When Do You Get University Exam Results?

Everything you need to know about getting your university exam results!

Unlike GCSE’s or A-Levels, university exams can vary greatly depending on your university, your course and your modules so they can be really confusing to get your head around.

University exams differ to exams you may have taken previously, as every university has two exam seasons rather than just one at the end of the year. There also isn’t a set ‘results day’ that you can expect to receive your results on, which means you’ll have to wait around and check your emails regularly to see when your results are ready.

While exams can be scary, you will be sitting exams regularly throughout university and a lot more frequently than you did in school and college, so you’ll get used to how they work pretty quickly. However, it can be harder to find a clear answer when it comes to results and what to expect.

Here’s everything you need to know about university exam results:

When do students get January exam results?

This will vary based on your university, but your January exam results will normally come back within 3 weeks up to a month. As standard you can expect your results to be ready by the start of February when you’ve started your second semester. It’s best to check your university website to get an exact timeline of when you can expect your results to be ready, as each uni is different.

The summer exam period tends to be longer, and you could have exams spread out over a month, wheres the January exam period tends to last no longer than two weeks.

When do students get summer exam results?

Your summer exam results will vary based on your uni and when you sat the exams. As during the summer exam period you may sit some exams in the middle of May and some at the end of June, it may seem like you’re waiting for a really long time to find out the results, as all your results will be published at the same time.

You can expect to get your summer exam results by either the end of June or the start of July, this gives you time to prepare for any resits that you may have to do, which will be taken in August. You can check your university website, to find out the exact dates you can expect to receive your exam results.

When do final-year students get their final grades?

Your final year grade is the most important part of your degree, so it’s only natural to be nervous and anxiously awaiting the result. There are a lot of factors that go into determining your final result so it can take a while to be ready, but final-year students can expect to receive their results by the end of June or the start of July and you’ll normally get your results with plenty of time before your graduation is due to be held.

To calculate your final grade, the grade from each piece of coursework, presentation or exam you did per module will be added together to form an average, so you should have a final grade for each module you did in the second year and third year.

Then, these grades are added together to form an average to make the final grade, but this depends on how the modules are weighted. For example, a dissertation module normally carries the most credits in your final year, so your dissertation grade will have a greater impact on your final grade than a regular module you did. So, even if you did really well in your lower credit modules, your dissertation will still have the biggest overall impact on the end result as it’s worth more credits.

Final-year students can also appeal the marks of coursework if they believe the results are unfair, or if there were circumstances that prevented them from achieving a higher grade. If coursework is being appealed, this can mean a delay in your final results being published.

While it varies, most departments will receive their final results on the same day, so you won’t feel left out if all of your course friends are posting about it online.

When are the exam seasons in UK universities?

Most universities in the UK have two exam seasons. The first is in January to mark the end of the first semester which runs from September to January. The second exam season is in the summer, and while the majority of universities all have exams in January, summer exams can vary from being between late April, May, June or even July depending on where you go to uni. The summer exam period marks the end of semester 2 which runs from February- June/July, depending on your university.

If you fail an exam you will have the opportunity to resit it, and resits normally take place over the summer in August when universities have broken up for the summer holidays. The August resit exam period can be for both January and summer exams that need to be retaken.

Why do I have to wait so long for my uni exam results?

Unfortunately, waiting for exam results can be quite long and can obviously be quite an anxious time. The simple answer is, that there are a lot of exams that need to be marked (just think about how many people were in your exam hall!) Also, exams will need to be moderated too, meaning that everyone’s exams will need to be checked for consistency and to make sure that marks and feedback are fair. This means that more than one person is normally looking at your exam, and during the moderation stage, an external examiner (from a different university) will also review this.

For final-year students, or end-of-year results this can take even longer as all of your coursework and exam results over the year will need to be added up to get an average, to help determine your final results per module and overall.

If you need any more guidance on university exams it’s best to check on your university website. For more tips, check out how to avoid plagiarism and how to deal with academic burnout.

Need something to focus on whilst you wait for your grades? Why not brush up on your basic cooking skills and level up your homemade pasta game with our chef-led recipes on our Youtube channel.