Exams FAQs

You will need your student ID card for in-person exams. If you lose it, please order a new card as soon as possible.

If there isn’t enough time to get a new student ID for your next exam, please bring a driving licence or passport along with a note of your exam number which can be found on KentVision.

If you don’t have any form of ID, please still show up for your exam. Just allow extra time so the Exams Team can confirm your identity before the exam starts.  

The exam period is calculated to ensure that you are all able to complete your exams in good time prior to graduation or progression, allowing for marking timescales and Boards of Examiners meetings, and to also allow for resits. 

Yes, all exams – in-person and online – are anonymous as per University regulations.

You must not include your name on your exam script or answer document, and instead use only your exam number located on your KentOne card

This is located on your Student ID (KentOne) card. It is a 5, 6 or 7 digit number. This is shown in this sample ID card picture. 

If you have lost your KentOne Student ID card and require your Exam Number, please contact exams@kent.ac.uk  providing your student ID number or email login.

If you wish to observe a religious commitment on a particular day during exams, you should complete and submit a Religious Observation request form to your Division by the start of Spring Term. Further information is available from the student admin webpages 

Please note that the deadline for requests for academic year 2022/23 has now passed (3 February 2023). 

Our digital library services can connect you with the resources you need, wherever you happen to be, and provides access to a wide range of digital resources such as e-books, e-journals, databases, newspapers and multimedia.

There is detailed information on this in the Your Digital Library section.  

We know that for some of you the impact of ill-health and/or other unforeseen circumstances may be significantly affecting your ability to engage fully in your studies.

For these reasons you may not feel prepared to sit the exams or complete other forms of final, summative assessments in the Summer Term, and you may wish to request to delay them.

Such a major decision needs careful consideration as it will delay your progression to the next stage of your course or, as a finalist, the award of your degree. There may also be financial and other impacts that you may wish to consider in the light of your personal circumstances.

However, should you feel that you have no choice but to delay your exams or assessments please talk to your Divisional Student Support Team at the earliest opportunity and no later than Wednesday 3 May 2023.

They will advise you of the process and the implications of such a major decision on your academic progress.

If you cannot find or access an online core and/or exam text then please contact the IT & Library Support Desk in the first instance. Alternatively, contact your module convenor and/or subject librarian who may be able to suggest other digital resources.

You can now find the past exam papers for your module in Moodle, alongside your other learning materials for that module.

Moodle holds the past papers for the past 3 academic years. If you have problems accessing the papers, please contact your Division for help.

There are a wide range of study spaces across campus to suit your needs, in addition to spaces provided in the Templeman Library. Available Study Spaces across Canterbury Campus are listed per building and type of space, as well as Study space and PCs on the Medway campus.

If you are in need of a PC, you can use our Find a free PC (Canterbury campus) across campus including Templeman Library. We also have loan laptops available in the library to borrow up to 4 hours at a time.

Don’t carry heavy books and bags around campus - use a locker. Lockers are available on both the Canterbury and Medway campus.

You are expected to demonstrate academic integrity when undertaking university exams, that is, to take responsibility for your own work and to acknowledge the work of others wherever it contributes to your own.

The University is taking the following steps to ensure academic integrity:

• All exam scripts will be checked for originality with online scripts submitted via Turnitin and University policies on academic misconduct applied as appropriate.
• All exam marks will be reviewed by Schools to identify and address possible anomalies.

Exam feedback can be given on request after publication of your end of year performance.

Module convenors can provide feedback on your exam performance but are not permitted to return your script.

Divisional Student Support Teams will let you know how to request exam feedback once the end of year results have been published.

If you are resitting, it is a good idea to get advice about ways to improve your performance ahead of your resit.

Contact your Division for further information.

If you are resitting an exam in May or June 2023, after not passing an exam that was originally sat in the 2021/22 academic year, you do not have to pay a fee.

However, from August 2023, you will have to pay a fee if you fail an exam in the 2022/23 academic year and choose to resit. This is to cover the additional costs involved with resits (e.g. exam boards, admin and invigilators). You can view resit fees online.

If you cannot pay this fee due to financial hardship, please get in touch so we can discuss your options and financial support available.

Our general approach is that you shouldn’t have to answer anything in an exam that hasn’t been covered in one of your classes. Your teachers will bear this in mind when they are preparing your exam papers – some modules will also have multiple exam questions to choose from, meaning that in these cases you can avoid questions that you don’t think have been covered in a lecture or seminar if you prefer.     

The Student Learning Advisory Service are providing simulated exam sessions for you to practise before the real thing and see how you react. 

SLAS also provide guides and online workshops on exam techniques and strategies and managing normal exam stress.

See our guide on what to expect at an in-person exam at Kent.

We've prepared guidance to support you with your preparations for in-person exams.

You can also see our exams support webpages for all the support on offer to you this exams season.

You should arrive outside of the exam room at least 15 minutes before the exams are scheduled to commence.

Make sure you allow time for delays caused by traffic and weather conditions when planning your journey.

Let your Divisional Student Support Team know as soon as possible if you are unable to attend an in-person exam on the day.

See our in-person exams webpage for more.

See our in-person exams guidance for what you can and can't bring into an exam hall. As well as how to book a locker. 

It is important to understand that exam stress and anxiety are normal responses to timed assessments, and a certain level of stress helps performance. See our support webpage for advice and how to manage this.

However, if your stress and anxiety are debilitating, you may need to seek the support of Student Support and Wellbeing.

SLAS provides advice and guidance on revision planning and strategies. They also provide online workshops on revision techniques.

You can enter the exam venue late, but entry will be restricted to discrete entry points at regular intervals.

Students who enter an exam room after the start of a session won't get additional time for the exam.

Where a student enters an exam room more than 30 minutes after the start of a session, the relevant Board of Examiners shall have discretion to decide whether and how marks awarded in such circumstances are to be used.

You can't leave an exam room during the first 30 minutes or last 30 minutes of an exam session.

Please raise your hand and an exam invigilator will come across to talk to you. Where required, queries will be directed to the module convenor. 

See our guidance for online exams.

As part of your revision, module convenors will provide past papers where the exam guidance remains largely unchanged.

In modules where the exam guidance and/or format has changed significantly from previous years, mock papers will be provided to support you with the change in this assessment.

We have also developed a demonstration Moodle module where you can familiarise yourself with the above process. You will need to click 'Enrol me' in order to enrol yourself onto the module.

Online exam papers will be released via Moodle in accordance with the published exam timetable. The exam timetable will be published before the end of March.

Timed Online exams will be released at 10:00 British Standard Time.

Online exams will be made available in a separate section on the module Moodle page entitled ‘Examination’ at the top of the page.

The exam section in Moodle will provide both the exam paper and an answer booklet for that module.

You will be required to submit completed answer booklets via Moodle within the specified timeframe.

Find out more on our types of exam webpage.

If you're experiencing any technical issues with the online exam process, for example, problems accessing or logging into Moodle, working with file format, accessing software or uploading exam papers, then you should contact the IT & Library Support Desk.

If not an IT query, please contact exams@kent.ac.uk.

You should contact the module convenor in the first instance who can help with these queries.

Turnitin compares the work you have submitted to other work on the internet. It then returns a comparison percentage to check for originality.

There is an expectation that there may be a low level of similarity where you may be quoting from revision materials, but it is expected that the work you submit is your own.

There is no specific threshold score as it is expected that in some disciplines, there may be a singular answer and/or resource materials, where some similarity is to be expected. The University guidelines assume that you will abide by our normal academic integrity (anti-plagiarism) policy including online exams.   

Turnitin is the most widely used method of electronic submission at the University and is, therefore, familiar to a large number of students and staff. 

There is no requirement for continuous internet access throughout the whole period of the exam.

Our expectation is that you will download the exam paper and complete the paper offline within the allocated period and upload your answer booklet when you have completed your exam.

You will not have to be online throughout your exam.

The exams are designed to take you as long as they would normally take under standard exam conditions (2 or 3 hours). We certainly don’t expect you to be working on one exam paper for 24-hours.

The 24-hour open book design enables you to plan and complete the exam at a time that is most convenient to you, and to break up the exam into smaller segments over the 24-hour period if this suits you better. The 24-hour timescale includes any additional time given if you have an Inclusive Learning Plan (ILP) adjustment (i.e., there is no extra time beyond the 24-hour period).

You are not expected to include enhanced outputs such as full references or bibliographies, but any quoted material should be identified using quotation marks. Answers will be tested for originality through Turnitin.    

We recognise that you will have access to materials provided during your studies (e.g. lecture and seminar notes, supplementary materials) and to online resources when undertaking online exams. Copying and pasting content from lecture slides, coursework, assessment solutions and information from the internet is prohibited. So, too, is collusion with third parties and other students.  

All online exams have been designed to cater for additional time ILP requirements.

• 24-hour online exams will operate with a 24-hour window from the timed release of each exam in which to download the exam, complete the exam, and upload answer scripts via the submission inbox on Moodle. The 24-hour timescale incorporates extra time in Inclusive Learning Plans (ILPs), personal circumstances and any possible IT/technical issues.
• Timed online exams will operate within the expected timeframe for standard closed book exams plus ILP time plus 30 minutes. Where your ILP provides for additional time, this will be allocated to the exam duration time e.g. a student entitled to receive 25% extra time would be given 2.5 hours rather than 2 hours to complete the online exam.

Students requiring adjustments other than additional time will be contacted directly with further information and/or to enable discussion about how these can be delivered.

Students with queries regarding ILP adjustments should contact KentSSW@kent.ac.uk (Canterbury) or MedwaySSW@kent.ac.uk (Medway)

The template answer booklet requires you to enter your exam number (located on your KentOne card). It is important you complete this correctly in the space provided on each answer booklet (as per paper exams). 

You should also resave the answer booklet to include your exam number in the filename using the following format [your exam number] [module code] AnswerBooklet. For example, 12345 ABCD1234 AnswerBooklet.docx