerns marks that fall within 45-49% that are the result of threshold/criteria fails (CF) or non-submission of assessments (FNS) rather than (F) grades.

If a student fails a threshold task and is eligible for a supplementary assessment, they would need to pass the threshold criteria in the supplementary.

Under the previous Assessment Policy, a non-submission would lead to an FNS grade, with no entitlement to a supplementary assessment.  Under the new Assessment Policy, students are entitled to a supplementary if they meet the criteria specified in Clause 48.

A CF grade is a fail, so under the new Assessment Policy, students would be entitled to apply for a supplementary assessment to meet the threshold criteria.

Clause 40 states students ‘can consider applying for a supplementary examination’. Clause 48 states ‘Students will be eligible …. for a supplementary assessment …’ Does ‘assessment’ trump ‘examination’? Units may not have examinations, or failing students may not have failed their exam.

Exams are one type of assessment.  The policy applies to all types of assessment.

Following the Review of Grade Policy, students can apply for review of a grade within ten working days of the official notification of results. Can a student lodge a request for review of grade and a request for supplementary assessment at the same time? Which request should be dealt with first by the School?

See Assessment Policy clause 52: Students must apply for a supplementary assessment in writing to the Unit Coordinator (or equivalent) within five working days of the official notification of results. One attempt only will be offered to achieve a pass in the supplementary assessment.

As resolution of the supplementary assessment mark will not occur within the 5-10 day window, students will need to decide whether they also want to request a review of grade. Reviews of Grade refer to possible breaches of policy or process, but sometimes they are opportunities for students to disclose grounds for special consideration (disruption to studies) that they have previously been unwilling or unable to pursue. The Review of Grade Policy (clause 10) indicates that a student should approach the Unit Co-ordinator for advice before lodging a review.

One possible outcome of a Review of Grade is a supplementary assessment. A supplementary assessment under the new Assessment Policy relates purely to academic performance.

Ideally, Schools would deal with the Review of Grade first. Schools will need to deal with these requests on a case-by-case basis. Procedures will need to align with the new Disruption to Studies policy.

Can a student receive 45% through a review of grade and then apply for a supplementary assessment?

Yes.  The review of grade is the final notification of result, so a student has 5 working days to request a supplementary assessment if conditions in clause 48 of the new Assessment Policy are met.  The review of grade process should not disadvantage the student. 

Is there now a limit to a number of supplementary exams a student can sit, for example if they miss a supplementary exam due to misadventure?

See Assessment Policy clause 52: Students must apply for a supplementary assessment in writing to the Unit Coordinator (or equivalent) within five working days of the official notification of results. One attempt only will be offered to achieve a pass in the supplementary assessment. 

Can students apply for a supplementary after failing one assignment during the semester or can they only apply when the final results for the unit have been released?

See Assessment Policy clause 52: Students must apply for a supplementary assessment in writing to the Unit Coordinator (or equivalent) within five working days of the official notification of results. One attempt only will be offered to achieve a pass in the supplementary assessment.

Are threshold assessment tasks eligible for supplementary assessments?

If the conditions in Clause 48 are met, then students are entitled to a supplementary assessment.  This should address the learning outcomes that the student has not achieved.  If the student has failed a threshold task, then the threshold criteria should be included in the supplementary assessment, so that it is clear that the student has met the threshold.

If there are several assessment items with a very low weighting (e.g. 1% or 2.5% or 5%) and a student achieved 45% as their overall mark for the unit, how many supplementary exams/assessments should the school offer?

Where possible a single task should be used to assess whether learning outcomes have been met.  A single supplementary assessment can assess learning outcomes from several assessment tasks. 

Clause 29: All assessment tasks, including examinations, must allow reasonable adjustments to reflect students’ Academic Integration Plans (AIPs), as long as the inherent requirements have not been compromised.

What are the criteria used to determine the equivalent supplementary assessment?

The Unit Coordinator needs to design a supplementary task in which a student can demonstrate achievement of the unit learning outcomes.

Clause 29: All assessment tasks, including examinations, must allow reasonable adjustments to reflect students’ Academic Integration Plans (AIPs), as long as the inherent requirements have not been compromised.

Does the new Assessment Policy apply to Sydney City Campus, Western Sydney University Online and The College follow the same process?

Yes. The new Assessment Policy applies to all Western Sydney University students including Sydney City Campus, Western Sydney University Online and College students.

Exams that have remediation already should be exempt; e.g. Anatomy is a threshold assessment and students are given a supplementary assessment if they fail but score within 2 SD of the cohort mean (typically ~40%)

A threshold assessment task may have a built-in remediation process. As noted in clause 22, these assessment tasks should be clearly indicated in the Learning Guide.   The rules for the supplementary assessment set out in the Policy in Clause 48, only apply when the students have been provided with their official notification of results for the unit – not after their result for a specific assessment task.  So it could be possible for students to be eligible for an additional supplementary assessment after the official notification of results have been communicated to the students. 

Clinical years (3-5), already have remediation policies so should be exempt except for those clinical attachments.

The response above applies if these exams are threshold or mandatory tasks. 

Will exceptions automatically apply to end-on honours (Clause 50) and when would the approvals process have to be in place for other units? Only ‘placements’ are mentioned, but what other exceptions could apply and would they be monitored? See clause 50: Students in end-on Bachelor (honours) courses and units with exceptions approved through the Course and Unit Approvals process (for example, clinical placements) are not eligible for supplementary assessments

Exceptions noted in Clause 50 would be those approved and documented through the Course and Unit approvals process. These could include units that are assessed on an S/U basis, without any numerical marks being awarded. This may be complicated if a unit is assessed on a combination of marks-based and S/U assessments. In this case, ‘reasonable application of policy’ should apply, as it is not possible to anticipate all possible ways of assessing a unit.

In many cases, there is a lag between an F and the process of investigating and hearing a misconduct matter, especially when there are appeals. So, students may get a supplementary assessment pending this process?

See Assessment Policy clause 52: Students must apply for a supplementary assessment in writing to the Unit Coordinator (or equivalent) within five working days of the official notification of results.
Students could apply for and complete a supplementary assessment task, but the result of this would be overruled by any finding of misconduct.

Will the mechanism for application be through the Review of Grade process? Applications look to go directly to UCs, but D/Deans approve. A process for this would need to be established. A process is implied because supplementary assessments are to be reported to SAC (see clause 49). What monitoring mechanisms are to be established to review the number of supplementary assessments, and related indicators including student progression. What mechanisms will be established to monitor resource implications?

The application processes for supplementary assessment and review of grade are separate although both applications could be made at the same time. Schools will need to establish their own business processes for managing supplementary assessment tasks as these are not centrally managed.

Is it envisaged that there could be the requirement for multiple types of supplementary assessments per unit, given that students eligible for a supplementary assessment may have failed different assessments.

See Assessment Policy clause 53: The supplementary assessment should be designed by the Unit Coordinator (or equivalent) to allow staff to determine as efficiently as possible whether the student has met the desired learning outcomes for the assessment task(s) they have failed.

There is no need to reassess learning outcomes the student has already demonstrated they have achieved.

Clause 29: All assessment tasks, including examinations, must allow reasonable adjustments to reflect students’ Academic Integration Plans (AIPs), as long as the inherent requirements have not been compromised.

Will there be scope for these assessments to be designed on a ‘as needed’ basis rather than filed and approved prior to the end of the session. Relevant here is the multiple offerings of a unit through Schools and Third Party Providers (TPPs).

Yes, provided there are school- or TPP-based processes to assure the appropriateness and quality of assessment tasks. Approval processes will need to be sufficiently flexible, particularly in the case of multiple offerings through schools and third-party providers. Schools will need to establish their own business processes for managing supplementary assessment tasks as these are not centrally managed.

Will Unit Coordinators now be required to provide three exams for each unit?

Supplementary assessments do not have to be exams.  Supplementary assessments need to address the learning outcomes the student has not achieved.  This may vary for different students so some flexibility will be required.  In some cases, a viva voce examination may be an appropriate and efficient assessment task.

How would this process of making an application for a supplementary assessment within five days work? There is a two day period for submission of special consideration (i.e. no later than 5:00PM on the second working day.)

Supplementary assessments have been conflated with Special Consideration in this clause. The rules for supplementary assessments are outlined in other clauses of the policy. This will be further clarified with the implementation of the Disruption to Studies policy.