Quality assurance at Aarhus University

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General rules on forms of examination

Here you can read more about the general rules you need to take into account when deciding on the form of examination and planning the exam.

Exam prerequisites

Exam prerequisites (also called prerequisites for exam registration or prerequisite requirements) refer to specific objective and measurable conditions that the student must fulfil before the first exam attempt.

Exam prerequisites can be set for course exams and partial exams( section 7 of the Examination Order)

Exam prerequisites may be introduced if the order of the activities (exam prerequisites and forms of examination) is important, for example from the point of view of student safety, patients, external partners or practical matters.

For example, students can be required to complete a laboratory safety course before taking part in an exam involving laboratory experiments. Or they may be required to complete a patient communication programme before participating in a station exam that includes patient communication.

For exams that are subject to exam prerequisites, remember that:

  • They must be stated in the academic regulations so students know what requirements they need to fulfil before they can take the exam.
  • Exam prerequisites must be fulfilled and approved before the student takes the exam for the first time. If they are not met, the student has used an exam attempt.
  • The exam prerequisites do not form part of the basis of assessment of the exam.
  • The academic regulations must include information on how the student can fulfil the exam prerequisites in other ways if they have not met the original prerequisites, for example due to illness. For certain practical/clinical courses, the exam prerequisite cannot be fulfilled in any other way, and the student must therefore do the course element again in a later semester.

If you decide to set exam prerequisites, it is important to determine their scope, form, content and documentation. This helps ensure transparency and makes the planning more manageable for the benefit of students, lecturers and the study administration.

Forms of assessment

The Examination Order states that exams can be graded as pass/fail or according to the 7-point grading scale (for a description of the individual grades, see the Grading Scale Order).

Exams graded as pass/fail must not exceed one third of the programme’s course elements (in ECTS credits).

In addition, the following rules apply:

  • Final exams must always be graded according to the 7-point grading scale.
  • Partial exams must always be graded according to the 7-point grading scale.
  • Class attendance as a form of examination must always be graded as pass/fail.
  • Course exams can be graded either according to the 7-point grading scale or as pass/fail.
  • Ongoing tests can be graded either according to the 7-point grading scale or pass/fail.

Co-examination

The Examination Order(section 10) distinguishes between:

  • Internal exams that are assessed by one or more of the university’s lecturers (internal examiner(s)).
  • External exams that are assessed by one or more of the university’s lecturers (internal examiner(s)) and at least one external examiner appointed by the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science.

At least one third of the programme’s course elements (in ECTS credits) must be assessed by an external examiner(section 10(4)).

The following framework applies:

  • Final exams must be arranged as external exams
  • Course exams can be arranged as either internal or external exams
  • Partial exams can be arranged as either internal or external exams
  • Class attendance as a form of examination is arranged as an internal test
  • According to the ministerial order, ongoing tests can be organised as either internal or external exams. For practical reasons, the study administration recommends that ongoing tests be arranged as internal exams. 

When deciding whether to organise an exam as an external or internal exam, consider the following:

  • Is the exam a particularly key exam for the degree programme?
  • Is the exam a key exam where it is important to ensure that certain academic quality standards are upheld at the national level?
  • Is the exam a key exam where it is important to ensure academic breadth in relation to the key areas covered by the degree programme?
  • Is this a key exam where it is important to ensure an external perspective?
  • What makes sense financially and in terms of practicalities?

Please note: The term ‘internal co-examination’ is a remnant from an earlier ministerial order. The current ministerial order has no requirement for internal co-examiners – it is for the university to decide.

Individual vs group

Several forms of examination (oral exam, written exam, practical exam) can be organised as either individual or group exams.

When deciding whether to organise an exam as a group exam or an individual exam, consider the following:

  • An individual exam is suited to assessing the knowledge, skills or competencies of a student independently of a group product or their collaborative competencies.
  •  An oral and practical group exam is suited to assessing the students’ ability to work together and engage in academic discussions.

The advantage of the group exam is that it includes a joint presentation and discussion of the project as a whole. To make it possible to do an individual assessment in a group exam, it is important that the examiner organises the exam in such a way that all the students have the same opportunity to speak.

The detailed rules for group exams must be stated in the academic regulations, including group size, exam duration and the option of choosing an individual exam.

Take-home assignments as group exams

For take-home assignments prepared in groups, an independent grade or other assessment can only be given if the individual student’s contribution is identifiable. This means that the students’ performance must be assessed individually, and individual grades must be given. You can do this by either:

  1. Individualising the written group paper by having students clearly marking who has written what, or
  2. Conducting an oral exam based on the written group paper – as an individual or group-based oral exam.

Oral exams in groups

There are several models for oral group exams:

  1. The students start with a group-based presentation and are then examined individually
  2. All members of the group of students are examined simultaneously, and assessors pay special attention to assessing the performance of individual students

An alternative to using group exams to test students’ collaboration skills is for students to prepare in groups prior to the exam, while the actual exam is done individually. In that case, the collaboration skills that have gone into the group collaboration before the exam must be documented and covered by the exam.

Reexamination

When determining the form of examination for the ordinary exam, it is also necessary to determine the exam format for the reexamination.

The format for the reexamination can be the same as for the ordinary exam, or a different format can be chosen.

Please note:

  • In the case of class attendance as the form of examination, another format must be decided for reexaminations as students are entitled to do an exam instead, unless the course includes practical elements.
  • If exam prerequisites are introduced, students cannot do a reexamination until the course is offered again with teaching activities. However, the study board may choose to add alternative exam prerequisites for students who do not fulfil the exam prerequisites before their first exam attempt.
Revised 19.12.2025
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Astrid Marie Gad Knudsen