TutorialsThe Department prides itself on its tutorial system, which is designed to give students maximum assistance with the learning process. Weekly tutorials are an important feature of all our 100, 200 and 300 level papers. They are small enough in size — at most 30 students — to allow discussion of assignments, tests, exams and clarification of matters raised during lectures. Most have a tutor and demonstrator present to answer your questions. Details of tutorials are announced at the start of each paper.Extra HelpEnglish for Speakers of Other Languages: The Department offers special assistance for students whose primary language is not English through Dr Austina Clark (contact details).Difficulties and disabilities: We encourage students to seek support if they find they are having difficulty with their studies due to a disability, temporary or permanent impairment, injury, chronic illness or deafness. If you have a disability or condition that may adversely affect your studies please let your lecturer or tutor know. We are reliant on you to make your needs known, and will try to meet these needs wherever possible. The Department has a staff member, Leanne Kirk, whose reponsibility it is to advise and advocate on behalf of students with disabilities and provide additional support in conjunction with the Disabilities Office. (Contact details). You can also refer to the University’s disabilities web-page. Maori students: The Maori Centre (519 Castle Street, tel: 479 8490) offers support for Maori students in the form of extra tutorials, study skill seminars and help with exam preparation. The Centre also holds books and old exam papers that may be helpful, and operates from a Kaupapa Maori base. Student RepresentativesStudents taking Mathematics or Statistics papers are welcome to see their lecturers or the head of department at any time — we are always interested in hearing what you think about the papers and finding out your opinions.Sometimes, though, you might have a suggestion for improving a paper but don’t feel comfortable about approaching us directly. That is where your student representative comes in: at the beginning of each paper your class will be asked to elect a student representative. Make a note of this person’s name and phone number (or better still nominate yourself!). Pass on any feedback on your papers — both good and bad — to the representative. Student representatives report twice each semester at meetings organized by our Directors of Studies, and we guarantee to act quickly to try to resolve any problems that they bring to our attention. Assessment of Your WorkYour performance in Mathematics and Statistics papers is assessed through a combination of tests, exercises, projects and examinations — the exact methods vary from paper to paper. All papers have some internally assessed component, which is designed to give you feedback along the way and to encourage you to work steadily through the whole course. Most of our papers use plussage — that means that internal assessment marks only get counted towards your final grade if they improve that grade.The grades awarded on our papers are assigned as follows:
If you have questions about the methods of assessment used in particular papers, the relevant lecturer or Director of Studies will be happy to provide more information. PlagiarismPlagiarism is representing another person’s work as your own. It demeans the person who plagiarises, cheats the person who is plagiarised, and cheats everyone else who has honestly submitted their own work. Don’t do it!Plagiarism and other forms of cheating are treated very seriously by the Department and students suspected of any form of copying or cheating will have to justify their actions in the first place to the Head of Department and subsequently to the Assistant Vice-Chancellor.
Any dishonest practice occurring in the preparation or submission of any work (whether in the course of an examination or not) which counts towards the attainment of a pass in any subject, or of any dissertation, thesis, or other research exercise, shall be deemed to be dishonest practice in connection with an examination. Plagiarism is a form of dishonest practice. Plagiarism is defined as copying or paraphrasing another’s work and presenting it as one’s own. (University Calendar) Strict observance of exam conditions is expected during all tests and examinations. | |
ASSISTANCE
