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    Assessment Guidance

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    Contents

      • Choice Did you find this 'Introduction' section helpful?
      • Page Assessment Related Webinars and Recordings
      • Book OCA Assessment Criteria
      • Book Teach-out Unit Learning Outcomes & Discipline Specific Guidance
      • Page Academic Misconduct
      • Choice Did you find this 'Understanding Assessment' section helpful?
      • Page 2025/26 Assessment Schedule
      • Page 2026/27 Assessment Schedule
      • Page Assessment Dates Explained
      • Page An Invitation for Assessment
      • Page Planning Your Time
      • Choice Did you find the 'Assessment Schedule' section helpful?
      • Book Selecting Work for Assessment
      • URL Selection of Learning Log Entries - Assessment Submission Template
      • Book Technical Requirements and Guidance
      • Choice Did you find the 'Preparing Your Submission' section helpful?
      • Quiz Am I Ready For Assessment?
      • Choice Did you find the 'Submitting Your Work' section helpful?
      • H5P The Anatomy of a Summative Assessment Marksheet
      • Book Understanding Your Marksheet
      • Book Understanding Your Degree Classification
      • Page Making use of Your Summative Feedback
      • Page Disputing Your Assessment Results
      • Choice Did you find the 'Learning From Assessment' section helpful?
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      • Understanding Assessment

        Section outline

        ◄General
        ►Assessment Schedule
        • Highlighted

          In this section you'll find information regarding what assessment is, why it's important to your learning, how your marks are decided and other important guidance around understanding the assessment process and how your work is assessed.

          Here you will also find the Learning Outcomes and discipline specific assessment guidance for Teach-out units. For any student studying a Teach-in (or new 3x3 model) unit, you will find this information in the Assessment section of your unit.


          • Assessment Related Webinars and Recordings Page

            This page contains recordings of webinars and video-meet sessions, open forums and guidance events hosted by the OCA Assessment Team.

            Many of these recording are loose-form open Q&A's which you may find answer any questions you may have about assessment.

          • OCA Assessment Criteria Book

            Chapters

            1. What are Assessment Criteria?
              • How are Criteria Established?
              • Knowledge, Understanding & Application
              • New and Old Criteria
              • Using the Criteria
              • Stages of Study
              • Criteria by Stage
              • Grade Bandings
              • Assessment Grid
              • Summative Feedback
              • Pass and Fail
              • Support and Guidance
            2. Assessment Criteria - Knowledge
            3. Assessment Criteria - Understanding
            4. Assessment Criteria - Application
            5. Assessment Grid for Undergraduate Stage One (HE4)
              • Knowledge (Stage One)
              • Understanding (Stage One)
              • Application (Stage One)
            6. Assessment Grid for Undergraduate Stage Two (HE5)
              • Knowledge (Stage Two)
              • Understanding (Stage Two)
              • Application (Stage Two)
            7. Assessment Grid for Undergraduate Stage Three (HE6)
              • Knowledge (Stage Three)
              • Understanding (Stage Three)
              • Application (Stage Three)
            8. Assessment Grid for Postgraduate (HE7)
              • Knowledge (Postgraduate)
              • Understanding (Postgraduate)
              • Application (Postgraduate)
          • Teach-out Unit Learning Outcomes & Discipline Specific Guidance Book

            Chapters

            1. Introduction
            2. Creative Arts guidance
            3. Creative Writing guidance
              • Writing 1: Writing Skills (CW4WGS)
              • Writing 1: Art of Poetry (CW4AOP)
              • Writing 1: Scriptwriting (CW4SCW)
              • Writing 1: Starting your Novel (CW4SYN)
              • Writing 3: Independent Project (CW6IDP)
            4. Drawing guidance
              • Drawing 1: Drawing Skills (DR4DRS)
              • Drawing 1: Exploring Drawing Media (DR4EDM)
              • Drawing 2: Investigating Drawing (DR5DRA)
              • Drawing 2: Personal Approach to Drawing (DR5PAD)
              • Drawing 3: Body of Work (DR6BOW)
              • Drawing 3: Contextual Studies (DR6COS)
              • Drawing 3: Sustaining Your Practice (DR6SYP)
            5. Fine Art guidance
              • Fine Art 3: Advanced Practice (FA6APR)
              • Fine Art 3: Research (FA6RES)
              • Fine Art 3: Sustaining your Practice (FA6SYP)
            6. Graphic Design guidance
              • Graphic Design 1: Core Concepts (VC4GDC)
              • Graphic Design 3: Advanced Practice (GD6ADP)
              • Graphic Design 3: Visual Research (GD6RES)
              • Graphic Design 3: Sustaining Your Practice (GD6SYP)
            7. Illustration guidance
              • Illustration 1: Key Steps in Illustration (VC4KSI)
              • Illustration 1: Illustration Sketchbooks (VC4ISK)
              • Illustration 2: Responding to a Brief (VC5ILL)
              • Illustration 3: Visual Research (IL6RES)
              • Illustration 3: Sustaining Your Practice (IL6SYP)
            8. Interior Design guidance
            9. Moving Image guidance
              • Moving Image 3: Body of Work (MI6BOW)
              • Moving Image 3: Sustaining your Practice (MI6SYP)
            10. Music guidance
              • Music 1: Stylistic Techniques (MU4SYT)
              • Music 1: From the Present to the Past (MU4PTP)
              • Music 2: Moving on with Composition (MU5MWC)
              • Music 2: Orchestration and Arrangement (MU5ORA)
              • Music 3: Major Project (MU6MPR)
              • Music 3: Contextual Studies (MU6CTX)
              • Music 3: Sustaining your Practice (MU6SYP)
            11. Painting guidance
              • Painting 1: The Practice of Painting (PT4POP)
              • Painting 1: Understanding Painting Media (PT4UPM)
              • Painting 2: Studio Practice (PT5STP)
            12. Photography guidance
              • Photography 1: Expressing Your Vision (PH4EYV)
              • Photography 2: Documentary Fact and Fiction (PH5DFF)
              • Photography 3: Contextual Studies (PH6CTS)
              • Photography 3: Sustaining Your Practice (PH6SYP)
            13. Printmaking guidance
              • Printmaking 1: Introduction to Printmaking (PM4PMI)
              • Printmaking 2: Developing Your Style (PM5PMD)
            14. Sculpture guidance
              • Sculpture 1: Starting Out in 3D (SC4SCL)
              • Sculpture 2: Studio Practice (SC5STP)
            15. Textiles guidance
              • Textiles 1: Ideas and Processes (TX4IAP)
              • Textiles 3: Sustaining Your Practice (TX6SYP)
            16. Visual Communications guidance
              • Book Design 1: Creative Book Design (VC4CBD)
              • Visual Communications 1: Graphic Fiction (VC4GRF)
              • Visual Skills 1: Visual Dynamics (VC4VSD)
              • Visual Skills 2: Visual Exploration (VC5VEX)
            17. Visual Studies guidance
              • Visual Studies 1: Creative Arts Today (CA4CAT)
              • Visual Studies 1: Understanding Visual Culture (AH4UVC)
              • Visual Studies 2: Understanding Visual Culture (AH5UVC)
          • Academic Misconduct Page

            Click here to see the guidance on Academic Misconduct and Plagiarism Checks.

            Academic misconduct is any action that could give you or another student an unfair advantage in an assessment. It's all about keeping your work honest and fair. The Academic Misconduct policy aims to protect the value of your qualification by making sure everyone's work is their own.

            Key examples of misconduct are:

            • Plagiarism: Using someone else's words or ideas without giving them credit. This includes work from other students or websites.
            • Self-Plagiarism: Submitting your own work that you have already used for a previous course.
            • Collusion: Working with other students on a piece of work that should be done alone and then presenting it as your own.
            • Contract Cheating: Paying a service or another person to complete your assignment for you.
            • Inappropriate use of AI: Using AI to create work that you submit as your own.

            The policy sets out clear procedures for identifying and dealing with these issues and outlines what happens if you break the rules. If you need help understanding the policy or need support, you should contact the Assessment Team: assessment@oca.ac.uk

            Plagiarism checks at formal assessment

            All extended written work, like critical reviews, essays, reports and pieces of creative writing (prose, poetry and script), must be checked for plagiarism at assessment. The OCA uses a program called Turnitin to do this.

            This happens for you automatically if you are a music student submitting work for assessment through OCA Learn. If you use the GDrive service to submit your work for assessment, the Assessment Team will enrol you into a one off "Plagiarism Checks" course on OCA Learn to carry out the check. You might get an automated email about this during the assessment event, but you don't need to do anything about it.

            To help with these checks, all your written work must be submitted as a word-processed document in either a .pdf or .docx file format. Links to work on a blog or other online platforms cannot be used.

          • Did you find this 'Understanding Assessment' section helpful? Choice

            A quick choice of whether you found the information in this section helpful.

        ◄General
        ►Assessment Schedule
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        About this Course

        The Assessment Guidance resource contains information, advice and guidance on how to understand, prepare, submit, and learn from assessment.

        Last updated: September 2025.

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