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Misconduct by examiner

hypercolius

I had my final assessment in my university today. 

I can honestly say that I have not encountered this level of misconduct and personal attacks at me since 2020. 

I had a Master's presentation today and as part of it, I produced a poster which stood out from all the surrounding ones (the others just used a generic template and were literally nothing special, or copied an internet template. Not a single poster caught my eye today the way one absolutely incredible one from 2025 did). People were walking past and getting interested and praising my poster. 

Fast forward to my Master's presentation, one of the examiners kept asking (mostly irrelevant) questions every 3 seconds and then announced my presentation was 20 minutes instead of the 40 minutes it was supposed to be. In the end she conceded that it was her fault that I didn't even get to my main result, which was an application of a method never used in this area of research before. 

I then had to hear the following things from her:

1) "You would have taken that to a conference?" (In reference to my poster)

2) Saying "Did you look at your poster at least once?"

3) Accusing me of "talking too much" and "taking too long"

4) Expressing completely unrestrained surprise I was going to do a PhD and repeatedly implying she felt I was no good for it. 

5) Saying I couldn't answer questions slightly outside my project (factually incorrect- I answered everything and the high mark I got in the end appears consistent with this)

Her hostility was not consistent with the grade I got (very high, likely because of the second examiner), but her remarks were nevertheless extremely upsetting and, I felt, completely inappropriate and unprofessional. 

I remained very quiet. I could have said that this poster design, out of hundreds of posters in Warwick, was one of only two selected to be presented in UK Parliament (and everyone loved it). I could have told her how her ideas about how unfitting I am for a PhD would have sat with my upcoming supervisers (two of the most famous and incredible astrophysicists worldwide, one of them with an h-index about 10 times as large as hers and the other a downright menacing professor with frighteningly huge contributions to multiple areas of astrophysics)- they would have simply laughed at her. 

I could have said that me 'talking too much' and 'not being able to present' is inconsistent with me getting 3 offers from both Oxford and Cambridge in this one single year (two of them fully funded). I could have said and done a lot of things, and I am just really grateful for the second examiner giving me a global first in the end for my presentation. 

I am considering reporting the first examiner's level of conduct to the Director of Studies, simply because those comments could have really hurt someone who was presenting with others in the room (the module leader forced mine to be done in a separate room). 

  • I had some problems on my first degree (not a great university) with part time tutors and examiners marking me down. I discovered 15 years later that woodworking technicians and class assistants had been promoted to professors and doctors. I’m not insinuating anything but I’m sure this goes on. I had to retake an entire module because of one difficult and self important tutor not listening to what I had to say. So you have to appeal if it affects your marks. I have complained to and about this university. It was long before my diagnosis but probably the time in my life I was most affected socially, as the demotion of marks lead to losing touch with my peer group.

  • Sometimes people just take against you. It isn't fair or professional, it is just people being people. If her opinion did not materially affect your future, I would just put the whole thing down to experience and move on. In small academic communities news travels far and fast, and unfortunately 'kicking up a fuss' on this matter could result in you unfairly getting a reputation as an awkward customer, that could follow you around for years.

    I had a similar experience with a chemistry teacher at school, she had got it into her head that I was not very bright or particularly good at chemistry. I do not know why. Every time I gained good results in tests she was surprised. My repeated good results did not seem to result in any change of attitude, however. In the O-level mock exam I came third in what was the top set for chemistry. Despite this she did not want to enter me for the O-level exam, but for the easier and less prestigious CSE exam. In a rare piece of personal assertion, I asked her, as I had come third in the mock, whether she was only entering two people for the O-level, she admitted that this was not the case. I won the argument on the logic of my position - either the mock exam meant something or it did not, if it did not why have it at all? I got a good grade in the actual O-level exam, but my experience led me not to consider doing chemistry at A-level. In my first year at university I had to do a 'remedial' chemistry course to make up for my lack of an A-level in chemistry.

  • I'd complain, how can it be fair when you were only given half the time you were supposed to have? Also the examiner was openly rude and hostile and should not be able to get away with treating people like that

  • I would pass on this, in terms of initiating any additional confrontation.

    This was a bad situation, but your career is on the right track, and you are confident of your skills.

    What I would consider though, is what can be done to avoid this situations in the future. For example:

    1. Get advice from others that can watch your presentation and see how they would have done it,

    2. See whether this was particular to you, or it happened with many students,

    3. Look at others' presentations and compare the main differences in the narration. For example, even if this is allowed, using too much context or self referential statements is not expected.

    And so forth. I've been quite lucky with presentations, the primary criticism has been "Can you be more expressive and less monotonous please?" (I think my supervisor may have fallen sleep once.) Turns out I can fix that though, if I practice.

  • in reply to Iain

    Gentle reminder of rule 6 no legal advice.  

  • hypercolius said:
    I am considering reporting the first examiner's level of conduct to the Director of Studies

    To consider doing this you will need evidence and/or witnesses willing to testify to your interpretation of the events.

    If you have these then check the uni complaints procedure and learn how to make the complaint properly to give yourself maximum chance for a good outcome.

    It may also be worth speaking to the NUS people on campus to find what support they can offer you.

    Lastly, consider what the implications of really annoying the problematic examiner will be. Can they make life difficult for you in future? Can they influence those deciding if you get a PhD please? Sometimes you need to consider if the damage caused by doing the right thing is more than the satisfaction of a win.

    Good luck in getting the outcome you want.