Prepare, prepare, prepare!

Preparing before your deadline can help you to avoid technical errors. Our advice is:

• Ensure the device you’re working on is compatible with Surrey Learn or the server for submission. Check this ahead of time.
• Be aware that if you are using a university computer, they can check what happened on that device at the time, meaning you will have evidence if something happens.
• Make sure your Wi-Fi is stable and strong before doing an online remote exam.
• Try to upload your work in good time! We see most mistakes happen when students are rushing to finish, sometimes causing concerns for Academic Misconduct if students have rushed referencing. If there is technical issue and you have given yourself 15-20 minutes to spare, then you have some time to remedy the issue.
• In the event of a technical issue, know how to contact the academic admin team through Surrey Support - https://my.surrey.ac.uk/hive  
• Have the email addresses of your module leaders on hand, so you can contact them quickly and easily.

Technical issues during an exam or submission

Try not to panic and follow these steps below:

• Take a note of the time that the issue happened.
• If you can, take a photo or video on your phone or screenshot of the issue as evidence. Include the time and date - the more evidence you have, the better.
• Email your module leader when the issue happens with a copy of your work. Let them know what happened and how it impacted you and send it to them as soon as possible.
• Send your work directly to your assessments team through Surrey Support.
• Wait until the end of the exam to EC – you might find that you only lost 10 minutes of time during the exam, which you can make up. Putting in an EC too early might void your attempt, so make sure you know you need to EC before submitting.
• If you believe that the technical difficulty impacted your exam, you can then submit an EC application. 
• Students cannot use a Self-Certified EC after an exam has started or after a deadline has passed. This means you will need to make an Evidenced EC application, which will likely void your attempt and allow you another attempt at the next opportunity, usually in the August LSA period. In your EC application, you should add the following as evidence: 

1. 1. Include the email that you sent to your module leader with the time of the error 
   2. Include the evidence you have gathered to demonstrate the error
   3. Include the email to Surrey Support if you sent one
   4. When you are writing your EC Statement for a completed piece of work that you’re happy with, you need to state that you want the outcome of the EC to be that your work be marked and not deferred - if they can mark your work (based on you sending it to your module leader at the time, and before the deadline) they will. 

• You should still submit through Turnitin if you can and that’s correct.

 

For further support on how to complete an EC application, you can follow the instructions on this page, or contact us here at the Advice Team.

 

Good luck to everyone this assessment period!