Exam papers 2013-14

The request was refused by Imperial College London.

Dear Imperial College London,

I would like to request model solutions for the second year quantum mechanics exam in the year 2013-14. Moreover, would it be possible to make all model answers for all subjects and years available online? Some, but not all, can be found here: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/physics/studen...

Yours faithfully,

Micol Bedarida

IMPFOI, Imperial College London

Dear Micol,

This is to acknowledge receipt of your request below, made under the Freedom of Information Act. The College aims to respond to your request within twenty working days of receipt of your request.

We will contact you again in due course.

Kind regards,

Bryony Greenfield

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IMPFOI, Imperial College London

Dear Micol,

 

Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information request.

 

Please find below the College's response to your questions:

 

"I would like to request model solutions for the second year quantum
mechanics exam in the year 2013-14. Moreover, would it be possible to make
all model answers for all subjects and years available online? Some, but
not all, can be found here:
[1]http://www.imperial.ac.uk/physics/studen...

 

The College holds the information requested however it has decided not to
disclose the model solutions for the second year 2013/14 quantum mechanics
exam, or to make available all model answers for all subjects and years.
The College relies on the exemption under Section 36(2)(c) of the Freedom
of Information Act, which states that a public authority may refuse to
disclose information if disclosure “would otherwise prejudice, or would be
likely otherwise to prejudice, the effective conduct of public affairs”.
The qualified person for Imperial College, namely the President, is of the
reasonable opinion that the section 36 exemption is engaged for the
following reasons:

 

The Physics department releases solutions for one year out of every three
to provide some examples to students of good practice in the presentation
of exam solutions.  However, it is important for students to receive
realistic practice of problem solving which is inherent to a training in
Physics, without having the temptation of relying too heavily on available
solutions. If the exam solutions for every module and exam paper were to
be made public, students could then rely solely on these published
solutions, without gaining a proper understanding of the subject matter
and without working out the appropriate solutions for themselves. As a
result, tutors would not then be able to gain an accurate picture of
students’ true ability and understanding of the subject.

 

Additionally, questions from the past papers for which model solutions are
not released are reused in subsequent years. If all the solutions were
released, the Physics department would not then be able to reuse any past
questions.  Disclosure would therefore be disruptive and would necessitate
the preparation of entirely new questions for each set of exams. This
would increase the burden on staff within the department and on the
external examiners (who would need to review and approve the new papers).

 

Consequently the College considers the disclosure of the requested
information to be exempt under section 36(2)(C) of the Freedom of
Information Act, as the disclosure of all of the past exam solutions for
the Physics modules would prejudice the effective conduct of public
affairs.

 

As section 36 is a qualified exemption, we have also undertaken a public
interest test. Although the College recognises that the exam solutions can
assist students in their exam preparation, and that there is a public
interest in the standard of teaching and assessment of Physics at the
College, it is the College’s view that, for the reasons outlined above,
the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public
interest in this information.

 

I am obliged, under the Freedom of Information Act, to inform you of our
complaints procedures in case you are unhappy about the way in which your
request has been dealt with. If you wish to complain about this response,
you should contact the College Secretary at the address below.

 

The College Secretary

Imperial College London

Exhibition Road

London

SW7 2AZ

E-mail: [2][email address]          

 

If you are unhappy about the way in which the College Secretary handles
your complaint then you may have recourse to the official regulator for
the Freedom of Information Act who is:

 

The Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

[3]http://www.ico.gov.uk        

 

Kind regards,

 

Bryony Greenfield

 

 

 

 

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