Planning and running courses: examiner

If, in addition, you are a course leader, see also the course leader page.

Checklist

• Before the course period
• During the course period
• After the course period

Before the course period

Basis

SLU's grading system and the responsibility and authority of the examiner are described in Grading system .

The course syllabus for each course specifies how the examination is carried out and what grading scale is used.

Grading criteria

Draw up grading criteria for the grades in the form of a highly detailed assessment template that indicates the performance required of the students for each grade. If colleagues are to be involved in the assessment, it is a good idea to discuss the substance of the grading criteria with them before the criteria are presented to the students.

The grading criteria are determined by the examiner and must be available no later than the start of the course. Use the course page in Slunik to document the grading criteria.

During the course period

Start of course

Distribute and talk through the grading criteria for the course – you must be very clear about what the criteria mean. Explain the relationship between the grading criteria and the examination for the course in question. It is important that all the requirements for passing the course are made very clear to the students. The grading criteria must be entered in Slunik so that they are available to the students on the course page on the student web.

Go through the schedule (dates and times) for elements that will be examined and graded, for example the times of ordinary examinations and retakes, submission of reports, compulsory exercises, laboratory sessions, etc. Remind the students of SLU's policy and action plan on cheating and plagiarism and about any special conditions applicable to the course.

If you are unable to attend the start of the course in your capacity as examiner, you should ensure that the course leader will address the above points.

Draw up the examination

Draw up the examination within the framework specified in the relevant course syllabus. Strive to achieve a varied examination, ideally using projects, case studies or other elements where the students themselves are able to produce a synthesis and report conclusions.

Students with a disability may be entitled to an adapted examination, see Impairment. 

Examination regulations

For written examinations, there are examination regulations . There are also regulations for coded examinations.

Examination must normally take place at the advertised location. The examiner may nevertheless allow a student to take an examination at a different location, see the Education Planning and Administration Handbook.  

After the course period

Grading

All examinations must be assessed as soon as possible.

• The examination results must be communicated no later than 15 working days after each test/examination (where the student has taken an examination).
• The results of an examined part of the course must be communicated at least 10 working days before the re-examination of this part unless otherwise agreed between the examiner and the affected students.

If there are grounds to suspect plagiarism or anything else that may constitute cheating, this must be investigated and a report made, see the section on cheating and plagiarism in the Education Planning and Administration Handbook.

Report the results to the education administrator at the same time as informing the students. The students' final results for the whole course are reported in Ladok no later than three working days after all the elements of the course are considered to have been passed. See also the Administrator page (in Swedish only).

Examination review

The course coordinating department (or equivalent) will offer an examination review for each course. The course coordinating department will decide what form this review will take. An examination review may take place outside normal course time and will be carried out before the first re-examination.

The student is entitled to discuss issues relating to the assessment of the examination with the examiner. At the student's request, the examiner must give the reasons for the grade. What would be required, for example, in order to achieve the top grade for a given part? Prepare yourself for potential questions when drawing up the grading criteria. This kind of review is also an important learning opportunity for the students as it enables them to reflect on their own performance. This will also help to reduce the number of questions you receive about grading from individual students at various times.

For information about archiving and returning examinations, see the Administrator page (in Swedish only).