Distinction and word count
Hi there,
I have a question. I know someone who was on track for a distinction in their class but unfortunately received two marks which brought the result down to a 68% overall. The problem is, there are other people in the class who are now on course for the distinction having gone over the word count by a 1000 for the two modules this person lost the marks on. This seems very unfair as logically if this person had also exceeded the word count, whilst there work may or may not have been better than those who are on course for distinction, if they had too exceeded the word count it would have been possible for them to increase their results which would put them back on course to a distinction. Somehow, essentially this person has been penalised for following the guidelines and whilst those who have grossly exceeded word count have been given an unfair advantage.
In this scenario is there any body or organisation that can be contacted to appeal this?
I have a question. I know someone who was on track for a distinction in their class but unfortunately received two marks which brought the result down to a 68% overall. The problem is, there are other people in the class who are now on course for the distinction having gone over the word count by a 1000 for the two modules this person lost the marks on. This seems very unfair as logically if this person had also exceeded the word count, whilst there work may or may not have been better than those who are on course for distinction, if they had too exceeded the word count it would have been possible for them to increase their results which would put them back on course to a distinction. Somehow, essentially this person has been penalised for following the guidelines and whilst those who have grossly exceeded word count have been given an unfair advantage.
In this scenario is there any body or organisation that can be contacted to appeal this?
Original post by bagilgil
In this scenario is there any body or organisation that can be contacted to appeal this?
The first appeal must be via the internal university appeals process. Most won't permit appeals on academic grounds (i.e. if the student disagrees with their mark), but I think this is a situation in which an appeal could be allowed on procedural grounds i.e. the marking guidelines were not followed.
However you should be aware that the procedural breach was in allowing the word count to be exceeded, and not in giving your friend 68%. If your friend wins an appeal their mark will not be increased, but the two people who exceeded the word count could have their marks reduced.
In short, an appeal might take a long time and be very stressful, but would not result in your friend receiving a better mark.
Original post by bagilgil
This seems very unfair as logically if this person had also exceeded the word count, whilst there work may or may not have been better than those who are on course for distinction, if they had too exceeded the word count it would have been possible for them to increase their results which would put them back on course to a distinction. Somehow, essentially this person has been penalised for following the guidelines and whilst those who have grossly exceeded word count have been given an unfair advantage.
There is usually a margin allowed on a word count. Once that margin is exceeded, further work is not counted. There is no credit given for words over the word limit + margin.
It is a matter for the individual academic institution to rule on.
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