Sitting exams online means you may encounter some technical difficulties when completing or submitting your assessments. Make sure to familiarise yourself with the following guidelines from UCL’s Controlled Condition Exams Regulations, so you are best prepared to submit your exams on time and know what to do if you do experience any technical issues.
Submit your exam on time
If you are taking a controlled condition exam, you will have an additional upload window of 20 minutes on top of the duration of your exam.
The exam duration shown in AssessmentUCL is the total time you have to complete the exam and upload and submit it. The end time on AssessmentUCL is the time by which your exam must be handed in.
For example:
| Standard Timetable Duration | 2 hours | |
| Upload Window | 20 minutes | |
| Duration shown in AssessmentUCL | 2 hours 20 minutes |
The 20 minute upload window should only be used to upload and hand in your submission.
It has not been provided as additional time to continue working on your assessment, and the full 20 minutes may be necessary if you have lots of photos or files to convert to a PDF document before you can hand in your work. It’s therefore essential you use the full 20 minutes to upload and submit your exam, as you will not be able to hand anything in after the deadline.
Report any technical difficulties
If you experience technical difficulties, including difficulties accessing or completing your online assessments on the AssessmentUCL platform, you should report this to UCL as soon as possible.
UCL's Support During your Assessment webpage contains up-to-date information and the relevant support options for difficulties with logging in, before your assessment begins and for issues during or after your assessment.
All technical failure claims must be supported by evidence, so make sure to take time stamped screenshots or photos of any error messages of internet connection problems that you encounter.
If your technical failure claim is accepted, there are a range of different standard mitigations (steps UCL will take) for each type of assessment. You can find more information on this in the Student Regulations for Exams and Assessments 2022-23, Section 10.7 Technical Failures Policy.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What difficulties will not be considered?
a) Uploading the wrong file
b) Forgetting to complete the Cover Sheet
c) Submitting via the Practice Assessment
d) Clicking the ‘Submit Blank’ button
e) Password expiry
f) Not being registered on the correct module
g) Mis-reading the timetable
h) Starting your exam at the wrong time
i) Mis-understanding time zone differences
j) Running out of time because you have not left yourself at least 20 minutes to upload and submit your work- Do I need to provide evidence?
Yes, you will need to provide supporting evidence which shows the problem is substantial and beyond your control. This table gives examples of acceptable and unacceptable evidence.
- How do I use AssessmentUCL?
It's important that you familiarise yourself with AssessmentUCL before the date of your exam. You should read through the guidance for students and complete the practice assessments to test your device and browser set up.
Appeal the outcome
If you are unhappy with the outcome of your technical failure claim and want to raise the issue further, you can submit a formal complaint to UCL.
Our Advice Service can offer support with the process, so please get in touch via our online contact form if you would like to book an appointment to discuss your complaint with one of our advisers.