Appeals against decisions of the Boards of Examiners

• Acceptable grounds for appeal
• Unacceptable grounds for appeal

You can appeal against decisions of the Board(s) of Examiners by following the Procedure for appealing against decisions of Boards of Examiners.

Please note: special procedures apply to:

• BA Philosophy and MA Philosophy: see the University of London BA/MA Philosophy regulations
• MPhil/Phd: see the University of London research degree regulations and Birkbeck supplementary regulations.

Acceptable grounds for appeal

There are only three acceptable grounds for appeal:

1. where you can provide adequate evidence that your examination was adversely affected by illness and/or other factors that you were unable (or, for valid reasons, unwilling) to divulge before the Board of Examiners reached their decision
2. where there is clear evidence of administrative error (e.g. omission of an assessment or mark; where someone has made an error in adding up different marks; incorrect application of any special assessment conditions or penalties that may apply to the case; incorrect application of published assessment schemes)
3. where there is clear evidence that the examination was not conducted in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Unacceptable grounds for appeal

The following examples would not be acceptable as grounds for appeal:

1. where the appeal challenges the Board’s academic judgement and/or is based solely on dissatisfaction with an assessment outcome
2. where the complaint is frivolous or vexatious and/or wholly without substance or merit.

In these cases, the Deputy Registrar will consult as s/he sees fit and refer the request back to you with a written statement outlining the reasons your appeal has been rejected.