Examinations

Annual Repeat / Summer Semester examinations take place in mid-August every year.

Student Guidelines for Examinations

• Arrive on time for your examination, ideally 15 minutes before the examination commences
• Be familiar with the correct location of your examination
• You must bring your valid student ID card with you to all examinations
• You are not permitted to bring personal belongings e.g. mobile phones, smart watches or any electronic communication device into an examination room/venue (if in doubt leave it at home)
• The end of semester examinations will be run in compliance with the Assessment Regulations, which can be found in the MIC Handbook of Academic Regulations and Procedures

See below and Student Handbook for further details. 

MIC Limerick

• In the event of a module missing from the timetable or you are scheduled to do three examinations in the same day, you should contact Student Academic Administration immediately by emailing ExamsSAA@mic.ul.ie. Appropriate changes may then be made or other action taken.

MIC Thurles

• For any queries regarding examination timetables, please contact Paula Hourigan, Senior Academic Administrator, on +353 504 20535 or Paula.Hourigan@mic.ul.ie.

Seating Arrangements for Examinations

MIC Limerick

Seating arrangements for each module during the examinations period will be available on the Student Portal in advance of examination sessions.  Please note that seating arrangements change for each examination slot. 

MIC Thurles

Seating arrangements for examinations on the Thurles campus will be posted on the noticeboard outside the exam hall in advance of the examinations. For any queries regarding these arrangements, please contact Paula Hourigan, Senior Academic Administrator, on +353 504 20535 or Paula.Hourigan@mic.ul.ie.

What is an Annual Repeat?

Annual Repeat exams are an opportunity for students who have deficient grades in the Autumn or Spring Semester to repeat their exams in August to improve their grades, with repeat exams being capped at C3. These students will have received an Action Report indicating that they have the option to sit Annual Repeats.

I received an Action Report - what should I do next?

If you receive an Action Report and are unsure of what your options are, you should contact your Faculty Office (Arts Office / Education Office / MIC Thurles Office) to discuss your options with them. We strongly recommend students do this before registering for Annual Repeat exams.   

Please read your Action Report carefully as it contains important information regarding your progression

Annual Repeat Eligibility:

In order to be eligible to undertake Annual Repeat Exams, your Residual QCA must be at least 2.00. This means that it must be possible for you to improve you QCA to at least 2.00 by taking a maximum of 4 modules and replacing them with the highest grade attainable in the Annual Repeats, namely C3. If it is not possible for your Residual QCA to reach 2.00 following Annual Repeats you are then not eligible to take Annual Repeat Exams and, it will be necessary for you to consider other options, i.e. Link-in, Repeat Semester or Repeat Year. 

Please also note the following:

• A maximum of 4 modules can be repeated provided you have completed two academic semesters in the year.
• Students who complete only one academic semester in a year may only repeat 2 modules from that semester.
• I-Grades will not be counted in the maximum permissible number of modules which a student is allowed to repeat.
• If you register for Annual Repeat exams and subsequently decide to link-in to the following academic year instead of undertaking the repeat exams, you must notify Student Records of your decision, by emailing AnnualRepeats@mic.ul.ie.
• Repeat exams (excluding I-Grade exams) will be capped at C3 grade.  The higher of the original or the repeat grade will be awarded in all cases.

Non-Repeatable Modules: 

Not all modules are repeatable at Annual Repeats. It is therefore important that you check with your faculty office (Arts Office / Education Office / MIC Thurles Office) whether the modules you need to repeat are repeatable.

As per section 1.4.16 of the MIC Handbook of Academic Regulations and Procedures (see below):

The College shall offer annual repeat assessments at a time to be decided by An Chomhairle Acadúil. Annual repeats will be available in all modules in all years of all academic programmes except in the following circumstances: 

a) Where a Head of Department makes a written submission to the Vice-President Academic Affairs not to offer a repeat in a module or part thereof in cases where: 

i. It would not be feasible to offer a repeat assessment 

ii. Specific required skills have not been demonstrated by the student 

b) In the case of a PARE (professional accreditation related elements) module where restrictions apply to repeat opportunities. 

Registration instructions for students:

Please follow the following steps to register and pay for your Annual Repeat(s):

1. Open your internet browser and go to Register.mic.ul.ie and log in with your student email and network logon password.
2. On the homepage select the button labelled 'Resits'.
3. From the Resits page, your mandatory resits will be preselected. You can choose any voluntary resits you wish to take by selecting the check box next to each module.
   Please note that you can only repeat a maximum of four modules per year or two modules if you have completed only one semester. This limit excludes I-Grades. There is no maximum limit for repeating I-Grades.
4. Once you have completed your choice press the 'Process' button to complete your registration.
5. You can view your registration by selecting the 'Resits' button from the home page.

• It is essential that you complete your repeat registration before the deadline or you may be liable for a late registration fee of €30.
• If you apply for a Grade Recheck and the outcome is successful, and as a result you are not required to repeat a module(s), the Recheck Fee will be refunded to you.
• If you received an 'I' grade in any module the Autumn or Spring semester it is essential that you register for these modules in the Annual Repeats, even though you may have cleared the I-Grade at this point, otherwise it will not be possible to grade your module(s). 

Optional Repeat Registration:

If your QCA is already over 2.00 with no deficient grades but you have some D1 and/or D2 grades, you are entitled to progress to the next year without repeating modules unless otherwise specified in the Programme Specific Regulations for your programme. However, you may opt to clear the D1 or D2 grades (i.e. to upgrade them to a Pass grade–capped at C3) by voluntarily sitting Annual Repeats subject to the above criteria. If you receive a worse grade in the repeats, the original grade will remain. Final year students who are eligible to graduate may not elect to repeat modules in which they have received D1 or D2 grades.

See Student Handbook for further details. 

Should you need any further clarification please direct queries to AnnualRepeats@mic.ul.ie. Please use your MIC student e-mail account in all correspondence with the College.

What is an I Grade?

An I-Grade is of benefit when you are not able to complete all the requirements for a module during the normal semester timelines and have submitted certifiable evidence of medical and/or psychological illness or immediate family crisis where the presence of the student is indispensable. ‘I’ grades shall not be assigned in response to a plea made in respect of pressure of work.

Students must submit satisfactory evidence to support the request for an I-Grade and such certification is valid only when it comes via our professional services (Student Medical Centre, Counselling or Chaplaincy services) or adequate third-party evidence is submitted to those professional services for consideration.

An I-Grade provides you with the opportunity to undertake the assessment(s)/ examination(s) again over the summer with no academic penalty. The requirements to clear an I-Grade are set at module level and as such will be available from your module coordinator.

Applications for I-Grades

I-Grade application forms are available here and from the Student Academic Administration Office.

MIC Limerick students seeking I-Grades should submit their fully completed I-Grade application, along with original supporting documentation, to igrade@mic.ul.ie or to the Student Academic Administration Office, room 112.

MIC Thurles students seeking I-Grades should submit their I-Grade application directly to Paula Hourigan (Paula.Hourigan@mic.ul.ie).

All applicants must complete all sections of the application process regardless of which category of I-Grade you are selecting.

The three categories available are:

1. Student Health Centre/External Health Centre
2. Counselling Department
3. Chaplaincy Department

The regulations pertaining to the I-Grade process are covered within section 4.2.3 of the MIC Handbook of Academic Regulations and Procedures.

Classification of Awards

Bachelor's Degrees, Diplomas and Certificates

The award of a bachelor's degree, diploma (either undergraduate or postgraduate) or certificate (either undergraduate or postgraduate) is made at honours levels. To qualify for the award of a bachelor's degree or diploma or certificate, an applicant must:

• Satisfy all the assessment and other requirements set for the programme of study;
• Achieve a minimum final cumulative QCA of 2.00, with full credits in all prescribed modules of the programme of study, and;
• Satisfy any programme specific regulations as specified for particular programmes.

Awards will be at one of the following classifications:

Award Classification/Cumulative QCA                                                    

• First Class Honours: 3.40
• Second Class Honours Grade 1 (2.1): 3.00
• Second Class Honours Grade 2 (2.2): 2.60
• Third Class Honours: 2.00

Notwithstanding the above, the Faculty Examination Board may consider a candidate whose final cumulative QCA is not more than 0.10 less than the QCA required for a first-class, 2.1 or 2.2 classification and who satisfies the other requirements for the proposed award. (MIC Handbook of Academic Regulations and Procedures - Section 2.6.3)

For further details on Classification of Awards, please see Section 2.4 of the MIC Handbook of Academic Regulations and Procedures.

Further information can be found on the Student Portal here.