Exams and assessment

Late or non-submission of work

Guidance on penalties for late and non-submission of work for assessment.

The University has a uniform policy for the late submission penalty for a piece of summative assessed work.

Assessment deadlines

The deadline for submitted work is on the hour, for example, where the deadline is 12.00pm, work submitted at 12:00:01 is considered late.

This is to ensure clarity and consistency for students, and the continued effective management of the University's academic standards. Applying discretion beyond the deadline does not constitute a fair and transparent approach.

Students are advised to submit their work at least 1 hour before the deadline.

Penalties for late or non-submitted work

The penalty for late submission of an assessment marked on a pass/fail basis is a failure. Failures in pass/fail modules cannot be condoned or compensated but can normally be reassessed if failed at first attempt, except where the programme or module specification does not automatically permit a reassessment, for example PGCE placement reassessment.

Penalties applied for a first attempt

Use the dropdown below to see details of situations where the following penalties are applied for an assessment first attempt.

Please note that:

'24 hours' runs for the 24 hour period following the deadline. For example, for a submission on Friday at 12.00pm noon the 24 hour period is until 12.00pm noon on Saturday.
A 'working day' runs from 12.00pm noon to 12.00pm noon, excluding weekends, bank holidays, and University closure days at Christmas, but including Monday to Friday through vacation periods.

In the following cases, an assessment component will receive no penalty and will be eligible for a full mark:

Work submitted by the published deadline for submission, or approved extension deadline – i.e. through the exceptional circumstances or LSP processes.

In the following cases, an assessment component will be deducted 5 marks, or applied a capped pass if deducting 5 marks reduces a passing mark to a failure mark. If the raw mark is a failure, then a late penalty is not applied.

Work submitted after the assessment deadline but within 1 hour of the published deadline or approved extension deadline.

In the following cases, an assessment component will be deducted 10 marks, or applied a capped pass if deducting 10 marks reduces a passing mark to a failure mark. If the raw mark is a failure, then a late penalty is not applied.

Work submitted between 1 hour and 24 hours after the assessment deadline or approved extension deadline.
Arriving up to 1 hour late for a scheduled assessment without exceptional circumstances. For example, attending a presentation, viva or so on, on the same day after the allotted time. This does not apply to examinations. Note: it may not always be possible to reschedule an assessment if a student is late.
Work for a 'timed assessment' submitted after the assessment deadline but within 1 hour of the published deadline.

In the following cases, an assessment component will be eligible for a maximum of a capped pass. If the raw mark is a failure, then a late penalty is not applied.

Work submitted 24 hours after the assessment deadline but within 5 working days of the published deadline or approved extension deadline.
Work for a 'timed assessment' submitted after the assessment deadline but within 1 to 3 hours of the published deadline.

In the following cases, an assessment component will receive a mark of zero:

Work submitted after 5 working days of the published deadline or approved extension deadline.
Work not submitted after 5 working days of the published deadline or approved extension deadline.
Work not submitted, or submitted after 3 hours of the published deadline for a 'timed assessment'.
Non-attendance for an examination without approved exceptional circumstances.
Non-attendance for a scheduled assessment without exceptional circumstances, for example a presentation, viva and so on.

Penalties applied for a reassessment attempt

Use the dropdown below to see details of situations where the following penalties are applied for a reassessment attempt.

In the following cases, a reassessment component receives no penalty, but the reassessment capping rule applies, so the maximum module mark that can be achieved is a pass mark.

Work resubmitted by the published reassessment deadline or approved extended deadline.

In the following cases, a reassessment component receives a mark of zero.

Work resubmitted after a published deadline or approved extended deadline. Reassessments submitted late are not eligible for capped marks.
Work not resubmitted after a published deadline or approved extended deadline.
Work not resubmitted for a 'timed assessment' after the published deadline.
Non-attendance for a resit examination without approved exceptional circumstances.
Non-attendance or lateness for a scheduled reassessment without exceptional circumstances, for example a presentation, viva and so on.

Penalty examples

An undergraduate or postgraduate first-attempt submission submitted at 12.45pm on the submission date given a raw mark of 64, would have 5 marks deducted.

An undergraduate or postgraduate first attempt submission submitted at 4.00pm on the submission date and given a raw mark of 64 would have a penalty of 10 marks deducted, giving a final mark of 54 for the assessment.

An undergraduate first attempt submission submitted at 4.00pm on the submission date and given a raw mark of 44 would have a penalty of 10 marks deducted, but as the work is of passing standard the penalty applied is a capped final mark of 40 for the assessment (rather than a failure mark of 34).

A postgraduate first attempt submission submitted at 4.00pm on the submission date and given a raw mark of 56 would have a penalty of 10 marks deducted, but as the work is of passing standard the penalty applied is a capped final mark of 50 for the assessment (rather than a failure mark of 46).

An undergraduate first-attempt submission submitted 32 hours after the submission date given a raw mark of 48, would have a penalty of 10 marks deducted, but as the work is of passing standard the penalty applied is a capped final mark of 40 for the assessment (rather than a failure mark of 38).

A resubmission resubmitted at 12.01pm would be given a final mark of zero for the assessment.

If you have any queries, please contact the Assessment team: results@yorksj.ac.uk.