In responding to the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years, candidates may have undertaken alternative assessments than originally planned. Consequently, for all students during this period, the transcript records:
- the marks received for summative assessments only, but not the feedback received on formative assessment (showing as ‘no recorded marks’);
- any Class awarded, after the application of any available safety net or other mitigation measures.
Classes cannot and should not be inferred from any students’ unclassed transcript marks.
The University of Cambridge awards a classification for each year to its undergraduate degrees. In the 2019-20 academic year, the University applied a safety net to final year undergraduate students who were required to pass their 2020 assessments to pass the degree. The class was determined on the basis of the marks achieved, except where this resulted in a class lower than the one achieved in a previous year. In these circumstances, the class awarded in the previous year was awarded in 2020 and is recorded on this transcript. No safety net was applied in the 2020-21 academic year, but courses were encouraged to consider a package of mitigation measures including cohort equity and impact statements, so as to ensure that students were not disadvantaged by assessment changes. Each course was empowered to implement a unique combination of these; not all will have been made available to every student.
Where marks for formative assessment have not been recorded on the transcript as a result of adjustments responding to the pandemic, it may be possible to obtain further details from the candidate's College.