The examinable component may be an examination, it may be a piece of work such as a dissertation, project or portfolio, or it may include both an examination and other work. It may be written or oral. To pass the module, or to achieve a particular grade of pass, you must attain a particular score on both the examinable component and the continuous assessment. Your result is not determined by an averaging of the two components (see Section 2.1 and Section 4).
The examinable component for most Open University modules consists of a hand-written examination, usually lasting three hours. The question paper will almost always be an unseen one, but you’ll receive a specimen paper with your module materials so that you can familiarise yourself with the appearance of the question paper, what you’ll be asked to do and the kind of questions you’re likely to find. All Diploma language modules have both a written and an oral examination. For some modules you may be able to buy copies of past examination papers from the Open University Students Association (OUSA).
If your module requires you to submit a piece of examined work in place of or as well as an examination, it will have a published cut-off date by which it must reach the University. It’s likely to be a project, a report, a portfolio or an end-of-module assessment (EMA). You’ll be told the arrangements for submitting it, and a booklet of Information for Students Submitting Examinable Work will be sent to you about four to six weeks before your submission date. If your module requires you to submit your work electronically, you will instead receive an email reminding you of the cut-off date and giving you the weblink to the booklet. You should read the booklet carefully - it tells you how to submit your work, what to do if special circumstances have affected it, and how to ask permission to submit late. You should note that your tutor does not have the authority to allow a submission after the cut-off date.
For most language modules the examinable component consists of a written end-of-module assessment and a speaking end-of-module assessment.
The examinable component of first and third level language modules consists of an end-of-module oral assessment and a written end-of-module assignment. Second level language modules have an oral assessment as well as a written examination. You will need to pass both the written and oral elements of the end-of-module assessment to be awarded a pass.
Details of the specific arrangements for each module will be provided on the module website.
