Frequently asked questions

A student took a book exam and failed. How many times can the student retake the same book exam?
There is no limit on the number of times a failed exam can be retaken. The student may register and participate in an examination where the previously failed exam is retaken as many times as it takes for the student to pass the exam.

A student took a book exam and passed, but they want to improve their grade. How many times can the student attempt to improve their grade?
The student may attempt to improve the grade two times.

A student passed their book exam with a grade of 4. They wanted to improve their grade and retook the book exam, but this time, their grade was 3. Does the student still have two chances to improve their grade?
The student has received a passing grade, after which they may attempt to improve their grade twice. The retake in this scenario counts as an attempt to improve the grade. Even if the student got a lower grade during a retake, they still used one of their two attempts.

Students are notified that there will be an exam and one opportunity for a retake at the end of the course. Is this enough or should there be two retakes?
Each assessment process must include an opportunity for a retake, so one retake is enough.

Students have been notified that, in addition to the exam held during the last lesson of the course, there will be two retakes. A student could not attend the original exam held during the last lesson. They participate in the first retake and pass, but they would like to improve their grade. How many times can the student attempt to improve their grade?
The student may only attempt to improve their grade once, during the second retake. If the student failed during the first retake and passed during the second, they may not attempt to improve their grade at all.

The student has participated in a course and the exam held during the course’s final lesson. The exam included two retakes. The student passed the exam and attempted to improve their grade twice. Can the student retake the same course the next time it is held?
If a student has completed a course with a passing grade and used their two attempts to improve the grade, they cannot take the same course again. However, if the course that the student completed is out of date and can no longer be included in their degree, the student may take the new course that has replaced the old one.

Furthermore, a student who has completed a course with a passing grade may take the same course through the open university. If a student takes the course through the open university, they must participate in lessons as an open university student and follow the standard enrolment procedure for open university courses, including fees.

A course’s assessment is not based on an exam. Instead, students must write essays. The course’s teacher has given instructions on writing the essay and a student has submitted the essay within the deadline. The teacher grades the essay and concludes that it does not earn a passing grade. How should the teacher proceed with the student’s course completion?
The procedure will most likely depend on the specific reason the student’s essay failed. The teacher may, for example, have a conversation with the student where they outline the goals of the essay and what the student’s essay was lacking. After this, the student may make corrections to their essay or the teacher can arrange some other way of completing the course with them.

A course’s assessment is based on short literature reviews, and the teacher arranges which topics the reviews will cover with each student. The course uses a grading scale of 0–5. The student completes a review of the topic they were assigned and their final grade is 3. The student would like to improve their grade. Can they do it?
The student may attempt to improve their grade, but because they completed a written assignment, they must either rewrite most of their original work or choose a completely new topic. Feedback from teachers is part of good assessment, but the teacher is not required to outline the problems that a student should correct in their work in order to get a higher grade.

The course’s grading is based on a practice dissertation that is graded on a scale of 0–5. The teacher provides instructions on writing the practice dissertation and gives students a deadline for submitting it. Some students submit the dissertation within the deadline, others after the deadline. The teacher would like to grade the assignment in such a way that the dissertations which were submitted after deadline get a lower grade than the dissertations that were submitted within the deadline. Does the teacher have a right to do this?
Students must complete their work in accordance with deadlines that the teacher must announce at the beginning of a course, at the latest. The deadlines set for submitting work must be reasonable in terms of the students’ studies and teachers’ schedules. A teacher is not required to accept work that has been submitted late, and the student may be required to retake the course.

The teacher cannot use a different grading scale for those who have submitted their work within the deadline and those who have not. The teacher may use a different grading scaling only if and when following the deadline is included in the learning outcomes outlined in the curriculum. The teacher must notify students about this in advance.

A student has requested that a course is substituted with an equivalent course that the student completed at another higher education institution. The course has been graded with a scale of 0–5 and the University of Helsinki uses the same grading scale for its equivalent course. The substitution is approved and the substituted course is given the same grade the student received at the other higher education institution. However, the student is unsatisfied with the grade they originally received. Can the student attempt to improve their grade?
If the student has requested a substitution and it has been approved, the grade for the substituted course cannot be improved.

The curriculum has outlined that a teacher should use a grading scale of 0–5 on a course. The teacher believes that a few students who have taken the course have performed so poorly that they can only be graded with a “pass”. Can the teacher do this?
The curriculum defines the grading scale for each course, and the teacher cannot deviate from it. The grade for a study module is determined on the basis of the grades awarded for the courses included in the module, with each course assigned a weight corresponding to the number of credits it represents. When calculating the grade, only courses with a grading scale of 0–5 are taken into account. The study module’s grade may affect things like whether a student will be accepted into a popular Master’s programme or doctoral programme in their university or another university.

A degree programme is preparing a new curriculum. There is discussion about which courses should be graded with a scale of 0–5 and which courses should use a pass/fail grading. Can the grading scales be freely chosen?
According to the Regulations on Degrees and the Protection of Students’ Rights at the University of Helsinki, which has been approved by the university’s Board, completed courses use a grading scale of 0–5. However, the curriculum may determine that a grading of pass/fail should be used. In other words, the university generally uses a grading scale of 0–5. Pass/fail grading is an exception, and there must be grounds for using it in the curriculum.