Hello again! 

The Exams team are still working on the issues above, but in the meantime I'm going to close this You Make Change submission. I will re-open it should Exams get back to me with a further update, and don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any more questions!

All the best,

Samuel Dedman (VP Education 2017/18 - vpeducation@susu.org)

Hello again!

I've had a (really positive) response from the Exams Team, which reads as follows:

The following applies to written exams:

• We need 1800 - 2000 seats per session during the exam period.  1100 of these seats come from flat space in the sports halls and Garden Court which are used preferentially.
• We also insist on having flat, seminar-style space for AERs to mitigate the higher risk of having multiple exams with differing durations and the disturbance issue.
• We do have additional flat space available at Glen Eyre dining halls (110 seats) but we have this set at low usage at the moment (see below).
• We also used to have flat space in the Nuffield Cafe (60 seats) but exams and pantos are not happy partners!  The Nuffield also has a lot of school visits in May therefore we no longer use this venue.
• We make every effort to limit duration mixes in rooms, or at least keep them in the flat spaces, but sometimes we are unable to achieve this on particularly heavy days. 

Solutions:

• To reinvigorate Glen Eyre as a preferential location, but the same problems will still apply.  We will probably implement this option as a trial for Semester 2 exams this year.
• We will be using space in South Gower and will discontinue use of some of the old raked lecture theatres, but this will not be until January 2020 when South Gower is completed.  As yet we do not have a definitive answer as to how big the space is within the new building.
• We will endeavour to resolve the issue regarding invigilators passing answer books down rows.

I'm going to leave the You Make Change open for a bit longer, but do get in touch if you have any thoughts on this!

All the best,

Samuel Dedman (VP Education, 2017/18 - vpeducation@susu.org)

Hello!

Thanks for getting in touch about this - I really see where you are coming from, and while there will be logistical challenges this is definitely a direction in which we should be heading. Developments such as the completion of the South Gower building as well as changes in student numbers will have an impact over the coming years, but it would be interesting to see if the Exams team can be a bit more selective with the rooms they choose. 

I'll go away and do some research, but in the meantime remember that this submission is live on the Union website and therefore can be upvoted and downvoted. Share it around - the more input from other students the better!

Don't hestitate to get in touch if you have any questions.

All the best,

Samuel Dedman (VP Education, 2017/18 - vpeducation@susu.org)