Our marks ‘safety net’ is part of our measures to mitigate the impact of the current circumstances relating to COVID-19, alongside our Circumstances Impact Policy (CIP) as described above.

To reflect the range of difficult circumstances facing our students, the ‘safety net’ protects against summer term exam and assessment results bringing down students’ average module marks for the purposes of classification above the threshold standard. 

The safety net means that, subject to certain important exceptions, your mark for each module will be no lower than the average you had achieved through the coursework and other assessment with an original submission date before the end of the Spring term, 27 March 2020.

If your coursework or other assessment was originally due to be submitted before 27 March, but you received an extension, it will still count for the purposes of the marks safety net if the extension allows for marking to take place in time for the Summer Exam Boards. This will typically apply, for example, to 10-day extensions given by Schools. It may not apply to extensions given to individual students. Please speak to your Academic Tutor or Student Support Coordinator, HBS School Office or ISLI Helpdesk if you have any concerns.

As a result of this safety net, completing the remainder of your assessments can only have a positive impact on your marks.

If you are retaking an exam or assessment, you will be awarded whichever mark is higher; your original ‘safety net’ mark, or your retake mark.

If you are resitting an exam or assessment, you will be awarded whichever mark is higher: your original attempt (with the marks ‘safety net’ already applied) or your resit mark.

We will first calculate module results for each student based only on assessment scheduled for the autumn and spring terms. We will then calculate module results for each student based on all of the assessment for the module. We will compare the two results and award you the highest result.

However, there will be cases where there are necessary limitations on the application of the marks ‘safety net’. These decisions are driven by the need to maintain academic standards and ensure awards are made on the basis of evidence of student achievement, as required by the Office for Students.  See further information below for specific advice on:

• Threshold requirements for finalists and taught postgraduates
• Where the marks ‘safety net’ cannot be applied to some modules
• Professional accreditation

It is very important to note that the marks ‘safety net’ arrangements do not mean that you don’t need to take any further exams or assessment.

If you are retaking an exam or assessment, you will be awarded whichever mark is higher; your original ‘safety net’ mark, or your retake mark.

If you are resitting an exam or assessment, you will be awarded whichever mark is higher: your original attempt (with the marks ‘safety net’ already applied) or your resit mark.

In awarding degrees this year, we will apply two stages:

1. Deciding if the threshold requirement has been met. For the purposes of deciding if you have met the threshold requirement, we use the total set of your full, unadjusted module marks. (For each module, these are all marks totalling 100% of the module assessment, with a mark of 0 given for any missed assessment/s in the calculation of the full, unadjusted module mark.)
2. Deciding degree classification (undergraduate students; 1st, 2:1 etc; postgraduate taught students, e.g. Masters: Distinction, merit etc) If a student passes the threshold requirement for their degree, then the classification is decided based upon marks for modules that have been agree using the safety net where appropriate. The classification will be determined using the full classification rules for your programme.

It is therefore important to understand that you will have to meet the baseline/ threshold standard for the award of a degree. This will use the total set of your full, unadjusted module marks in the current year.   As a result, you should complete all remaining assessments, including examinations, if at all possible.

This baseline/threshold exists in order to ensure that your degree is valued and respected by employers and other stakeholders, and so that they can have confidence that 2020 graduates have the understanding, knowledge and skills represented by the achievement of the degree.  This is in accordance with the expectations of the UK’s Universities regulator, the Office for Students. In order to provide this assurance, we need to ensure that the assessment against the learning outcomes for your degree is appropriate and allows you to demonstrate that you have sufficiently achieved those learning outcomes.  

In summary: Achievement of the baseline/threshold requirement (based on unadjusted marks) is necessary for the award of a degree. However, the subsequent classification will be calculated using the adjusted set of module marks following the application of the mark safety net arrangements, where possible.

Please see further information about the baseline/threshold requirements for different degree programmes. 

Please note, if you have circumstances which mean you cannot complete an assessment (for example, due to illness or bereavement) please use the Circumstances Impact Process (CIP) to request an extension, deferral or re-sit, depending on your individual situation. 

To develop the marks ‘safety net’, we carefully interrogated our current data. We evaluated that the requirement for 40% completed assessment in a given module was the minimum we could use to award a full module mark and for that final mark to have academic credibility. Our analysis across all undergraduate and taught postgraduate modules shows that the marks safety net applies to a majority of students at both undergraduate and taught postgraduate level, including finalists, for some or all of their modules. But all students, particularly finalists and Masters, need to complete their summer term exams and assessment so that they can benefit from the safety net.

The marks ‘safety net’ has been applied at module level, rather than by Part, in order to recognise differences both in performance and the impact of the current circumstances across modules.  Application of the safety net at the level of the Part would have involved calculating an average across all modules, resulting in a ‘flattening’ effect. This is because it would not have recognised the peaks of a student’s performance in individual modules before 27 March or differentiated those from modules where a student had performed relatively poorly but was improving going in to the summer term.

By applying the safety net at module level, students will benefit fully from high marks in modules where they have performed well before 27 March, as well as benefitting from high marks for those modules where they perform better in the summer term. We also feel that this is better aligned with the achievement of the range of learning outcomes across the year.

We thought very carefully about the decision to set the 27 March original submission deadline and, following feedback from students, we have undertaken a review. However, we do need to set a cut-off date and we feel that this offers the best option when taking into account: 

1. the period when your coursework might reasonably be considered to have been relatively unaffected by Covid-19 disruption
   and
2. the period when your performance in coursework and examinations was more likely to be impacted by circumstances related to Covid-19.

If you believe performance in your coursework was affected prior to 27 March, you can submit a Circumstances Impact Process (CIP) request to bring this to our attention. 

In these cases you will still need to pass these modules or assessments regardless of the marks ‘safety net’ arrangements.

The marks ‘safety net’ arrangements take this into account. We will compare each of your module results, both with and without assessment marks, for the summer term. We will then award you the best mark for each module.

The module marks will appear on your transcript, which will be the higher of the ‘safety net’ mark or the mark based on full assessment.

If you are retaking an exam or assessment, you will be awarded whichever mark is higher; your original ‘safety net’ mark, or your retake mark.

If you are resitting an exam or assessment, you will be awarded whichever mark is higher: your original attempt (with the marks ‘safety net’ already applied) or your resit mark.