Project Examination
During the Oral Examination you will be expected to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the topic covered by your dissertation and to justify the arguments you have used and the conclusions you have drawn in the dissertation. This will typically take the form of a presentation/ verbal summary followed by a question and answer session, but you should discuss the format with your Supervisor as they will be able to advise you on their preferred approach.
Students are expected to attend their Oral Examination in person for all first submissions. After the Oral Examination your Supervisor together with the Second Assessor will allocate marks for the standard of the dissertation based on the categories shown in the Marking Brief; the weighting given to each individual point may vary depending on the nature of the project.
Assessment for the oral element will be on a pass/fail basis only.
No corrections are allowed to the dissertation once it has been submitted; the dissertation as submitted will be assessed and forwarded to the Board of Examiners for consideration. The marks should normally be received before the end of the month following your submission.
It is essential that your marks are available by the above deadline otherwise they may not be forwarded to the subsequent Examination Board meeting, in which case there will be a consequent delay of up to six months before they can be considered.
As the end of your registration period approaches there are several important factors to be borne in mind. Clearly you will be eager to submit your dissertation and have it examined. Students often badly underestimate the time needed for approval of the final draft, submission and oral examination. The only way to guard against likely problems is by careful time management and close liaison with your supervisor, both of which can lead to early submission and few, if any, problems.
Please see the feedback sheet to understand how you will recieve feedback for your work. This will give you an indication of your performance on both the oral and written components of the project and will usually be provided to you once the oral examination is complete.