Notice

to Students sitting University Examinations

1. You must read carefully the Instructions to Candidates for University Examinations 2023-2024 and observe the regulations and instructions contained therein.

2. You should check the date, time and venue of each of your examinations shown on the examination timetable carefully, and note in particular the special notes detailed at the end of each timetable.  It should however be noted that, under special circumstances, amendments to the examination timetables would occasionally be made after they are published.   You should therefore consult the examination timetables on the website of the Examinations Office regularly for any possible amendments.
3. You must present yourself at the venue set in the examination timetable for each of the papers you are taking.  You should arrive at the examination venue at least 10 minutes before the starting time of the examination to avoid missing any announcements made by the Chief Invigilator/Invigilator before the examination commences.
4. Before entering the place of examination, make sure that you identify your place on the seating plan.  When you are admitted, go straight to your desk.  You should take the seat assigned, and may not change your place unless an invigilator gives you permission to do so.

5. You are permitted to enter the place of examination only during the first half of the examination time (e.g. for a two-hour paper, admission will not be permitted after the first hour).  Late candidates will not normally be given extra time for compensation.
6. You must behave quietly and decorously both within the place of examination, and in its vicinity before, during and after the examination, and must not communicate with other candidates in any way during an examination.
7. All in-person written examinations are close-book examinations, unless otherwise specified. Only writing implements, rulers, erasers, calculator (for examinations which permit the use of calculator), and your University card may be placed on your desk. If you bring a pencil case/box with you, you must place the stationery on your desk and put the pencil case/box in your bag/under your chair.
8. For open-book examinations (or examinations in which prior permission has been given by the examiners concerned to bring in books, reference materials, etc.), you are reminded that the Copyright Ordinance must be observed. For detailed information, please visit the website http://lib.hku.hk/copyright/ and read the relevant part of the Undergraduate/ Postgraduate Handbooks.
9. For papers that allow you to bring your personal belongings into the examination venue, you should bring a bag that can be properly closed and small enough to be placed under your chair to hold ALL your personal belongings, including any written or printed materials. Mobile phones MUST be switched off and put inside the zipper pouch under your desk throughout the examination. Other electronic/communication devices (e.g. iPod, tablets, pagers, electronic dictionaries, databank watches, smart watches, wearable devices, etc.) and sound-making device must also be switched off and put in your closed bag under the chair. Make sure that you do not have any documents, materials, devices, and items (including but not limited to printed or written matters, blank writing paper, dictionaries, mobile phones, other electronic/communication/sound-making devices) on your desk, in your pocket or on your body throughout the examination. Use of mobile phone and other electronic/communication/sound-making devices is strictly forbidden in the examination venues. Unless you have obtained the prior permission of an examiner or invigilator, you are not allowed to access the content of your bag or the zipper pouch where your mobile phone is stored at any time during the examination.
10. Where the use of calculator is permitted, unless otherwise prescribed by the examiner(s), you can only use the approved models of calculators as announced by the Examinations Secretary. It is your responsibility to ensure that your calculator operates satisfactorily, and you must record the name and type of the calculator used on the front page of the examination script. Additional instructions from examiners (if any) are listed in the special notes at the end of the relevant examination timetables.
11. You are not allowed to take any food or drink except water in the examination venue.
12. You must place your University card on the top left corner of your desk throughout the whole examination for inspection by invigilators.
13. In accordance with the Senate's instruction, you should write your University number (or candidate number in the case of medical students) and not your name, on your answer script.
14. You will be told when you may begin work.  Before you are told to do so, you are not allowed to turn over or open the question papers.  You should however read carefully the instructions printed on the front cover of your answer book(s).
15. If you wish to ask any questions arising from the question paper, you must do so within the first half hour of the examination.
16. You may leave the place of examination at any time after half the time set for your examination has elapsed (e.g. after one hour for a two-hour paper), and before the last five minutes of the examination.  If you wish to leave the place of examination, you must first seek the approval of an invigilator (or examiner as appropriate) and leave your answer script on your desk. You will be readmitted only if you have been accompanied by an invigilator while you were absent.
17. Thirty minutes, and again five minutes, before the end of the examination, you will be reminded of the amount of time you have left.  After the five-minute warning you may not leave until the examination has ended and you are given permission to go.
18. At the end of the examination you will be told to stop working.  You must stop immediately and must not continue to write, and must remain seated in silence until all the answer scripts have been collected and counted and you are given permission to leave.
19. You are asked to leave the examination venue quietly as soon as your examination concludes, as there may still be other candidates taking their examinations at the same venue or in its vicinity.
20. If you think that your performance may have been affected by something which happened during the actual time of the examination, you should write, within seven calendar days of the examination concerned, to the Examinations Secretary at the Registry. Do not delay, and do not, under any circumstances, write to or approach the Examiners.
21. You are reminded that it is an offence under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance to make gifts of any nature to teachers and/or other University Staff at any time.

22. If you are unable because of illness to be present for any paper in the examination or if you believe that your state of health either immediately before or during the examination has significantly affected your performance, you should arrange to submit a prescribed Form of Medical Certificate. You should consult a doctor on the same day of the examination concerned, and also complete Part I of the Form and give it to your doctor for completion of Part II of the Form. The completed Form, together with the original of the sick leave certificate issued by the attending doctor, should be submitted to the Examinations Office (address: Room 239B, 2/F, Main Building, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam) and must reach it within seven calendar days of the examination concerned (Please also read the note after paragraph 21). Late or incomplete submission will not be accepted.
23. If for any reason other than illness you have been unable to attend for any paper in an examination you must, within seven calendar days of the examination concerned (Please also read the note after paragraph 21), write to the Examinations Secretary at the Registry giving reasons for your absence.

24. Examination results are determined by the respective Board of Examiners. There shall be no appeal against the results of examinations and all other forms of assessment. Students may however request checking of assessment results on grounds of procedural irregularities. For details, please refer to the Procedures for Checking of Assessment Results of Taught Courses (document 111/511 re-amended).
25. You must not approach the Examiners or other members of the University staff about your results before they are published. Any enquiries concerning the announcement of results, permission for taking supplementary examinations, etc. should be directed to your own Faculty Office.

26. In general, all examination scripts and examination-related personal data will be destroyed after 60 calendar days following the publication of the final course results, in the absence of any student request or other justifiable purposes (please refer to Retention Periods of Examination Scripts and Examination-related Documents for details). Given that students are not entitled to appeal against examination results under University’s General Regulation G9(h), there is no general right of access to examination scripts. Nevertheless, under the provisions of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, students have a right to make a data access request (DAR) to the University if issues of personal data arise*. Please contact the office of your home Faculty if you wish to access your examination-related personal data.

    * Please refer to paragraph 4 and Annex I of Guidelines for Handling Students’ Requests for Examination Scripts and Other Examination-related Personal Data, and for Provision of Feedback to Students on Assessment for the definition of personal data related to examination scripts and other examination-related documents.

October 2023