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Examination appeal

You can lodge an appeal if you feel you have been treated or assessed unfairly in an exam. You have 14 days from the publication of your assessment.

It is unpleasant to feel that you have been treated unfairly or assessed unfairly in an exam, for instance due to external disturbances or something that happened during the exam. 

Things to consider before you file an appeal  

Before you file an appeal, it is a good idea to contact the lecturer who conducted your exam to get a more detailed explanation of your assessment or of how the exam went.  

Such a talk may give you new perspectives on your exam. This may either strengthen your belief that you should file an appeal – or give you the explanation you need to understand the assessment, so that you don’t wish to file an appeal after all.   

If you have filed an appeal about your assessment and the statement from the assessor gives you a satisfactory explanation, you can withdraw the appeal.

You have 14 days to submit your written appeal from the time your exam assessment is published. Appeals received too late will generally not be processed.  

What can you file an appeal about? 

For example, you can file an appeal about: 

  • The assessment: the specific assessment or feedback. 
  • The basis for the examination: exam questions, assignments and the like. 
  • The course of the exam: conditions in the exam room, the timing of the exam, etc.
  • Legal issues: whether rules and legislation have been complied with. 

If your appeal is accomodated, you may be offered one of the following options:

  1. new assessment (reassessment) for written exams.
  2. new exam. 
  3. a combination of 1 and 2 if the exam includes a written assignment with an oral defence. 

Register for the re-exam if you have failed 

If you have failed the exam and have filed an appeal about the assessment, you should still register for and participate in the re-exam. You cannot be sure that your appeal will be processed before the re-exam takes place. 

In this way, you will not fall behind in your studies if your appeal is not accomodated. 

How to file an appeal about your exam  

Familiarise yourself thoroughly with the procedure if you wish to file an appeal.

  • Your examination appeal must be submitted via SPOC . If you are not a student at the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences, your examination appeal must be submitted by email to samfklager@sam.sdu.dk. All correspondence regarding your appeal, will hereafter take place via SPOC.

    Please note, that you must specify the issue(s) you wish to complain about and justify your examination appeal accordingly. 

    Your appeal must be well-founded. This means, for example, that it is not enough to write, that you should receive a higher grade because you have followed the lectures, or that your fellow students have gotten higher grades for the same performance, etc. 

    The more precise and detailed your appeal is about your exam performance, the higher are the requirements to the assessor’s response to your appeal. 

    If you have any questions or need further information, you can contact the Legality Team at samfklager@sam.sdu.dk. Please include your phone number in the e-mail, if you wish to receive a call, and we will contact you as soon as possible.


  • You must submit your examination appeal no later than 14 days after the official date of the publication of your assessment.

    You can find the official date of the publication of the assessment in your exam schedule. Please note, that for oral exams, the official date of publication, is the day of the exam.

    Appeals received after the deadline will not be processed.


  • If the deadline for filing appeals has been met, the faculty will process the case and present the appeal to the assessors or other relevant parties.

    They usually have two weeks to give a statement on the appeal.

    If you have filed an appeal regarding the assessment and the assessor’s statement gives you a satisfactory explanation, you can withdraw the appeal.

    If you wish to maintain your appeal, the faculty will make a decision, which will be one of the following options:  

    1. Offer of new assessment (only for written exams).
    2. Offer of a new exam. 
    3. A combination of 1 and 2 if the exam includes a written assignment with oral defence. 
    4. Your appeal is not accomodated.  

    A new assessment and a new exam may result in a lower assessment than the one you originally received. It will be the new assessment that applies. 

  • Read about the entire process from submitting your appeal until you receive the decision.   

    The faculty considers the appeal 

    Once the faculty has received your appeal, they will check whether the deadline for appeals has been met. If this is not the case, the faculty may refuse to process your appeal. 

    If the deadline for the appeal has been met, within a few days you will receive a confirmation of receipt of your appeal and information about the further processing of the case. 

    The faculty processes the appeal 

    If the appeal concerns the basis for the examination (examination questions, assignments, their relation to the syllabus, etc.), the assessment or the course of the examination, the appeal is forwarded to the original assessors or other relevant parties. The assessors usually have 14 days from their receipt of the appeal to submit a statement on the appeal to the faculty. 

    After this, you will have the opportunity to comment on the assessors’ statement. If the faculty deems that your comments, if any, contain new information, a new round of hearing may in some cases be necessary. Your comments will then be forwarded to the assessors for a supplementary statement, and you will subsequently have the opportunity to comment again. This may result in additional case processing time. 

    Depending on the content of your appeal, it may also be necessary to obtain statements from other employees at SDU, such as the Technical Services (for instance as exam invigilators), IT Services or study administration staff. These statements are included in the case in the same way as statements from assessors, and you will also have the opportunity to comment on them.  

    When the faculty considers your case to be fully informed, the statements and comments received will be assessed and a decision will be made.  

    The faculty determines the case 

    At the end of the processing of your exam appeal, the faculty will make a decision, which will be one of the following: 

    1. Offer of new assessment (only for written exams).
    2. Offer of a new exam.
    3. A combination of 1 and 2 if the exam includes a written assignment with oral defence. 
    4. Your case is not accomodated.  

    Your case is accomodated and you are offered a new assessment or a new exam

    If the decision is an offer of a new assessment or a new exam, you must accept the offer within 14 days.  

    If you accept the offer, new assessors will be appointed for the new assessment or for the new exam. 

    A new assessment and a new exam may result in a lower assessment than the one you originally received. It will be the new assessment that applies. 

    If you accept an offer of a new assessment or a new exam, you can NOT file an appeal about the new assessment. However, you can file an appeal about legal issues relating to the new assessment. 

    Not accomodated

    If your appeal is not accomodated, you can appeal the decision on academic issues, including assessments, to a board of appeal at the University. 

    If you wish to file an appeal about legal issues, including the process or case processing, you can bring it before the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science. 

    Your appeal against the decision must be submitted within 14 days of the receipt.

    The decision you receive will include guidelines on how to appeal the decision.

  • The processing of your examination appeal involves multiple parties to ensure a thorough and fair review of your appeal.

    The processing time also depends on the number of other ongoing cases.

    The total processing time will typically be between 1.5 to 2.5 months.


Contact the Legality Team

If you have any questions, contact the Legality Team at samfklager@sam.sdu.dk

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Last Updated 04.09.2024