The University’s examination system has been thrown into question after the inconsistent marking of a Corporate Finance exam led to some students having their grades increased.
Second-Year Accounting, Business, Finance and Management students sat the Corporate Finance module in January, with the low results causing many students to complain to the department.
The University, similarly surprised by the low results in the exam, arranged for a third marker to check the papers, but even this was not enough to correct the inconsistencies present with the module.
It was left up to students to point out to the department the marking mistakes when they had the chance to review their scripts in week 10 of last term, where it emerged that content taught in lectures had been marked wrong in the exam.
The wave of complaints led to the issue being raised by the Students Union, forcing the module leader to reconsider his academic judgment and investigate whether the marks should be changed. All students across the board had their marks adjusted, with some students going up by as much as a grade.
“I’m very disappointed in the university for letting such a serious mistake happen on such an important exam – it counted for the entire module”, said Jessica Palmer, a student who took the exam and saw her mark increase by almost 10%.
Another student, who wished to remain anonymous, expressed disappointment in the lecturer. “I think its slightly ridiculous all the stupid goings on – how many times they remarked it and then finally decided to put the marks up. He didn’t teach what was in the exam really.”
The University apologised to students for the mistake, with Dr Andy Charlwood, Head of Undergraduate Programmes at the Management School “appreciating that some may have found the process stressful. For that we apologise.”
In a statement issued to Vision Dr Charlwood said: “We issued a full explanation to students and the issue was discussed with the Head of Department and the Chair of the Standing Committee of Assessment. Because of the apparent inconsistency, it was decided the best way to ensure the fair treatment of all students was to remark the scripts. All scripts were marked accurately.”