Quote from Admin on August 15, 2021, 12:47 am

Hey bapim5,

welcome to the forum! 🙂

Yes, the results this year were tricky. Talked to some of my colleagues and they confirmed, that the standards were hardened this year.

The most revolting part of the whole process is, that you can't request an academic recheck in any way. shape or form.

I worked with teachers in the past and I find it incredible unlikely, that the LSE can conduct a fair marking regime for thousands of distance study students who wrote on average more than 15-20 pages for a single assessment. Marking assessments is and was always skewed by the different teachers who mark them, that's the way how open question assessments work.

And exactly for that very reason, every student should have the right to request an academic recheck. To just take away any responsibility from the support staff who marks the papers and tell the students "bad luck if your corrector had a bad day" is wrong.

Moreover, in my experience the second corrector often just checks the main areas and normally trusts the first corrector, because anything else would mean more work and more bureaucracy (and why do that for an anonymous non-UK student, no incentive whatsoever).

Quote from bapim5 on August 15, 2021, 1:15 pm

Already applied for an administrative recheck, probably just wasted £60.

Can't imagine paying 15k a year for other degrees while having no chances for any academic rechecks.

Quote from xiaohejia on August 17, 2021, 5:31 pm

Can confirm, filed a complaint

Had no problems last years and want to graduate this year. Grades this year ruin my average

Quote from Admin on August 23, 2021, 11:23 am

Welcome xiaohejia to the forum 🙂

One of the shortcomings of distance study programs is the lack of flexibility in terms of grading and exam resits. That's one of the problems we try to address with the appeal process, to get a chance for a second academic recheck. Chances, though, are not that grate.

The general philosophy from universities is "examiners don't make mistakes".

Quote from bapim5 on August 31, 2021, 7:40 pm

What a bloody waste of money.

Quote from Admin on September 3, 2021, 9:24 pm

A little more information about points for every answer would be a good start. But letting students pay for a recheck with no possibility for a real appeal is just taking advantage of students with bad grades.

It's not expensive enough to not pay for it and most students probably think "in case they missed something". Really want to know who the examiners are. Some postgrad students or actual real teaching staff with experience. I've worked with academic staff from different academic ranks for years, and there is no way UOL can examine that many students with just a few professors.

It really surprises me that a renowned university with this history and reputation has such a low effort approach not only to their online seminars, but to their whole academic organization.

Somebody showed me a screenshot of last years courses, some of them with literally just a single PDF course guide, 0 forum posts in a whole year.

Their appeal process is just a continuation of the same "we can't be bothered" philosophy.

Quote from bapim5 on September 4, 2021, 11:09 am

Their product:

1. in high demand
2. extreme high availability (literally from anywhere in the world)
3. simple product
4. cheap in comparison to other online degrees

 

high demand (no demand issues) + high availability (no supply issues) + simple and cheap = they couldn't care less about the students, revenue is there anyhow

Quote from xiaohejia on September 9, 2021, 5:49 pm

official response from a professor from last year 2020, one student escalated the appeal all the way up to somebody who actually has responsibility. result: there is no process for academic appeal

examiners dont make mistakes. period. dont know any student who was successful with a appeal.

to understand what they think about appeals: "I am pleased to say that EMFSS Board of Examiners was satisfied that there was no indication of any detrimental impact on the current assessment results."

in other words "WE ARE PERFECT" 

Quote from Admin on March 25, 2022, 1:41 am

A year later and nothing has changed.

I'm not aware of any students who were successful with their appeals. Moreover, it looks like the university is more determined than ever to keep the scores and exams below their previous thresholds. There were quite a lot of students, apparently, who hired academic tutors for the assessments of the last two years.

I'm aware of one student who showed me the rates and how the whole system works. Tutors even offer online meetings for specific courses during the exams. They don't actively write the exam, but they act as a "counsel" for you. The systems evolved during the pandemic, especially in competitive education systems such as in China and other Asian markets.

Good grades for some extra cash destroyed the trust from many educational institutions in their pupils and students. Full surveillance during exams via webcam, microphone and software is the answer to that.