Supplementary regulations for exams at MF

Chapter 1: General Rules

§ 1. General Definitions

1. Examination/final assessment: A summative (final) assessment with the determination of grades (A -F or “approved”/”failed”), on the basis of one or more forms of examination.
2. Partial/midterm examination: A separate part of an examination which is included in the assessment basis for a course. Partial exams are included in the overall examination grade. The value of each partial exam is given in the course description.
3. Course requirements: Mandatory work requirements that are related to the implementation of a course and assessed with approved/not approved. Course requirements must be officially recognized before the final assessment can take place. It may be required attendance, draft for an essay, oral presentation, short test, etc.

§ 2. Definitions of examination forms

1. Written School Exam: Written exam under supervision. The course description indicates time and support material allowed.
2. Oral Exam: Exam that can be weighted independently or used to adjust/correct a grade. The exam may take various forms, for example an academic conversation, an oral presentations etc.
3. Home exam: A written work within a specified time limit (e.g. three days or one week) on a given topic with free use of resources.
4. Portfolio: An examination where the grade is given on the basis of two or more written works which (normally) is the result of a supervised writing process. With the portfolio assessment stipulated course requirements is linked.
5. Group Task: A task where several students contribute and where it is given an overall grade and all participants in the group gets the same grade.
6. Individual Writing Assignment: A written work with a fixed scope, prepared under supervision.
7. Bachelor’s Thesis: Individual written assignment which terminates a program at the undergraduate level and that makes use of the substance or perspective from several disciplines or areas of specialization. The thesis is prepared under supervision.
8. Master’s Thesis: A thesis based on independent research, on a scale from 30 to 60 credits, prepared under supervision.
9. Approval of Fulfilled Study Requirements: Study requirement executed and approved during one or more semesters. This applies to courses which do not have another final examination. Assessed with pass / fail. The course convener reports the fulfilled course requirements for student administration.
10. Assessment of Practice: Assessment of systematic training that takes place in authentic vocational situations under the guidance of a qualified person. Assessed with a pass/fail.

§ 3. Definitions of study requirements

1. Presence: Attendance in compulsory classes or activity stated as a percentage.
2. Practice: Participation in scheduled training under the guidance within authentic professional situations.
3. Evaluation: Participation in written assessment of studies and learning environment.
4. Draft Task: A fully printed text for introduction (topic question, material, method and outline) provided feedback from the professor.
5. Draft Task Introduction: Written draft with the topic question, materials and disposal given feedback from the professor.
6. Rehearsal Exercise: Written, exam preparatory work, given feedback from the professor.
7. Text Assignment: Written work in language education, either a translation or a text analysis.
8. Written Reflection about a theme or about own learning process, based on e.g. study aim, own learning, process of writing, practice etc.
9. Observation Note: Written work reporting from and/or reflect upon performed observations of worship, teaching, dialogues etc.
10. Book Report: Written work using own words to describe the contents of a text (source text, lesson book, etc.) A book report should include source references. At the master's level, a book report should have a distinct element of independent work, in terms of analysis or assessment.
11. Excursion Report: Written work that reports from a carried excursion.
12. Study Tour Report: Written work that reports from an academic study tour and from relevant literature.
13. Practice Preparatory Tasks: Practical work in a church / a practice location.
14. Learning Contract Related to Practice: Written contract at the beginning of a practice period drawn up by a given aim.
15. Evaluation of practice: Reports from practice written by the supervisor and the student.
16. Practice Exercise: Written assignment on issues related to the practice the student has completed.
17. Sermon/Devotion: Complete manuscript to a sermon or devotional held during practice. Sermon/devotion must be submitted together with a reflection paper.
18. Liturgy Agenda: Program for a service which the student has planned and implemented during practice. The agenda must be submitted together with a reflection paper.
19. Field Notes/Log: Ongoing description of and reflection on practice or other activity that the student participates in.
20. Empirical Study: Qualitative or quantitative study using social science methods.
21. Case Discussion: Discussion of a concrete set case.
22. Response: Written or oral comments prepared for a fellow students work.
23. Oral Presentation: Oral presentation of a scientific contribution in a teaching situation.
24. Written Presentation: Written contributions related to teaching seminars.
25. Quick Test: Written test under supervision.
26. Weekly Exam: Weekly exam of academic contents.

Chapter II: Regulations relating to the organization of regular examination, postponed examination and re-examination

§ 4. Regular examination

An exam is normally offered only in the semester when the course is taught. The Director of Academic Affairs may provide exceptions for certain courses.

§ 5. Deferred examination

Deferred exams are arranged for candidates who due to acknowledged reasons were not able to take the exam, cf. Regulations for admission, studies and examinations at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society § 25.1-3.

Deferred exams are normally arranged subsequent to regular exams at the beginning of the next semester. Deferred exams will normally have the same form as the regular examination.

§ 6. New exam

New exams are normally arranged simultaneously with deferred exams, for candidates who have not passed the ordinary exams and students that have withdrawn during the exam. A student who does not show up for the exam is not entitled to a new or deferred examination.

The examination form for a new exam will normally be the same as for the regular exam. The new exam is normally arranged together with the deferred examination.

It is not possible to withdraw during the exam on oral exams, or on essay exams, portfolio exams and similar forms of exams where the exam duration is not specified in the course description.

Chapter III: Special provisions relating to program requirements, cheating and conducting examinations

§ 7. Implementation of program requirements

The course coordinator may grant exemptions from course requirements, and have the responsibility to report about passed course requirements to the Department of Academic Affairs.

If submitted course requirements are not met and receive the assessment “not approved”, the student will normally be given a new possibility to submit within the same semester.

The rules related to cheating apply to course requirements cf. Regulations for admission, studies and examinations at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society § 36.

§ 8. Transfer of study requirements

Course requirements may by application be transferred to a later semester if the student postpones the final assessment to a later semester, or if a student does not pass the exam.

Course requirements that are directly related to final evaluation (eg. draft assignments / tasks) cannot be transferred to another semester. Exceptions to this rule is given in the course description

§ 9.  Rules relating to cheating

Actions contrary to these rules and rules on referencing, are considered cheating.

a) Home based exams

Students must work independently on all individual written exam submissions. The same applies to individual written course requirements. Within this framework certain forms of cooperation are allowed. This includes discussing research questions, interpretation of exam questions, and relevant sources. Other discussions while working on the submission may be acceptable. However, the submission itself must represent the individual work of the student.

It is prohibited to distribute exam answers or drafts of exam answers to other students who work on individual assignments.

Whenever an exam is undertaken with free use of support material, an academic integrity statement about independent work must be submitted. This includes a confirmation that the candidate has not previously submitted the answer for assessment, does not give any unattributed quotations or paraphrases, does not re-submit own work without referencing, and states all references/sources in a list of references.

Presenting text written by artificial intelligence as one's own work is considered cheating.

A separate guidance on sources and plagiarism, “Guidelines for writing assignments at MF” applies to written work submitted for assessment that requires referencing.

b) Campus based exams

Only permitted support material, specified in the course description, can be brought to the exam. The support material may not contain personal notes etc. (except for cases where other regulations allow such notes). Candidates may not borrow support material from each other during the exam.

If an Exam Inspector suspects cheating or an attempt to cheat on a school exam, an Exam Officer will be notified. He/she will report the incident to the Director of Academic Affairs, who decides further procedures. Cheating or attempted cheating during an examination may result in an annulment of the exam, and exclusion from Norwegian Universities for up to one year. If the case is pursued, the student will be given the opportunity to meet the Director of Academic Affairs and clarify the case. Cf. «Act relating to Universities and University Colleges» § 12-4, “Regulations on admission, studies and examinations at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society” § 36 and this paragraph.

§ 10. Policy on weighting of exams in a course

In courses where the weighting of partial examinations are indicated with fractional of the total grade in a subject, should F or fail on one of partial examinations lead to the final grade so that the course is marked not passed, cf. Regulations concerning admissions, programs and examination at the MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society § 21.

§ 11. Oral adjusting exam

For courses that have a combination of 1) a written exam part (portfolio assessment/ academic task/ academic essay/ bachelor’s thesis/ master’s thesis) with 2) an adjusting oral examination, the student must have passed the written part of the exam before taking the oral adjusting exam. The adjusting oral exam is held as soon as possible after the deadline for the written part of the exam.

§ 12.  Rules relating to assessments after appeal on grade awarded

If the grade from an appeal assessment deviate from the original assessment by more than two grades, an addition assessment must be made in order to decide the final grade. The internal assessor from the original assessment committee and the internal assessor from the appeal committee will then make a new assessment and decide the final grade.

§ 13.  Rules relating to the practical implementation of exams

On written school exams the candidate must bring the equipment necessary to submit the exam answer, for instance a Pc/Mac if the exam is digital. Information about necessary equipment are available on MFs web page or in Canvas.

On written school exams the candidate must meet at the right location 30 minutes before the exam begins at the latest. Candidates cannot enter the room before the exam invigilators are in place. The Director of Academic Affairs decides whether candidates who arrive late can take the exam.

On school exams, the candidate must present valid identification.

During the exam, the candidate needs permission from an exam invigilator before leaving the desk. After the exam question paper has been handed out, there is silence and order in the examination room. Communication between candidates is not allowed neither in the examination room nor during breaks. Attempts at contacting other students are considered cheating.

On written school exams, the candidate cannot submit their exam answer or withdraw before one hour of the exam has passed.

Candidates who fall ill during an exam must choose whether they wish to withdraw during the exam or submit the exam. If the candidate chooses to withdraw, they must present a medical certificate to the Study Administration within 3 days after the exam, in order to not use one exam attempt. The medical certificate must be dated on the day of the exam. No submitted exams can be withdrawn, not even on the basis of a medical certificate.

All exam submissions must be made anonymously.

Chapter IV: Special provisions relating to certain topics

§ 14. Regulations under this paragraph are not applicable to English study programmes

Chapter V: Exemptions

§ 15. Exemptions

The Department of Academic Affairs may grant an exemption from the supplementary regulations.

Chapter VI: Commencement

§ 16. Commencement

Regulations come into force on September 01 2020.

These regulations are established by the Director of Academic Affairs, pursuant to Regulations on Admissions, Studies and Examinations at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society  § 35.10, third paragraph.