7. Marking Conventions

Examination scripts, theses, dissertations, and essays are marked by examiners and assessors.  Their marks result ultimately in a University Standardised Mark (USM), in the range from 0 to 100, for each script and submitted piece of work, which are then used in the process of classifying candidates. USMs in the classification process are always whole numbers.

Plagiarism

You are reminded of the importance of avoiding any plagiarism, please see http://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism for further guidance. Depending on their severity, cases of suspected plagiarism may be referred to the Proctors for investigation or may be dealt with by the board of examiners. If dealt with by the board of examiners as a case of poor academic practice, the examiners may deduct marks (for lack of adequate referencing, poor use of citation conventions, etc.) of up to 10% of the marks available for the assessment. Where the consequence of the marks deduction would result in both the failure of the assessment and of the programme; the case must be referred to the Proctors.

The scale of USMs

In classified examinations the USM on each individual script and submitted piece of work is correlated with classification bands as follows:

  • 70-100: First Class
  • 60-69: Upper Second Class
  • 50-59: Lower Second Class
  • 40-49: Third Class
  • 30-39: Pass
  • 0-29: Fail

The processes by which USMs on scripts and submitted pieces of work are arrived at are as set out in the following sections.