Note on external assessment:
The regulations described below relate only to courses which are assessed directly by the Professional Academy. In the case of courses which are preparatory for external examinations or assessment (e.g., CompTIA, AWS, Software Development), rules set by the awarding body with regard to grades, assignment submission/resubmission, and course completion requirements will apply.
All assessments are designed to gauge the extent to which the desired Learning Outcomes of each particular course have been achieved by the Learner. Learning Outcomes for the course will be made clear to you early on, and assignment guidance and feedback will make explicit reference to them.
Individual assessments will receive a grade on the following scale:
- Distinction
- Merit
- Pass
- Fail
- Clear fail
Students whose submitted assignments do not meet the passing requirements (receiving Fail, Clear Fail or No Attempt) will have a single opportunity to re-submit an assignment. Results of re-submitted assignments will be limited to a final award of Pass (i.e., will not be awarded a Merit or Distinction). Students will have two weeks to re-submit their assignments from the point of time of results being published.
The right to re-submit an assignment will only apply where a first attempt meeting the minimum length requirements has been submitted within the deadline period.
Where there are two or more weighted assignments, all components must be submitted and receive at least a Pass grade in order to pass the course overall. In other words, strong performance in one assessed component will not compensate for other components which fail or are not submitted.
Certificates are issued via email at the latest within six weeks of assessment completion.