Assessment - Student Equity Unit
A university degree, like your VCE, gives you a public qualification. It is through your university assessment that you earn such a qualification.
A Monash University degree is internationally recognised. A Monash University degree is earned by students who meet stated assessment requirements in a university-approved course of study.
Each unit in your course of study will require you to do a range of assessment tasks, in the form of exams, assignments, essays, projects, practicals, performance assessments etc. Most units are one semester in length and most have end-of-semester examinations held in June and November.
If you do not do aspects of the assessment listed for a unit, you will not meet that unit's requirements. This will usually mean that you cannot pass the unit.
Show what you have learned!
Purpose of Assessment
Assessment tasks give you the opportunity to show what you have learned in your university study. Your achievements in assessment tasks:
- demonstrate the extent to which you have met the stated requirements of these units;
- give you (and your teachers) information about your progress in the units you are studying.
Assessment records and feedback
Ongoing assessment of your work gives you the opportunity to chart your progress and to see where improvements need to be made.
When assignments are returned to you, always go through them carefully. The time you spend doing this can be a valuable learning experience and help you improve aspects of your work.
The extent to which you have met the stated learning expectations of your subject are recorded in university records as your level of achievement compared to other students who are doing the unit: high distinction, distinction, credit, pass and pass 2, fail.
The information that you are given by teachers about your progress (whether written alongside your work or given to you verbally) is extremely important.
Ask focused questions
If you are not given adequate information about your progress in a unit, ask your teacher to comment on your work in ways that will help you to improve. Always ask focused questions. For example, you might ask your teacher these questions:
- 'Can you give me a list of the main things that you are looking for in this assignment?'
- 'In which of these aspects do I have the greatest need to improve?'
- 'What are some of the things I could do to improve in these aspects?'
Then, after you have worked on the suggested approaches, ask for further feedback about how you are going and be prepared to make changes for effective progress.
University assessment is not about you; it's about your work.
Major problems need action!
For many students who come to university, assessment at school has meant getting high marks and being near the top of the class. If your marks and class position in the first few assignments at university are not what you expect, ask a teacher to give you feedback about your work.
Ask immediately if you feel concerned; don't wait until it has become a major problem.
The ways in which assessment is organised varies from unit to unit. Faculty handbooks (purchased from the department) and unit booklets or information guides (available from the relevant departmental office or whoever is teaching the unit) will tell you clearly how assessment is organised for your unit.
It is your responsibility to hand up assignments by the due dates and to attend examinations at the publicised times.
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