Office hour FAQs

The School and the Department of Statistics fully acknowledge the importance of providing timely and ongoing feedback to students, to enrich the learning experience. The type of feedback given will vary from course to course but typically may involve one or a combination of methods.

You will find that a number of teachers will set regular exercises which you will be required to submit. As well as providing solutions and/or written commentaries on your work, teachers may give out solutions in class and discuss the most common mistakes with the class, if applicable. In addition, you may be given individual verbal feedback and/or encouraged to visit the teacher in his/her office hours.

Some teachers make use of Moodle, for example they may post quizzes on there; or some run discussion forums, in case you don’t feel that you can ask your question during class.

All academic staff hold weekly office hours which are designated for meeting with students to discuss either matters related to an individual course or more general queries. These take place in person and are bookable via the Student Hub. 

Yes, you will need to book to attend office hours which you can book via the Student Hub. 

The queries that you may want to discuss at office hours may include but are not limited to:

• Clarifications on lecture material
• Queries about homework and/or summative coursework
• To obtain further, more detailed feedback on homework and/or coursework after it has been marked
• Advice on typical examination questions and/or revision techniques
• Advice on career development

We hope that you feel comfortable that you can discuss any topic during office hours; however in some cases - for example personal matters that may affect your individual progress in your studies - it may be more appropriate to consult with your academic adviser (if you are an MSc student, this will be your Programme Director) since they may need to be kept informed of such matters anyway.

Although academic staff are always happy to help you with careers advice where they can, you will be able to obtain more detailed, targeted advice from LSE Careers. You can book a careers or CV discussion via LSE CareerHub from 9.30am on the day you would like the appointment. Please also look out for regular communications from both the departmental administration team, as well as LSE Careers for other careers events.

Similarly, while you are always welcome to speak academic staff about personal issues, for more serious issues (for example mental health concerns), it may be appropriate for you to get more specialised help. The LSE Student Counselling Service is a fantastic place to seek help and advice.  Please be aware however that they are not an emergency service, and if you feel that your situation is a crisis or emergency then please contact your GP or the nearest Accident and Emergency. 

The Department of Statistics is committed, and obliged by the School’s Academic Code, to providing you with timely and high-quality feedback on your work.The Department’s policy is to provide feedback for all students wherever possible. This goes beyond the School’s Academic Code. In particular, feedback will be provided to all students on all exams and on formative/summative coursework.

Exams
Collective written feedback will be provided on all exams (including resits), usually via Moodle. This will summarise the performance of the cohort as a whole on each question, highlighting common errors, and will usually be accompanied by the solutions.

Coursework
Individual written feedback will be provided, except for group projects where feedback can be at the group level. For large courses, brief individual feedback may be supplemented by collective feedback for the whole cohort.

When can I expect to receive feedback?
All assessment submission deadlines and feedback timeframes will be clearly communicated to you at the start of the course. Feedback will be provided within the following timeframes.
• Formative work: within 3 term weeks of the submission deadline.
• Summative coursework: within 5 term weeks of the submission deadline*
• January exams: within 6 term weeks of the end of the exam period.
• Summer exams and autumn resits: within 3 weeks of the publication of final marks.
• MSc dissertations: within 2 weeks of the publication of the final exam results in Michaelmas term of the following academic year.

*However, where this would result in provisional marks being released in advance of the School’s provisional mark publication date, School deadlines must take priority. In these cases, feedback must wait until the provisional marks are officially released.

I have a question regarding feedback. Who do I contact?
The best people to approach are: the relevant course teacher, your academic mentor, or the Undergraduate Programmes Manager or MSc Programmes Manager, as appropriate. More information can be found here.

Regrettably it is not possible to provide students with feedback on their individual exam performance, however your teacher will be able to provide you with more general feedback on the exam paper. For many courses, collective feedback is provided in the form of an examination commentary outlining solutions as well as common mistakes. In addition to this, exam papers and in some cases exam solutions are available online here or on the course Moodle page.

There are a number of alternative ways that you can contact academic staff besides attending office hours:

• Some teachers run discussion forums on Moodle, where students can post their queries on a public forum and all students who are members of the course page on Moodle can view the conversation.
• The termly Staff Student Liaison Committee (SSLC) meeting is a great opportunity for students to meet to discuss all aspects of teaching. As part of this process, elected student representatives act as a liaison point between academic staff and students. Please speak to the Undergraduate or MSc Manager to find out more.