Examinations
Contact the Examinations Office
Examinations Office
Student Administration
Clocktower Building (ground floor)
University of Otago
PO Box 56
Dunedin, 9054
Tel 64 3 479 8237
Fax 64 3 479 5490
Email examinations@otago.ac.nz
The University of Otago has three main examination periods
- The Summer School examinations run from 18 to 23 February 2012 (inclusive)
- Semester One examinations run from 6 to 20 June 2012 (inclusive)
- Semester Two and Full Year examinations run from 17 October to 10 November 2012 (inclusive)
Examination Timetables
Information about the Examination Timetables will be displayed as follows:
- Summer School - late January
- Semester One papers - mid-April
- Semester Two and Full Year papers - mid-August
Students’ individual timetables will be displayed on PIMS prior to each written final examination period, giving the date, time, and venue for each examination they are to sit, once these details are finalised.
When the examination timetables are available they are also posted on this website.
Times, dates and venues for Department-run examinations such as oral and practical examinations will be displayed on Department notice boards or on Blackboard.
Standard start times for written final examinations are 0930, 1430 or 1830 hours. Examinations are either 2 or 3 hours in duration unless you have been advised otherwise by your lecturers.
- Check the details of each examination and make sure you know which room to go to.
- Take your Student ID Card to each examination as proof of your eligibility to sit that examination.
The last dates for withdrawal are 1 February for Summer School papers, 10 May for Semester One papers, and 10 September for Semester Two and Full Year papers. Withdrawal after these dates is normally only possible in exceptional circumstances (for example, for medical reasons).
Any candidate who decides not to continue with a paper after the above dates and does not sit the final examination will receive a final result comprising a zero for the examination plus any results obtained for internal assessment.
Reading Time
There is no provision for a separate “Reading Time” in final examinations. Candidates are admitted into an examination room five minutes before the start time. Examination papers are laid out in advance face-down. Once seated, candidates may complete their attendance slip and other details on the covers of their answer book, but may not turn their examination paper over until given the instruction to do so.
Alternative Examination Arrangements
If, because of a disability, you have difficulty sitting examinations under conventional circumstances please contact Disability Information and Support, email disabilities@otago.ac.nz or telephone +64 3 479 8235.
To apply for alternative arrangements for final examinations, pick up a request form from Disability Information and Support, fill it out, attach documentation (from your doctor, physiotherapist, counsellor, psychologist, learning specialist, etc.) verifying your need for such arrangements, and return the completed form to Disability Information & Support by the closing date. Late applications (other than in the case of an accident, or the onset of a new condition) will not be accepted. Deadlines for applying for alternative examination arrangements are as follows:
- 15 January - Summer School papers
- 1 May - Semester One papers
- 1 September - Semester Two and Full Year papers
Alternative Arrangements Application Form
Download the Alternative Arrangements application form (pdf).
Variations from the University's Regulations
There are no provisions for candidates to sit final examinations at different times or at different places from those scheduled. In the case of internally enrolled students the examination centre is Dunedin. In the case of Extramural or Distance Learning Programme students, the examination centre is the nearest University examination venue to their normal study location.
Variations from the University's Examination Regulations are granted only very rarely and only in exceptional circumstances clearly beyond the candidate’s control. Established criteria for such circumstances include:
- Bereavement in immediate family;
- Wedding of a member of immediate family, or where the candidate has been invited to be a member of the bridal party;
- Serious illness / incapacity (candidate or immediate family);
- Posting of a member of the New Zealand Armed Forces or of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
- Competing or participating as a national representative
- Competing or officiating at an international competition recognised by a fully constituted international governing body
- Trialling, as a genuine contender, for selection as a national representative, as verified by a fully constituted national governing body
- A candidate’s religious commitment prohibits such activity on the date scheduled.
All applications must include verifying documentation.
Variations are not possible other than in the above circumstances so be sure to make your bookings for your return home for a date after the conclusion of the examination period.
If your circumstances fall into one of these categories, please write by the deadlines below to the Group Leader, Examinations Office, University of Otago, P O Box 56, Dunedin, outlining your situation, and include verifying documentation with your letter.
Deadlines:
- 15 January - Summer School papers
- 1 May - Semester One papers
- 1 September - Semester Two and Full Year papers
Variations cannot be considered at short notice.
If you have queries or concerns about examinations, come and talk to the staff at the Examinations Office. We will do our best to help you to resolve any problems.
Special Consideration in Final Examinations
You are eligible to apply for Special Consideration in Final Examinations if:
- you have been prevented from sitting a final examination through acute illness or other exceptional circumstances at the time of the final examination itself;
OR
- you consider that your performance in any final examination has been seriously impaired due to illness or other exceptional circumstances at the time of, or in the 14 days immediately prior to the final examination itself.
Examples of the level and type of incapacity through illness, or other exceptional circumstances, which Special Consideration is designed to cover include:
- Severe medical condition as a result of illness or accident, supported by medical evidence and/or hospitalisation, e.g. severe glandular fever or influenza, as documented; hospital admission for a motorcycle accident.
- Bereavement of a significant other, as documented with either a death notice or formal certification.
- Serious psychological impairment certified by a counsellor or doctor.
Note: Mistaking the time or venue of an examination, experiencing examination anxiety, or having several examinations close together, are not grounds for applying for Special Consideration.
Applications which meet the guidelines above will be referred by the Group Leader, Examinations to the Head of Department or Dean who, after considering the application, will recommend the most suitable option in accordance with University Regulations for Special Consideration.
Where students have been affected by illness or other exceptional circumstances during the teaching period, they are expected to have informed Heads of Departments directly at the time (not individual lecturers or tutors). Heads of Departments also deal with requests for Special Consideration in fully internally assessed papers.
Candidates seeking Special Consideration for all programmes in Dentistry, Medical Laboratory Science, Radiation Therapy, Medicine, Pharmacy and Physiotherapy and postgraduate programmes in Health Sciences should apply to the relevant Department, School or Faculty Office. Candidates in all other programmes should apply to Student Administration as outlined below.
Make an application
You must apply within 5 calendar days from the date of the last examination for which you are making an application for Special Consideration, and you must use the official application form. You can download the form from this website here: Application for Special Consideration in Final Examinations form (380k in PDF format) or you can obtain a paper one from the University Information Centre or Student Health. Please ensure you read the accompanying Notes for Applicants appended to the application form.
You must also provide supporting documentation, and for those applications made on medical grounds this must include the Health Declaration for Special Consideration.
Health Declaration for Special Consideration Applications and instructions on how to use it (192k in PDF format)
Only one application form should be used to cover all examinations for which you are seeking Special Consideration. If your condition persists once you have made an application and you remain seriously impaired for a later examination, do not submit a second application form but contact us within 5 days of the examination and ask for it to be added to your application. Contact us at examinations@otago.ac.nz or (+64 3) 479 8237, or advise us via the University Information Centre.
Please ensure all photocopies of documentation are certified as true and correct by a Justice of the Peace or a University staff member.
Deadline
The application must be received by the Group Leader, Examinations no later than five calendar days from the date of the last examination for which you are seeking Special Consideration.
Application forms may be handed in at the University Information Centre or post to: Student Administration, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054.
Late applications will not be accepted (except where there are very exceptional circumstances that remove the ability to apply).
Decisions about Applications
We operate a "no news is good news" process. This means that, if your application is accepted, you will not hear from us until we have had an opportunity to consult with the relevant teaching department and confirm the recommended option for you (i.e special exam, mark adjust, a choice, etc). This can take up to 3 weeks from the point of application. If we have any questions about your application, or your application is declined, you will hear from us sooner.
We communicate with you using your student e-mail address, so please make sure you check this regularly or forward it to your preferred e-mail account.
Right to Review
If you are not happy with the decision to approve or decline your application, you may ask for the decision to be reviewed by the Manager of Student Administration. Please write to the Group Leader, Examinations who will refer your request to the Manager, Student Administration on your behalf. You must do this within 8 calendar days of notification of the decision made. Please submit your request to the University Information Centre or post it to Student Administration, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054.
Please ensure you enclose additional documentation that further supports your application. If your application has been declined on the grounds of lateness, please provide documents that show that your ability to apply on time was removed.
Results
Results for each teaching period can be viewed on PIMS as soon as they become available. Initially "Unconfirmed" will be shown alongside them.
Once "Unconfirmed" is no longer showing, results are official.
Target dates for the confirmation of results for each teaching period are shown in the table in the section below entitled Dates for the Recount and Return of Examination Scripts Procedure for 2012.
Recount of Results
This involves a careful re-check of the marks that count towards your final result in a paper. Your work is not re-marked. A recount of marks ensures that no answer or any portion of an answer, or any work done during the teaching period which counts towards the final result, has been overlooked.
Deadline
Within four weeks from the date of the release of confirmed results.
Fee
Current charge is $36.00 per paper.
Form
Application forms are available from the University Information Centre.
- Download the Application for Recount of Results Form (116K in PDF format)
- Download the Internet Banking Form for paying Recount of Results Accounts (56K in PDF format)
- Download the Recount of Results – Payment via Credit Card Form (100K in PDF format).
Final Examination Only
In most cases, a student who has completed course work satisfactorily but has failed to pass the paper concerned may apply to have Final Examination Only. This means that the student may sit the examination at the end of the next teaching period that the paper is offered but may not attend any lectures, laboratories, or tutorials, or receive assistance from academic staff, or have access to electronic holdings of course material, or receive printed course material. This concession is granted only once for a particular paper, and only for the teaching period in which the paper is offered next.
An application would not be approved if the content of the course is going to be significantly changed when it is next offered.
Deadline
By 10 January for Summer School papers, 1 March for full year and first semester papers, and 31 July for second semester papers.
Fee
A fee will be charged if an application is approved. It should be noted that Government Student Loans do not cover this fee.
Form
Application forms are available from the University Information Centre.
Download the Application for Final Examination Only (40k in PDF format)
Viewing your Examination Script
On-campus students can contact the Department teaching their paper to arrange to view their examination script in the Department.
Distance Learning students located outside the campus where their paper is taught may request a photocopy of their examination script to view by emailing examinations@otago.ac.nz.
No application form is needed.
Deadline
From the start of week one to the end of week twelve from the date of the release of confirmed results.
Return of Examination Scripts
You may request the return of an examination script. Application forms are available from the University Information Centre.
However not all examination scripts can be returned to candidates. If a Department requires that an examination paper for a particular subject be embargoed from publication and not released into the public domain, examination scripts in that subject will not be returned to candidates.
Such examination scripts however may be viewed under supervision by arrangement in the Department for a period of twelve weeks following the release of confirmed final results for that paper. (See "Viewing your examination script" above.)
To find out if an examination script can be returned to you or not, go to the Library's "Exam Papers Online" webpage and check the examination in question. If it is an embargoed examination paper, information about this will be displayed on the screen.
Deadline
From the start of week seven through to the end of week twelve from the date of the release of confirmed results.
After twelve weeks from the date of the release of confirmed results, unclaimed scripts are disposed of by Departments.
Dates for the Recount and Return of Examination Scripts for 2012
The table below shows the time-frame (over a 12 week period) for the University’s provisions for recounts and return of examination scripts following the date of the release of confirmed results for the 2012 examination periods.
| Date final results are confirmed | Request to view scripts within Department | Recount applications | Collect scripts from Department (apply at UIC) | |
Week 1-12 | Week 1- 4 | Week 7-12 | ||
| Summer School | Mon 05 Mar 2012 | Mon 05 Mar - Fri 25 May 2012 | Mon 05 Mar - Fri 30 Mar 2012 | Mon 16 Apr - Fri 25 May 2012 |
Semester 1 | Mon 02 July 2012 | Mon 02 July - Fri 21 July 2012 | Mon 02 July - Fri 27 July 2012 | Mon 13 Aug - Fri 21 Sept 2012 |
| Semester 2 | Mon 26 Nov 2012 | Mon 28 Nov - Fri 17 Feb 2013 | Mon 26 Nov - Fri 21 Dec 2012 | Mon 07 Jan 2013 - Fri 15 Feb 2013 |
Following week 12 for each exam period, departments should dispose of any remaining examination scripts.
Examination Rules
There is a link to the University of Otago Examination Rules from your examination page on PIMS. Read the Rules carefully and be sure you understand them. The University regards any infringement of the Examination Rules very seriously. If you have someone sit an examination in your place, if you substitute for another student, or if you take any unauthorised material into an examination room, you risk having your results cancelled, and your whole year's work could be wasted.
1. Candidates will be admitted to the examination room five minutes before the examination is due to begin. No candidate will be allowed to enter the room later than forty-five minutes after the beginning of the examination.
2. No candidate is to leave the room until one hour has elapsed from the beginning of the examination, and then only by permission of the supervisor, after they have taken in the candidate's script.
3. No candidate shall be permitted to leave the room during the last fifteen minutes of the examination. The supervisor shall notify candidates distinctly when the examination is finished.
4.
(a) No candidate is to bring any book or other written or printed matter or blank paper or information in any form into the examination room except such as has been approved by the Senate. Rough working should be done in the examination book and clearly crossed out. All answer books and paper must be handed in.
(b) No devices with communication capability may be used in the examination room or adjoining areas (e.g. toilets) during the period of the examination. Cell phones must be switched off and handed to the supervisor at the beginning of the examination.
5.
(a) The use of electronic calculators is not permitted in any examination unless specified on the front page of the examination paper.
(b) Where the use of electronic calculators is permitted, the front paper of the examination will specify which of the following two categories applies to that examination.
Either:
(i) only calculator models that are specified on the University of Otago list of approved calculators (available from the University Information Centre) may be used
or
(ii) there is no restriction on the model of calculator that may be used, but no device with communication capability shall be accepted as a calculator.(c) Where the use of electronic calculators is permitted -
(i) it is the responsibility of the student to maintain the proper functioning of the device which must be battery-powered, truly portable and silent in operation.
(ii) no supplementary material or equipment (e.g. operating manuals, reference cards, program cards, print-out attachments etc.) relating to the use or operation of the device other than spare batteries, will be allowed in the examination room without the prior permission of the Chief Supervisor of Examinations.
6. Candidates must produce scripts that are readily legible. No special arrangements will be made in the case of a candidate whose scripts are illegible to examiners.
7. No candidate shall continue writing an answer, or add anything to answers after the supervisor has announced the expiration of time.
8. No candidate shall communicate with another candidate in the examination room or copy from another candidate's answers.
9. Eating, drinking (except water from non-spill plastic water bottles) and smoking are not permitted in an examination room.
10. A candidate may apply for Special Consideration who
(a) has been prevented from attending any examination through illness or other circumstances beyond his or her control
or
(b) considers that performance in any examination has been seriously impaired by illness, or other circumstances beyond his or her control.
Applications for Special Consideration must be made on the prescribed form (available from the University Information Centre) and submitted to the Chief Supervisor of Examinations, together with suitable supporting evidence.
Applications must be received within five calendar days of the candidate's last examination for which Special Consideration is being requested.
11. No candidate shall communicate with an examiner in regard to an examination either in the examination script or otherwise before the release of confirmed results, except through the Manager, Student Administration.
N.B. Any infringement of these rules may entail cancellation of the candidate's examination and/or disqualification for one or more years.
Leonie McGeady
Group Leader Examinations
Student Administration
Use of Calculators in Final Examinations
Examiners will decide on one of three available options:
- No calculators permitted
- Only calculators on the University of Otago list of approved calculators may be used (see box below)
- No restriction on the model of calculator that may be used, but no device with communication capability shall be accepted as a calculator
Please ensure you are aware which option applies for each of the papers you are studying.
Approved calculators:
- Casio FX82
- Casio FX100
- Sharp EL531
Please note:
It is your responsibility to ensure you are aware of the relevant option that applies to the examinations you are taking. Spare approved calculators are not routinely available on loan in examinations, so it is important that examination candidates ensure that they are clear about which models of calculators (if any) are permitted in their examination, and that they have one of these with them.
Examination Rooms
Download the Dunedin Examination Rooms location map (in PDF format).
Health Science Professional Programmes Special Examinations
23 January to 09 February 2012
The Health Science Professional Programmes Special Examinations Timetable is now available. All students eligible to sit a Health Science Professional Programme written special examination should ensure they apply to do so, and also pay the entry fee(s) by 10 January 2012. Please Note: Late applications will incur a late fee.
All written Special Examinations scheduled in this timetable will be held in Burns 7, Arts Building, University of Otago, Dunedin - with the exception of:
PHTY250 - held in the Department of Anatomy
MICN501A and B -held in the Faculty of Medicine
Oral and practical examinations are arranged by the Departments and Schools concerned, who will notify candidates of the details. (Please check starting times carefully as these may vary).
Application Form
You can download the application form here: Health Sciences Professional Programmes Special Examinations application form (68k MS Word format).
Details about ways to pay the entry fee can be read below.
Special Examinations Enquiries
All enquiries concerning the written Special Examinations timetabled here should be directed to:
Examinations Office
Student Administration
Telephone +64 3 479 8237 or +64 3 479 8282
Email examinations@otago.ac.nz
All enquiries concerning oral or practical Special Examinations should be directed to the Faculty, School or Department concerned.
Ways to Pay Your Entry Fee(s)
Please ensure you include your application form with your method of payment.
Cash, Cheque or EFTPOS
You can make your payment in person by cheque, cash or EFTPOS paid directly to The Cashiers in the basement of the Clocktower building, University of Otago, Dunedin.
Alternatively, you can post a personal or bank cheque made out to "University of Otago" to:
Examinations Office
Student Administration
University of Otago
PO Box 56
Dunedin, 9054
Internet Banking / Telegraphic Transfer to University of Otago
Bank Name: ANZ National Bank Limited
Bank address: Dunedin Commercial Branch
Level 2, 71 George Street
P O Box 883
Dunedin
Account Name: University of Otago
Account Number: 06-0901-0001203-00
SWIFT code: ANZBNZ22
Reference details needed - the Health Science Professional Programmes Special Examination(s) you wish to apply to sit, and your student ID number.
Please note that for payments paid by telegraphic transfer, there is a bank fee of NZD $20 charged for each transaction so you will need to add this amount onto the amount payable.
You will also need to forward the completed application form to the Examinations Office.
Credit Card payment to University of Otago
For students outside Dunedin there is a facility available to pay your Special Examination entry fee(s) by credit card. Please contact us at examinations@otago.ac.nz for further details.
In case of snow during the examination period
The Examinations Office advises students that in the event of a snowfall or other adverse weather conditions, the University’s Semester One final examinations will proceed as there are no alternative dates for Semester One examinations available, and also because most students live within walking distance of the University.
Students should try to get to their exam if at all possible but should not do so if this means that they would be putting themselves at any risk.
If students located outside Dunedin are unable to travel to Dunedin to sit their exam because of roads being closed or travelling conditions being too hazardous, they should contact the University Information Centre for advice.
It may be that they can obtain a document from their local police station or branch of the Automobile Association if they are somewhere outside Dunedin confirming that the road conditions were such that it was not possible for them to get to Dunedin for their exam and with this, complete an application for Special Consideration in Final Examinations.
In the case of a snowfall in Dunedin, students who live in a suburb where travel may be affected by snow may decide to stay with a friend in town for the night before their exam just in case. Students who live in the hill suburbs may plan to leave home extra early and to walk down to the University. This should be attempted only if they will not be putting themselves at any risk.
Students may be able to arrange for a ride with a friend who has a 4X4 drive vehicle, if road conditions permit.
For Further Information
Finally, if you have queries or concerns about examinations talk to the staff at the Examinations Office. We will do our best to help you resolve any problems.
Examinations Office
Student Administration
Clocktower Building (ground floor)
University of Otago
PO Box 56
Dunedin, 9054
Tel +64 3 479 8237
Fax +64 3 479 5490
Email examinations@otago.ac.nz
