Frequently Asked Questions
1. Procedures in the Context of Teaching Activity
Who should complete the course unit outline and when? And who validates it?
- The course unit outline must be completed by the respective teacher, observing the deadlines defined annually by order of the Rectory.
- The course unit outline must be validated by the Director of the cycle of study.
Who should complete the summaries and when?
- Each teacher has to fill in the lesson summary for his/her class(es) in the subject file in Sigarra and must do so immediately after teaching each lesson.
What time should classes start and end?
Do teachers have to set office hours?
- The definition and publicising of weekly office hours is the responsibility of each teacher.
- In practice, the schedule can be fixed or can be set each week according to student requests and teacher availability.
- Office hours can be face-to-face or via telematic means.
2. Methods or Types of Assessment
What is the difference between the 3 types of assessment provided in the course unit outline?
- “Distributed assessment without final exam”: essentially consists of two or more assessment components, none of which takes the form of a comprehensive exam with a significant weight in the final classification (e.g., two partial exams, with equal weights; three partial exams, with similar weights; two partial exams, each with a weight of 30% + an assignment with a weight of 40%); however, the "distributed assessment without final exam" option does not mean that there is no alternative assessment scheme by final exam.
- “Distributed assessment with final exam”: also consists of two or more assessment components, one of which is a comprehensive exam with a significant weight on the final classification (e.g., a partial exam with a weight of 30% + a comprehensive exam with a weight of 70%; a group project with a weight of 25% + a comprehensive exam with a weight of 75%; two assignments, each with a weight of 20% + a comprehensive exam with a weight of 60%).
- “Assessment with final exam only”: consists, of course, of the completion of only one final exam with a weight of 100%, with no distributed assessment.
Can a course unit not have a final exam?
- First cycle course units: by default, there is assessment by final exam in all seasons; therefore, in first cycle course units there will be no assessment by final exam only in duly justified cases and approved by the Pedagogical Council, upon favourable opinion of the Scientific Committee of the Course (e.g., Economics Seminars of the degree in Economics).
- Second cycle curricular units: it is possible to not have a final exam, in one or both seasons (regular and appeal).
Can a course unit not have distributed assessment?
- Distributed assessment is mandatory in all cycles of study, except in course units duly authorised by the Pedagogical Council, upon favourable opinion of the Scientific Committee of the course, and in quarterly course units.
- In the case of quarterly course units, the final examination of the regular season can be held immediately after the end of classes (its scheduling is the responsibility of the course management) or in the season destined for that examination season (its scheduling is the responsibility of the Pedagogical Council).
Is it possible to make student access to distributed assessment conditional? What about making students passing this type of assessment conditional?
- Students' access to distributed assessment may be conditional upon their attendance of a minimum number of classes, provided that this is explicit in the course unit outline.
- Provided that this is described in the course unit outline, it is possible to condition passing in the distributed assessment regime to the achievement of a minimum classification in one or more components of this assessment, with students who do not reach this minimum being excluded from this type of assessment; however, these students retain the right to take the final exam.
Is it possible to bind students to distributed assessment?
- Since the distributed assessment is an alternative to the final examination in the regular season (if available), a student is only prevented from taking the final examination in this season if he/she completes the distributed assessment (it is not possible to bind a student to the distributed assessment without it being completed); this means that:
- if the date of the last exam of the distributed assessment coincides with the date of the final examination in the regular season, the student may opt for any of the exams on that date;
- if the date of the last exam of the distributed assessment is earlier than the date of the final examination in the regular season, the student who delivers that last exam completes the distributed assessment and cannot take the final examination;
- if a student commits academic fraud in a component of the distributed assessment, he/she is considered to have completed that type of assessment and cannot take the final examination in the regular season.
Is it possible to consider the grading of distributed assessment elements, e.g., assignments or similar exams, in the appeal season?
- Yes, it is possible, as long as it is expressly indicated in the course unit outline.
3. Rules of the Assessment Process
Who sets the dates for the distributed assessment exams? What about final exams?
- The dates of the distributed assessment exams of the 1st cycle course units, namely, interim exams and delivery and presentation of assignments, are defined at the beginning of each semester by the Pedagogical Council after consulting the regents of all course units and are subject to approval by the Director of FEP.
- The dates of the distributed assessment exams of the 2nd cycle curricular units are defined at the beginning of each semester by the respective course Directors.
- The dates of the final exams are defined by the Pedagogical Council and approved by the Director of FEP by July of the previous academic year.
- The dates of both the final exams and the distributed assessment exams are announced to students through Sigarra (FEP - Assessment Calendar (up.pt)).
- Except for exceptional situations, subject to analysis and approval by the Pedagogical Council, there is no possibility of changing the dates defined and announced to students.
Is there a maximum duration for the written exams of the distributed assessment? And for the final exams?
- The written exams of the distributed assessment, whether or not they are carried out in the classroom, may not exceed 1 hour and 15 minutes except if carried out during the examination season.
- Final examinations may have a maximum duration stipulated by the Director of FEP but given the time slots currently used for examinations (8:30 am, 11:30 am and 2:30 pm) they may not exceed 2 hours 30 minutes.
What are the dates to be met for publishing marks? What about exam reviews?
- In addition to the deadlines indicated for reviewing exams (see question below), there is no defined deadline for the publication of the marks obtained in each component of the distributed assessment, there being only the indication that they should be disseminated to students throughout the academic semester; it would make sense that, considering students must freely choose between taking the last exam of the distributed assessment or the final exam of the regular season, the marks of the remaining components of the distributed assessment are disseminated in a timely manner.
- Unless the Director of FEP sets other deadlines, the marks of examinations taken during the appeal season and the special seasons must be made available within ten working days from the day following the examination.
- With regard to the regular season, unless the Director of FEP sets other deadlines, the relevant deadlines are those relating to the exam review:
- exams may be reviewed within five working days of the day following the publication of the marks (regardless of the season in which the exam was taken) and within two working days before the next exam
- the time and place of the written exam review must be publicised at least 48 hours before their review.
- From the previous point we can conclude that, at most, the marks of the regular season exams must be released two working days before the next exam, and the review of the exams takes place on the same day (obviously, the release of the marks must precede the review of the exams); however, for this to be possible, the teacher must publish the date and time of the review of the exam 48 hours before, that is, before the release of the marks of the exam. For example:
- if the appeal season exam is on 24 January, Tuesday, at 2:30 pm, the exam review must be done up to two working days before, i.e., by 2:30 pm on 20 January, Friday; therefore, at most, the marks must be released by the morning of 20 January, Friday, and the date must be released up to 48 hours before, i.e., by 2:30 pm on 18 January, Wednesday.
What if the teacher does not fulfil the deadline of holding the exam review two working days before the next exam?
- Failure to meet this deadline will result in an alternative date being scheduled for the next exam, if this is requested from the Director of FEP by any student enrolled in the course.
Do all teachers of the course unit have to be present at the examination?
- All teachers involved in the correction of the exams must be present and must provide clarification to the students on the indicative criteria for grading the exam.
Is it necessary to publicise the answer key of the written exams?
- If the marks are not released by seven working days after a written exam, the teacher must make the exam solution available to students.
- In the case of multiple-choice questions, the dissemination of the grid or correct answer key is sufficient.
4. Special Statuses
Which examination seasons are students with a special status or condition (e.g., Student Leader, Student-Athlete, Student-Worker) entitled to?
- They have access, as an ordinary student, to the final exam in the regular season, in the regular season, in the appeal season and also in the special season of completion of the cycle of studies (at FEP, this takes place in September) if they can complete the study cycle in that season by passing up to the maximum credits legally allowed.
- They have access to the seasons for students with a special status or condition, and the student can take only one exam per curricular unit in each of these Seasons, which are three:
- Season I, coinciding with the special season for the completion of the cycle of study (at FEP, this takes place in September);
- Season II (at FEP, this takes place in October);
- Season III (at FEP, this takes place in March).
Do students with a special status or condition have the right to substitute a distributed assessment exam they missed?
- They may have the right to substitute the distributed assessment exam they missed under the terms of their respective status, and for this they must follow the necessary legal procedures with Academic Services at FEP; after communication from Academic Services, teachers must arrange a date for the substitute exam (this exam may take a different form from the exam being substituted, for example, an oral exam or an assignment, provided that this is described in the course unit outline) with the student.
Specifically with regard to holders of Student-Worker (SW) Status, what rights are provided?
- SWs have the right to not attend classes and the minimum attendance requirement for access to distributed assessment, if one exists, will not apply to them.
- SWs have to attend the assessment exams scheduled throughout the semester (e.g., mid-term exams, presentation of assignments).
- In case the distributed assessment foresees completing exams that require the continuous presence of students in class (e.g., class participation) or that are not marked in advance (e.g., mini-exams/surprise quizzes), an alternative modality should be foreseen for the SW, which could be one (or more) alternative exam(s) or the redistribution of the weighting of those exams by the others that are foreseen; this should be expressly mentioned in the course unit outline.
5. Academic Fraud
How should I proceed if I detect that a student in my course has committed academic fraud?
- If the cheating was committed during an exam, the exam should be immediately cancelled; if the cheating was detected after the exam (e.g., plagiarism), the exam should be cancelled, and the cancellation communicated by the course leader to the student.
- In the term of the course unit in the respective season's Sigarra, the "fail for fraud" (RFR) mark should be posted; if the fraud occurred in one of the components of the distributed assessment, and in the absence of a specific term for the distributed assessment, the "fail for fraud" grade should be posted in the term for the regular season.
- Upon detection, the course leader must report the fraud to the Director of FEP (diretor@fep.up.pt) and the Pedagogical Council (pedagógico@fep.up.pt).
What are the immediate consequences for a student who commits academic fraud?
- Firstly, the cancellation of the exam where academic fraud was detected.
- If the cancellation occurs in one of the components of the distributed assessment, that assessment is considered to be completed and the student cannot take the final examination in the regular season.
- After the communication of academic fraud, and after the student has been given the opportunity to comment on it, the Pedagogical Council must proceed to an assessment of the occurrence and decide whether or not to propose opening an investigation procedure to the Director; it is up to the Director of FEP to decide whether or not to open this investigation procedure, which may lead to a disciplinary procedure and, possibly, a disciplinary sanction under the regulations in force at U.Porto.