ASSESSMENT APPEAL
All students have the right to appeal their assessments if they have evidence to show that the marks given were inaccurate.
Students have 10 working days to submit their appeal, starting from the day you received your marks.
Quick Assist Video: The Appeal Process Explained
APPEALS PROCESS
There are two types of Assessment appeals:
Appeal against Assessment for an assessment mark completed during the study period.
Final Result Appeal for the overall unit mark shown on your transcript once the study period is complete.
This graphic outlines the Appeals Process.
INFORMAL APPEAL
We strongly encourage you to raise your concern with your Unit Coordinator if you have evidence that the mark or result awarded for an assessment task is inaccurate. If this is unsuccessful, you can progress to the Formal Assessment Appeal.
If you have contacted the Unit Coordinator, but they have not responded within 3 working days, get in touch with your School Student Services Officer (SSSO) by contacting Curtin Connect.
The Informal Appeal process may not be possible at times when staff are away on leave or failed attempts to contact them are not followed up. We encourage you to progress with a Formal Assessment Appeal and attach documentation to show attempts at contacting academic staff as well as indicate this in your application.
FORMAL ASSESSMENT APPEAL
If you are unsuccessful with the Informal Appeal and you wish to continue to appeal the decision, your next step is to submit a Formal Assessment Appeal.
Students wishing to submit a formal appeal need to complete the Formal Appeal Against Assessment form and submit it within 10 working days of the date the mark for the assessment task was notified to the student.
The appeal will be determined within 10 working days of it being received. Once a decision has been made on the appeal you will be advised of the outcome no later than 3 working days from the date of the decision.
IMPORTANT: When another academic reviews your assessment through a formal appeal, your marks can increase, decrease or remain unchanged.
The decision of the Head of School (or authorised officer) is final.
If you have not heard back about the outcome of your appeal after 3 working days, follow up with your School via Curtin Connect.
APPEAL DETAILS AND EVIDENCE
As the grounds for an assessment appeal are inaccurate marking, you will have to give details on what you have discovered as inaccurate.
A mark/grade or official unit result may only be considered “inaccurate” if any of the following apply:
- Marks were added up incorrectly or the rubric was incorrectly applied
- Content provided by the academic as part of the learning material has been marked as incorrect
- An assessment item that was submitted on time was not marked
- A late penalty was incorrectly applied
REMINDER: When another academic reviews your assessment through a formal appeal, your marks can increase, decrease or remain unchanged.
Reasons that will NOT be considered
- Appealing for additional marks to pass the unit/ graduate
- Personal difficulties experienced during the semester
- Appealing to waive late penalty
- The amount of time that you put into the assessment and revisions
- Explaining how confident you are that you understood the assessment brief
- Meet with your academic and review where you lost marks.
- Comparing your assessment submission to another students’ submission
- You have to provide evidence that the other student wrote the exact same information as you and was awarded different marks.
If you have been directed by Curtin staff to get in touch with Student Assist for support with your appeal due to circumstances beyond inaccurate marking, please send us the email you received from the Curtin staff member with this advice. This is necessary as what you have been instructed is non-compliant with policy and you will need evidence to demonstrate that a Curtin staff is willing to consider your appeal outside of policy. This is not grounds to approve your appeal, this is only supporting evidence to demonstrate to the Head of School (or delegate) on why you have submitted an appeal non-compliant with policy.
Student Assist is only able to review drafts if students can demonstrate inaccurate marking or have evidence that Curtin is willing to consider your appeal outside of current policies. Student Assist will NOT be able to scrutinise your draft to determine if inaccurate marking has occurred as this not our area of expertise. We can only give guidance on if the information provided is clear and factual.
For more information on Appeal against assessment and access to the application, refer to Curtin's Appeal Against Assessment page.
The Assessment Appeals policy is located in Curtin's Assessment and Student Progression Manual.