How to: Student

Firstly, most of your lecturers don’t just come into university to lecture for a few hours every week and then go home. They normally run one or two courses per semester with an average of 80+ students and are typically required to also publish one to two journal articles while marking assignments throughout the term.  They also handle the administration of their subjects – that is, answering emails and running the online learning environment. The admin is probably the hardest area for lecturers to conquer, as most will receive up to 30 emails per day from students.

With the above kept in mind, here are a few steps you can take to help your lecturers/tutors give you a speedy and satisfactory response to your email.

You were given your student email account for a reason – use it! Some lecturers/tutors won’t respond to personal email addresses, and if they don’t recognise the address, they’ll delete them straight away. Emailing from your student email account is the best way to communicate with the University via email.

Your lecturer can have up to 500 students, so it is important to include your student number and name of course for easy identification. Always include your full name and leave your best contact number, in case they need to follow it up in a phone call with you.

Summarise the body of the email in a couple of words. Will the person know what the subject is by reading the subject line? Having a clear, concise subject line means your lecturer will know straight away what your email is regarding.

You may have had a quick chat to your lecturer in the hallway, or you spoke with your tutor and assumed that they spoke with your lecturer – this is sometimes not the case. To be on the safe side and to refresh their memory, it is important to include all the background details in your email.

You may have had a quick chat to your lecturer in the hallway, or you spoke with your tutor and assumed that they spoke with your lecturer – this is sometimes not the case. To be on the safe side and to refresh their memory, it is important to include all the background details in your email.

Be clear in your message, as an unclear email will result in a frustrated recipient and delay the response. Although it is important to give sufficient detail in your emails, it is equally as important to keep it brief and to the point. Also ensure you use correct grammar and don’t overdo the acronyms and abbreviations.

Have you looked through the course handbook for the answer to your question? Have you looked on the online learning environment? Are you asking a question to something you could easily find the answer to? Some lecturers will not answer questions if they know the answer is easily found, so make sure you check the subject materials, course announcements or university handbook first.

Do not be angry or rude in emails with your lecturer. The University is training you to be a professional, and if you send emails with inappropriate content in the workplace you can be disciplined (or fired). It’s the same at university, so remember that the emails you send are not confidential and could be used as evidence if an issue is escalated.

If you have made all the right moves and are having difficulty getting a response, or you just want to run your case by an independent set of eyes and ears, contact us to get advice. If your questions relate to assessment, you may also find our Assessment Disputes advice page helpful.

The University is a big organisation. Sometimes, when you have a conversation with someone at Stop 1, or with one of your lecturers or tutors, or even with a staff member from Special Consideration, it’s always good to keep records of this interaction.

Another approach might be to email the person you spoke with summarising what you discussed and asking them to confirm whether your memory of the interaction was correct.

When it comes to your assessment, the University takes academic integrity seriously. It’s important to keep records on how you approached your assessment, how you researched it, planned it, wrote it and referenced it. Go to our academic misconduct page to find out some general advice about assessments (record keeping edition).

The University reckons everything you need to know about your exams is here.

While saying that page contains EVERYTHING you need to know may be overstating it a tad – there is a lot of important info there – so make sure you read through it thoroughly and then read it again.

We expect this info to be updated and added to from time to time – so we won’t replicate it here. We will, however, try to give you some hints on pulling it all together so that if anything goes wrong, you have a plan.

There’s no way the University Exam FAQs or indeed the UMSU Advocacy Service can answer every question burning a hole in your stress-riddled brain – but most likely someone can. That person is your subject coordinator – who will have the details about the way the exam is meant to run, reassure you that you can take a toilet break without facing a misconduct allegation, or give you access to a practice exam. If your subject coordinator can’t or won’t answer your questions – ask Stop 1. If you still have trouble getting a straight or satisfactory answer – let us know and we’ll see if we can help you to get a clear response.

Exam timetables can be tricky at the best of times. If you are completing sit down on-site invigilated exams, you can (usually) tell pretty easily if there’s a clash or where things might overlap in problematic ways.

With online assessment, things can be more gnarly. You might have a combo of “strict time limit” exams, strict time limit (but within a broader time limit window) exams, and broad time limit exams (aka take-home exams over multiple days). This creates all sorts of potential for overlaps and clashes, and means you really need to keep your wits about how well organised you are ahead of time.

Our best tip here is to make sure you have a clear schedule setting out of all the assessments in your timetable on one calendar. You need to see how they fit together.

OK – so you’ve set it all out on a calendar, and well...things just don’t add up. If you think there are going to be clashes or significant overlaps in your exams, if you are overseas and the exam starts at midnight your time, or you will be on a flight because the semester has been pushed back – first check if it’s a centrally organised exam or a departmental one here.

If the subject doesn’t show up in the timetable – it will be a departmental exam, and you need to contact your subject coordinator to let them know of any problems. For all centrally organised exams (and where you have contacted the subject coordinator and remain unhappy or get no response) then you need to contact Stop 1 to let them know.

The University is distinguishing between “acceptable” and “unacceptable” exam clashes. Yes, that sounds crazy – but that’s how it is. If you raise an exam issue, and you don’t get a satisfactory resolution, make sure you keep copies of your correspondence and any other evidence of the problem, and you might want to seek advice from us later if you think it has caused you great disadvantage.

So, you’re doing your assessment online, what if tech fails? What if the internet goes down or the lights go out and the electricity goes off or your computer decides to crash in the middle of everything?

Make sure you are properly set up well in advance of your exam day. Do the practice exams offered (contact your subject coordinator to get them to set one up), try creating a test run situation so you feel more familiar with the whole set up. Get tech support details handy – bookmark the URL of your NBN and electricity provider’s support page, bookmark the Stop 1 chat page, UMSU Advocacy contact form, make sure your laptop battery is fully charged. Set up phone tethering ready to go if you need it.

The University’s advice here is pretty underwhelming. Just like an episode of the IT Crowd, but it’s not a parody. Yes, try turning the computer off and on again. Restart your router…still no good? Why don’t you sit in the telephone queue for your NBN provider’s helpdesk while you aren’t doing your exam. Is that the sound of a clock ticking or is it you having a heart attack? Can I even use a phone to call someone during my exam?

OK, joking aside – this is the biggest fear most students have expressed – tech failure.

The reality is that a complete techno meltdown is fairly unlikely for the majority of people – but things will definitely go wrong for some of you – from catastrophic fails like the power and internet and mobile phone networks crashing simultaneously to minor glitches which still stuff you up in a stressful time limited context.

We don’t have all the answers for what to do at the time to fix it – but what we can tell you is – if something goes wrong – try to get a record of it. Take a photo of the blue screen or spinning ball of death, go online to those bookmarked support pages where you can get a screen shot of the NBN or electricity provider announcing an outage in your area. Get someone in your household to check things that aren’t working – you might be too stressed to figure it out – or else they may be able to provide testimony that it did indeed screw up irreparably.

So, if it all goes south – try to keep calm. Document things as best you can. Carry on. Contact us. At the very least we will log your contact and be able to attest to the fact you reported a problem at the time.

If you experience a sustained technical issue or issues which prevent you from completing or submitting you exam or online assessment, you can apply for Special Consideration.

You will need to provide evidence of your technical issues and this is outlined on this page on the University website. It’s important therefore that you are ready and able to collect evidence of a tech fail – including any notes you made about your technical issues, evidence of an outage from your Internet Service Provider, screenshots of error messages, photos of the issue, evidence of requesting technical support such as phone log, chat transcript or email. Obviously, the University will be able to verify some things as well, including your contact with Stop 1, technical logs and examination incident reports and records.

The main thing is to know you have the capacity to get these forms of evidence organized before you sit your exams!

You need to get your application in within 4 business days of the issue – so act quickly. You can find the link to the application here.

You can contact us if you need help with your application, or if it’s deemed ineligible.

It depends on the exam. Factors to consider are if the exam is in-person or online, and if it’s an open or closed book exam.

✅ Things to bring

You should have your student ID. All students are required to display their University of Melbourne student ID card on their desk for the duration of the exam. Students who have lost their ID card must inform an exam supervisor prior to commencement of writing time and provide alternative photo ID (passport, Australian drivers licence or proof of identity card) as well as a copy of their statement of enrolment. Any issues that can’t be resolved regarding verification of a student’s identity may be pursued as a student discipline matter, which is governed by the Academic Board Regulation. See our page on Academic Misconduct for more info here.

In addition to the loose pens, pencils, erasers and rulers that you can take into the exam venue, other authorised materials include:

clear bottle of water

pharmacy medications and other items in accordance with alternative exam arrangements

mobile phones, tablets, laptops, wallets and purses must be placed underneath your desk (electronics to be turned off and no items to be taken into the toilets, this includes smart watches)

additional items as indicated on the examination cover sheet in the case of open book exams

Download the checklist here

For more information on responding to allegations of misconduct, see our page on Academic Misconduct here.

These might seem simple, but you'd be surprised by how these small things slip people up!

Check the time and location of your exam

Not all exams are on the main campus so make sure you check where you’re going. It’s also a good idea to check the timetable a few days prior to your exam in case there have been any changes.

Reading time

The exam start time includes relevant reading time. So, if your exam start time is 8:30am, and you are permitted 15 minutes of reading time, then your writing time will commence at 8:45am. Remember not to write on your paper during reading time.

If you arrive late to your exam due to factors outside your control, and these circumstances can be independently verified, you may be admitted to the exam if no student has already left the exam. If this is the case, you will not be given extra time to complete the exam. If you believe your exam performance was significantly impacted due to these reasons you may be eligible to seek an opportunity to re-sit by applying for special consideration. See our Special Consideration page for more information and contact us for advice if you believe this is the case.