Appealing grades
If you receive a grade on an exam that you believe is incorrect, you can file a complaint about it.
Main content
Do you want to appeal about your grade?
We recommend that you request an explanation and read through it, as well as the exam grading guidelines, before filing a complaint. This will provide you with a better basis for evaluating your performance and deciding whether to complain. If you file a complaint, your exam answer will be reevaluated. The complaint process involves two new examiners who are not provided with the original grade or the explanation for it (the grading is "blind," cf. the Universities and University Colleges Act, § 5-3, fourth paragraph). The new examiners will conduct a new assessment, which may result in a different evaluation than the one you received from the first grading committee, teaching staff, academic level control, or other academic personnel within or outside the faculty or department.
You lodge an appeal about the grading at your own risk, and the exam result may improve, worsen, or remain the same as the grade you complained about. The new result is final, and you cannot appeal against it (cf. the Universities and University Colleges Act, § 5-3, seventh paragraph).
Group Exam
If you are filing an appeal about a group exam, you are complaining on your own behalf and not on behalf of the entire group. If the result is changed after the complaint process, the change applies only to the individual who filed the complaint.
Portfolio Exam
For a portfolio exam, you will receive a single overall grade that applies to all elements/exams within the portfolio. If you file a complaint about a portfolio exam, all elements of the portfolio will be reevaluated.
Oral and Other Non-Verifiable Exams
You cannot complain about the result of an oral exam, practice, clinical test, exhibition, concert, or other non-verifiable performances (cf. the Universities and University Colleges Act, § 5-3, fifth paragraph). It is your performance during the exam that is assessed by the grading committee. Since the new examiners were not present during your performance, they do not have the opportunity to evaluate it (the performance is not verifiable).
Appeals precedure and Contact Information
How do you file an exam complaint?
You can file an exam grade complaint in Studentweb. Select the "More" tab in the top menu. Then click on "Explanation and Complaints" and select the relevant subject. Click on the "Complaint about Grading" box to file a complaint.
For certain exams, the option to file a complaint may not be available in Studentweb, and you will need to use this form.
You can send a justification that a potential controll committee get acsess to (read more about this below).
Withdrawal of Complaint
If you wish to withdraw your complaint, you can do so in the same place where you filed the complaint in Studentweb. If you filed the complaint using a form, you must contact the faculty (see contact information below). A grade complaint can be withdrawn until a new grading decision has been made and published in Studentweb.
Processing and Response to Appeal
Appeal cases must be processed without undue delay, in accordance with the Public Administration Act, § 11 a. You will receive an email when the result is available in Studentweb.
General processing:
The examination coordinator is responsible for following up on appeals and their processing, while the reassessment committee determines the outcome of the appeal. The following points describe the general processing of appeals about grades:
The examination coordinator ensures contact with internal and external examiners who will reassess the examination answer and makes the complaint cases available to them. In certain subject areas, such as the Faculty of Law, all complaints are gathered before the grading committee begins its assessment.
Once the grading committee has finished assessing the answers, the examination coordinator transfers the grades to the student system and publishes them in StudentWeb. The student can now view the grades in StudentWeb.
If the reassessed grade differs by more than one grade from the original grade, the complaint case must be forwarded to the control committee. This occurs before publication in StudentWeb.
At the Faculty of Law, the grade for the subject you have lodged a complaint about will be locked in StudentWeb no later than three working days after the complaint deadline expires.
Response to the complaint:
In most academic environments, it usually takes 3-8 weeks to receive a response, while in others it can take up to 12 weeks. You will receive an email when the reassessment of examination grade is ready, and you will find the updated grade in StudentWeb. If it takes 12 weeks to receive a response, we will contact you and provide both the expected response date and the reason for the extended processing time.
You can request an explanation for the reassessed grade; please refer to the faculty's website for information on how to request an explanation of the complaint result.
Factors affecting processing time:
In both small and large academic environments, there may be subjects with few or many complaints. The volume of complaints and the timing of when assessors need to evaluate the answers particularly affect the processing time. The main reasons why, in several cases and generally in some academic environments, it can take up to 12 weeks for a response are described below:
Volume and quality assurance: The answers must be re-evaluated by eassessors who did not participate in the initial grading. In subjects with a high volume of grading complaints, this requires extra time and quality assurance. In many subjects, assessors want to compare answers and have an understanding of the workload before they begin. The grading committee starts the assessment only after receiving all the complaints they need to process. Extended complaint deadlines related to the processing of explanations for grading often contribute to a prolonged process.
Holiday periods: External assessors usually have full-time jobs in addition to their assessment duties, and in many cases, the timing for assessing complaints falls during the holiday season. This particularly contributes to longer processing times for complaints in the spring semester.
Continuous efforts are being made to identify measures that can reduce processing time while maintaining the quality of the grading work.
Handling complaints regarding changes in two or more grade levels
If the grade upon re-evaluation differs by two or more grades from the original grade (e.g., from a C to an E), an additional assessment must be conducted before the final grade is determined (see the Universities and University Colleges Act, § 5-3, sixth paragraph).
In such cases, a control committee will be established to carry out a quality control process. The control committee usually consists of a representative from the regular committee and the complaint committee, as well as the course coordinator or another subject expert familiar with the course. The control committee has access to all available information, as grading from the regular and the complaint committees, and any justifications provided by the regular grading and by the student. Their task is to determine the final grade for the submission. This is not considered a third assessment but rather an additional quality review of the grading. In some cases, handling complaints involving changes in two or more grade levels may result in a delay in the grading process.
Contact information
Faculty of Art, Music and Design: eksamen.kmd@uib.no.
Faculty of humanities: studierettleiar@hf.uib.no
Faculty of Law: klagesensur.jurfa@uib.no
Faculty of Mathematics and Natual Sciences: studie.matnat@uib.no
Faculty of Medicine: UiBhjelp
Faculty of Psychology: eksamen@psyfa.uib.no.
Faculty of Social Sciences: studieveileder.svfa@uib.no.
