21 December 2022
By email:
[email address]
Dear JB
I refer to your information request dated 23 November 2022 made under the Official Information
Act 1982 (the Act). You have requested grade and mark distributions of all 300 and 400 level LAWS
papers in Semester 2 2022, as well as ACCT306, ACCT325, ACTP312 and PHIL105 in Semester 2 2022.
Subject to the following comments, please find attached the information you have requested. Please
not that there are multiple sheets in the attached document (one for each subject area).
• we note that the grade and mark distribution for LAWS490 has not been finalised yet as
there may be special examinations outstanding and grades for some students have not been
finalised. We are not comfortable releasing the data before all grades have been confirmed
– as this may affect students’ wellbeing and disrupt students’ performance in special
examinations. We will release the grade and mark distributions for these papers once all
student results have been finalised – we anticipate that these will be finalised over the
coming weeks and in the New Year.
• on occasions where fewer than five students have failed a paper (i.e. received a grade of Fail
D, Fail E or Failed Compulsory Assessment), we have determined that it is necessary to
withhold the marks and specific grades for these students to protect their privacy and
wellbeing. We consider that withholding this information is necessary to protect against the
identity of these students being determined or inferred, and their personal information (i.e.
their marks) could be disclosed. We therefore withhold this information pursuant to section
9(2)(a) of the Act.
• we also note that we decline providing the mark and grade distribution for the Semester 2
LAWS480 paper as there were low enrolment numbers in this paper. We consider that
withholding this information is necessary to protect against the identity of these students
being determined or inferred, and their personal information (i.e. their marks) could be
disclosed. We withhold this information pursuant to section 9(2)(a) of the Act.
• the attached grade and mark distributions include papers where only a “completed” grade is
awarded (i.e. not a percentage mark). These papers are LAWS398, LAWS498 and LAWS499.
• in the interests of completeness, we have included all Full-Year LAWS papers in our
response.
• in the attached grade and mark distributions, we note that students who withdrew from the
papers or received an Aegrotat Grade (not a mark) are excluded from the data.
I trust that this information will be helpful. We will be in touch with regards to the grade
distributions for the LAWS490 paper once the grade and mark distributions for this paper have been
confirmed and are available.
In the above cases, we consider that good reasons exist for withholding information, and this is not
outweighed by other considerations which would make it desirable, in the public interest, to make
the information available. If you are not satisfied with our response to your information request,
section 28(3) provides you with the right to ask an Ombudsman to investigate and review this
response. However, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss any concerns with you first.
Yours sincerely
Kelsey Kennard
Official Information and Compliance Coordinator
Office of the Registrar