Exam sittings for core and tailored core courses are organised by the Assessment team in Central Services.  They are responsible for scheduling, invigilation, communications, preparing and collecting exam papers, and all on-the-day logistics.

Exams for electives are organised by the relevant Subject Area; however the Assessment team has oversight of elective exams, ensuring compliance with School procedures.

Invigilated Closed-book exams
For closed book exams the only materials that are permitted are: pens, pencils, specified models of calculators (e.g. simple or scientific) that have had their memory cleared and cannot connect to the internet. Students may not take any exam materials away from the exam room.

Invigilated Open-book exams
For open book exams the authorised materials will be identified by the faculty and specified in advance. Examples include study-aids, formula sheets, textbooks and/or annotated course notes. Students may take away any materials that they brought with them but must leave any exam materials that they were given in the exam room.

Electronic devices (e.g. mobile phones, tablets, laptops, smartwatches) are not permitted, unless specified as required by faculty. If a student is suspected of having and/or using unauthorised materials in the exam room, they will be confiscated and may result in disciplinary action.

Invigilated Computer Based Exams
For sit-down exams where the script is completed on a computer, you will need to provide additional instructions on permissible uses of technology during the exam; e.g. if additional software tools can be used (i.e. opening a blank Word document or Excel worksheet for making notes during the exam).

Study Aids Permitted
In order to maintain the academic integrity of exams at London Business School, it is strongly recommended that study aids be limited to faculty produced study-aids which include only key formula, definitions and concepts that students are not expected to memorise.

Take-Home Exams
Take home exams are permitted but, because they are not invigilated exams, they must be open book.

Effective from 22 February 2023, reusing exam papers or recycling exam questions is not permitted.

The purpose of exams is to rigorously and fairly test learning. To achieve the intended outcome, faculty should prepare exams that are original and unpredictable as appropriate.

Accuracy, Proofreading and Errors
Central Services (core courses) and your Subject Area staff (elective courses) will manage the logistics for exams; however, you are responsible for ensuring that the exam paper is aimed at the right level for the students.

It is critical that you have a strong system for checking that your exam questions, and any associated data that students are provided with in the exam, are correct. Staff will review exam papers to check for formatting errors and that the exam coversheet includes full exam instructions only; but the onus for correct exam papers lies solely with faculty.

Please ensure that students are adequately briefed on the format and content of exams at least eight days in advance of the exam. Logistical details of the exam - for core courses - will be communicated to students by the Assessment team 5-8 days before. Elective exams are organised by Subject Areas with oversight from the Assessment team, who provide best practice guidance to Subject Area Staff in order to ensure a consistent student experience across core and elective exams.

External Examiner review of exam papers
The External Examiner reviews exam papers/assignments to confirm that the assessment is aimed at the right level for master’s students. The Assessment Manager will send the exam paper/assignment instructions, model answer, marking scheme, exam solutions, and any other relevant documents, to the external examiner. External Examiners do not proof-read exam papers. It is faculty responsibility to ensure accuracy and that there are no typos in the exam papers.

Deadlines for submitting core exams to Assessment Team
The deadline for submitting the exam papers is 3 weeks before the exam takes place to allow for review by External Examiners and time for faculty to consider the External Examiners’ comments and make any changes. The External Examiners are given 10 working days to review materials.

It is considered best practice for faculty to be contactable during the exam, should any queries arise from the exam paper.  However, faculty should not enter the examination room(s) during the exam.

The Assessment team (for core/tailored core) or Subject Area faculty assistant/course administrator (for electives) will contact you before the exam to ask for your contact details and confirm your availability during the exam.  If you need to give additional information to students during the exam this communication should be relayed through the Lead Invigilator.

Faculty should refer any students who wish to sit an exam remotely to their programme office, as students need to have an approved EC in order to do this (the School must be satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances which prevent the student from attending their exam in London/Dubai, and not will not accept requests based on personal convenience or travel costs).

A request to sit remotely must be submitted a minimum of four weeks before the exam date to allow time for the request to be considered and a suitable venue to be identified and approved by the School, though there is no guarantee that a remote sitting will be possible in all cases.  Requests submitted after four weeks may still be considered, but there is a lesser possibility that the sitting can be arranged.

LBS has adopted the University of London’s list of authorised overseas examination centres and uses this to identify venues for all remote sittings.  The worldwide network of approved examination centres can be found here.

An approval of a remote sitting does not denote any responsibility or liability for the assessment, which the student remains ultimately responsible for, including any financial charges at the examination centre. In instances where the arrangements cannot be made the student will be expected to travel to the School to complete the assessment as normal.

Exam sittings for core and tailored core courses are organised by the Assessment team in Central Services.  They are responsible for scheduling, invigilation, communications, preparing and collecting exam papers, and all on-the-day logistics.

Exams for electives are organised by the relevant Subject Area; however the Assessment team has oversight of elective exams, ensuring compliance with School procedures.