General exam information
- Open University examinations are comparatively relaxed. You can nip in and out to the loo when you like. You can take in food and drink and you can have your fluffy lucky charm on your desk if you need it!
- You will get your examination information, including where to go and what time the exam will take place in plenty of time – several months in advance.
- You will be seated in alphabetical order within the group of students taking your course, however there will be many other students present all taking exams in other OU courses.
- Your seating position will be shown on a chart which is placed outside the examination room around half an hour in advance of the exam.
- Your desk will have the exam paper on it (face down usually) as well as a book in which you write your answers and a form with your OU personal identifier on it.
- Clear instructions on what to do are given by an invigilator and are also printed on the form/examination paper.
Essential tips
- Don’t panic – it is only an exam, not life or death!
- Turn up – getting some marks is always better than getting no marks!
- Read the paper and all the questions carefully. Probably spend a good ten minutes doing this at the start of the exam. Don’t just rush in and write the answer to the first question you vaguely recognise. There may be a better option if you think about it.
- Allocate your time effectively. Many students lose marks because their last answer is rushed.
- Sketch out a plan for answering each question.
- If you make a mistake in our answers, just cross out what is wrong and it will not be included in the assessment of your work.
- After the exam – go shopping, down the pub or to the bowling alley! Anything other than hold a post mortem! You can’t change your answers and discussing the paper with other students at this stage could make you depressed!
Waiting for results
The OU examination marking procedure is quite lengthy. Firstly, your questions are marked (usually by an external script marker, often other tutors on your course). Then selected papers are re-marked in order to ensure standards are being met and grades are consistent between markers. Then the examination board has to meet to discuss the results and decide what to do with borderline work. After all this is done, your exam result is then computed with your TMA marks, substitution marks calculated and then your final mark and grade worked out.
What this means is it can take two months or more from the time of your exam to the time you get your results. Most OU students can expect their exam result in late December each year.
