Access to HE Assessment & Moderation

ASSESSMENTS - As you complete each Module, you will be given two Tutor Assessed Assignments to complete. These always take the form of a Practical Report and an Essay. These are used by your tutor to gauge your learning and award you Credits for the Module. You will receive the credit(s) for each Module when the written work has met the predefined criteria which are found within the Assessments.

You can download an example of the Assessments for a Module here:

  Practical Report Assessment Example

Once you have completed an Assessment, you submit it to your tutor by post or by email for marking. Your tutor will provide you with feedback on your work and complete and return a Mark Sheet to you.

Download these documents to view some example Mark Sheets:

  Practical Report Mark Sheet
  Essay Mark Sheet

You will be awarded an internal grade of PASS, MERIT, DISTINCTION or a REFERRAL. You are encouraged to resubmit work that does not meet the necessary criteria. Guidance will be given to you regarding any improvements that are necessary.

FINAL EXAM - At the end of the course, at least one of the Modules at Level 3 will be assessed through examination type questions in which you will take a 2 hour examination. You will write two essays and answer some short questions on the Module you are studying. You will be given the examination by your tutor via your telephone/INTERNET link and then given a specific time limit within which you will have to complete the work and post it to the College. You will need to provide an invigilator (a professional friend, colleague or aquaintance, not a family member) who will have to sign to verify that the work was completed under examination conditions.

IMPORTANT NOTE - All work for the Assessments and the Final Exam must be your own work. Although you are encouraged to directly quote other authors, quotes must be acknowledged. You must not take large chunks from books or the Internet and pass them off as your own words. If we have reason to believe that the work you are submitting is not your own, the College maintains the right to ask you to sit extra written examinations on all the work you have studied on the course. Failure to take the examinations or to pass them will result in you being withdrawn from the programme and no credits for any previous Modules taken will be awarded. Full details of what is acceptable and unacceptable can be found in the Course Handbook.

MODERATION - Because the Access Diplomas are part of the National Qualification Framework, they are moderated externally by the Open College North West Region (OCNNWR) to ensure consistent quality nationwide. Moderation takes place approximately 3 times per year so when you complete the course, you will have to wait until the next moderation before the request for certification can be sent to OCNNWR. However, should you have concerns that your Diploma may not be certificated in time for entry onto your selected course in Higher Education, we can provide evidence for you to give to the admissions tutor.