Academic calendar and examinations
The autumn term starts the first Monday between August 28 and September 3 and lasts 20 weeks. The Spring term starts the Monday after autumn term and lasts 20 weeks.
Each term is divided into two periods each covering 10 weeks (15 credits). Most courses have nothing scheduled around Easter and Christmas, check the course schedule for more information.
Academic year 2023/2024
Autumn Semester 2023: August 28 to January 14
- Period 1 August 28–October 30
- Period 2 October 31–January 14
No scheduled activities on December 27, December 28, December 29 and all holidays.
Spring Semester 2024: January 15 to June 2
- Period 3 January 15–March 17
- Period 4 March 18–June 2
No scheduled activities on April 30, May 9 and all holidays.
Reexaminations
A student who has failed an examination has the right to try again (with new questions). There is no limitation of the number of re-examinations you can do. If you have passed an examination, you cannot take it again to improve your grade. You must register for re-examinations at the Ladok before a specific date. You may also do a re-examination at the next regular examination date. If you wish to do this, you must contact the course leader in advance and ask to be registered on the course.
Reexamination periods for master programmes in biology and applied biotechnology
For courses given Autumn 2023 or earlier:
- For courses given Period 1: 2–3 January 2024
- For courses given Period 2: 2, 3, 6 April 2024
For courses given Spring 2023 or earlier:
- For courses given Period 3: 3 and 4 June 2024
- For courses given Period 4: 3-4 January 2025
For all courses: 19 - 24 August 2024
Courses offered several times per year
For most courses, re-examiniations will be provided as stated below, however courses offered several times per year may provide re-examinations at other times.
- Re-examination period for regular courses in Period 1 is at the start of the spring semester.
- Re-examination period for reuglar courses in Period 2 in Easter and 3 is in June.
- Re-examination period for regular courses in Period 4 (previous year) is in January.
- Re-examination period for all courses in the academic year is in August.
For more information about reexaminations, please visit the faculty website for students.
Examination
All courses contain an examination. Commonly there is a written exam covering all or most of the course, and minor tests or project presentations. You can ask your course leader for examples of old exams. These will give you an idea of how the exam will be constructed, and you can use them to test your knowledge, but they may not represent the current state of the course syllabus. The exam is not the single determinant of whether you pass the course or not. You also need to pass laboratory work including writing reports and participating in seminars and field courses etc. For more details, please see the syllabus for each course.
Many exams are written anonymously. You must register for the exam at least 12 days before the exam. When you do this you will receive a code that you write on your exam instead of your name.
To be able to participate in an examination you have to identify yourself by showing your passport and the letter from the tax office showing your civic registration number or a Swedish ID-card.
The examination starts at the exact time stated in the schedule. If you arrive late, but not more than 30 minutes late, you are still allowed to do the examination. If you arrive later than 30 minutes after the beginning of the examination, you are not allowed to participate. If you start the examination, but after reading the examination questions decide not to take the test, you have to wait 30 minutes before leaving the room. In that case the examination is reported as failed.
You can find your examination results as soon as they are reported, in Ladok.
Exam hand out
As soon as the result is published in Ladok you should be able to have access electronically to your corrected exam. You can see all your archived exams and download them to your computer. You will not be able to retrieve the original exam papers. They may however be rescanned within two months if there has been a scanning error. Your exams will be saved on the Uppsala University server for 2 years from the date of your grade. After that, the exam will be removed from the server.
Exams coordinated by the teachers themselves will be returned by the teachers.
The corrected exams can be collected in the IBG office at EBC, Tuesday and Friday 12:15-13:15 or at BMC A8:1 during office hours. You have to be able to identify yourself. If you are pleased with the marking you can sign the list and take the exam with you. If you want to discuss the marking with the teacher, you ask for a copy instead.