Did you participate in postgraduate deferred and resit assessments and your grades are not what you have hoped for? You may be able to challenge your grade in an Appeal Process.
An Appeal gives you the chance to request a review of the Exam Board decision. If you think there may have been a mistake in the conduct of assessing your work, or that the markers were not aware of some unforeseen circumstances impacting your work (and you have a valid reasons why you did not declare your Exceptional Circumstances at the time of assessment) you can submit an appeal.
You have 10 working days from the publication of results to submit an appeal. Although the process may seem complicated, the LSESU Advice Service team will be happy to help you navigate the process from start to finish.
WHAT CAN YOU APPEAL?
You can appeal against the following three decisions only:
- Final degree classification (only if you meet the following conditions):
(a) if your mark profile is no more than three marks below the next higher classification in a single course; and/or
(b) if your mark profile is no more than fifteen marks away from the next higher classification on aggregate for UG students or ten marks away from the next higher classification on aggregate for PG students.
- Decision not to award you a degree or to class you as a “Final Fail”
- Mark of Absent, Incomplete or Fail
Individual marks cannot be changed via appeal and the LSE does not allow students to resit passed courses.
GROUNDS FOR APPEAL
In essence there are two grounds on which you can appeal:
- Procedural Error
The School describes this as an instance where “the Exam Board did not follow the correct procedure such that there is reasonable doubt that the decision would have been the same if the correct procedure had been followed.”
This can encompass anything from an administrative mistake to a wider procedural irregularity. This basically means that something happened after you submitted your assessment that shouldn’t have happened. It might be that your classification was incorrectly calculated because some completed modules were omitted, for example, or perhaps you had a successful EC claim, but the Exam Board didn’t consider it. Or it could be any other error which occurred at the School level after you clicked ‘submit’.
- New Information about Exceptional Circumstances (ECs)
ECs are classified as circumstances which “would normally be sudden, unforeseen, out of the student’s control and proximate to the assessment(s) in question.”
You would normally submit an EC at the time of the assessment. As this deadline has now passed, if you feel you have valid ECs, you would now need to raise it via an appeal. However, you would need to:
- Explain and evidence the ECs that affected the assessment in question
- Provide a good reason (with evidence) for not submitting an EC application at the time
The Standards of Evidence document outlines the kind of evidence the School would expect to see under different scenarios.
WHAT YOU NEED
An Appeal Submission Form and supporting evidence for the situation. For Procedural Defects you need evidence to prove what you are saying actually happened. For Exceptional Circumstances you need to follow Standards of Evidence found here. The evidence will also need to show why you were unable to inform LSE of your Exceptional Circumstances when they arose following the regular process.
HOW AND WHEN DO I SUBMIT MY APPEAL?
Email the completed form with your evidence to ssc.appeals@lse.ac.uk. Make sure to do it before your deadline! Remember, you have 10 working days following the release of your results to do so.
WHO CAN HELP ME?
The LSE Assessment Regulations Team (ART) can answer your questions. They are the school team who will look at all appeals and typically host drop-in-sessions around the appeal period, so we would suggest checking their website regularly for more details on this. They can answer questions about the process, but cannot discuss your specific case or give advice.
We at the LSESU Advice Service are also happy to help. We also recommend reading our Appeals Guidance to familiarise yourself with the process. If you still have questions or need further clarification, please contact us via email or book an appointment via Student Hub.
Blog written by Laurence Mackavoy.
Laurence works as an Advice Caseworker in the LSESU Advice Team.
The LSESU Advice Team
The LSESU Advice Team is based on the 3rd floor of the Saw Swee Hock Building and we provide free, independent and confidential advice to all LSE students on academic and housing matters. We also administer the Hardship Fund, the Childcare Fund and the Graduation Gown Support Fund (GGSF).
Our service is currently operating using a hybrid working pattern. We are still open and can be accessed by emailing su.advice@lse.ac.uk. Try our new Virtual Assistant You can also book a telephone or Zoom appointment with an adviser through Student Hub.