Assessment

In the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, we use a wide range of assessment methods to ensure fairness and accuracy of grading.  In the first two years of your course, you will have written exams at the end of each academic year, along with shorter, mid-year tests in January.  Most of our modules also include laboratory work and/or coursework. 

Practical laboratory work generally involves designing, building and testing an electronic circuit or system, or a software application, or both.  You are normally required to keep a regular log of your work, either as a hardcopy or on-line, and to write a final report on your practical achievements and results.  In some cases you will also be required to give a “poster presentation”, which involves preparing a large poster that describes your work, and giving a short explanation of the poster to your tutor and colleagues. 

In your 2nd  year, there are two modules – the Embedded Systems Project and the Mobile Applications Project – which consist entirely of project work. There is no written exam for these modules, and the assessment involves a regular log, final report, and a presentation and demonstration of your finished project.

In your 3rd year (except for Music, Multimedia and Electronics and Mechatronics & Robotics students), the second semester is devoted entirely to project work.  As well as the assessment methods described above, the project assessment includes a “viva” during which you will be asked to describe your project and your results to your project supervisor and a second academic “assessor”.  The vivas, which generally last about 45 minutes, are informal, but nonetheless challenging.  There is also a project exhibition day, at which you will display a poster of your project as well as a (hopefully!) working demonstration of the project itself.

In your 4th year (except for Music, Multimedia and Electronics students), you will carry out an MEng research-type project which runs throughout the year, again with a range of assessments as above, including an MEng project exhibition.

BSc Music, Multimedia and Electronics students carry out a full- year group project in their 3rd year.  This is an ambitious piece of work which draws together all your acquired expertise in both the music and electronics disciplines.  The Music, Multimedia and Electronics course also includes a range of creative electronic/technical composition activities, for which you are assessed directly on the quality, creative and technical merits of your composition. 

The MEng, BEng Mechatronics and Robotics course includes practical mechatronics design projects in both the 1st and 2nd year, and a full year project in each of the 3rd and 4th years.