Examination Marks

Examination marks are confidential and while the final marks can be revealed to the student concerned they can only be divulged to a third party with the student’s permission. Generally, marks and other results released to students by Tutors should be regarded as provisional until the student is issued with a transcript or pass list. Normally Schools issue transcripts, from the University’s corporate database, shortly after the boards of examiners. Pass lists, for final stage programmes only, are produced by the Examinations Office. Pass lists are ‘public’ information and, in the tradition of the University, are displayed under the Arches.

Feedback on examination scripts

The following is advice from the University’s Data Protection and Freedom of Information Officer:

  • Examination scripts are classed as personal information and are therefore exempt from the FOI Act; this is because personal information is covered by the Data Protection Act 1998
  • The University's Data Protection handbook covers some frequently asked questions on exams – see www.ncl.ac.uk/data.protection/. The two key questions / answers are as follows:

Q: Is the University under any obligation to allow students to see their examination scripts?

A: No. Examination scripts are exempt from the subject access provisions (Schedule 7 paragraph 9). All other data associated with exams however, including ‘raw’ exam marks, examiners’ comments and exam board minutes, is covered by ‘amended’ subject access provisions (Schedule 7 paragraph 8).

Q: Are students allowed to see comments on their examination scripts?

A: Yes. The comments of both internal and external examiners are covered by the subject access provisions and it is important that examiners are made aware of this before marking scripts. Ideally, remarks should be made on a separate sheet so that they can be easily detached and given to a student without the whole script. If this is not the case, either the remarks should be copied or the student be allowed to see the whole script.

The University’s approach has been to not allow students to see the marked script but, on request, to be given the raw marks and any comments made by the examiners on the script. Some module leaders provide generic feedback to groups of students. Tutors should also be aware of the provisions of the University’s data protection policy and examination regulations regarding the storage of examination marks.