Undergraduate external

Background

External examination of exams and assessment is an important aspect of quality assurance at the University of Pretoria. The external examination process form documents the process for each exam paper. One form will be filled in for each paper, and the process documented below will be followed for at least an exam paper, probably for a supplementery exam and in some cases for a special exam.

Process

First time you present a module: Download the blank form and adjust it to reflect your module code and full module name, in addition to the outcomes as in your study manual. Save the form locally.

As soon as the external examiner is decided: Update the form to reflect the new details and save as a template form. At this point, save the form under another name with the details filled in. You will use this saved version as the base for the rest of the semester.

The following process is now followed once for each paper:

Before the exam is written: Send a copy of the exam and memorandum to the external examiner, along with the questions in Section A of the form. The external examiner checks the paper and responds to the questions.

After the exam is written: The internal examiner marks the papers and communicates the exam statistics (Section B) to the external examiner along with a class list containing the marks obtained for each student. If possible, all the papers are made available to the external examiner. Otherwise, the external examiner selects the larger of 5% or 10 papers to moderate from the class list. The external examiner is presented with the questions in Section C of the form. Based on his recommendations, changes may be reflected in Section B.

At the end of the semester: The head of the department is presented with the form and corroborating information (for instance e-mails or signiatures) that the process has been followed as described. The internal examiner and the head of the department fill in Section D of the form.

Software

The external form (available P: drive under Externals -- see Map network drives) is a fillable PDF form. You will need the full version of Acrobat or Foxit Reader to fill in the forms. If you are using Foxit, click the "Highlight fields" checkbox at the top of the screen to see where to fill in fields.