Assessment, Certification and Academic Integrity

A certificate is only worth what its assessment is worth. This policy sets out exactly how a learner is assessed on Deep Space Commodities, what has to be true before a certificate is issued, and what happens when the rules are broken. It is published so that learners, employers and accrediting bodies can all check our working.

Assessment is continuous rather than a single final test. Three distinct instruments run at different points, each with a different job.

• Lesson quick checks. Short questions attached to an individual lesson, designed to confirm that the key points landed before the learner moves on. A perfect score is required to mark the lesson complete, and there is no limit on retries. The purpose is retention, not filtering, so a learner who gets one wrong is shown the explanation and invited to try again.
• Chapter practice quizzes. A longer set covering the whole chapter, presented on the final lesson of that chapter. Also 100% to clear, also unlimited retries. This is the learner's own rehearsal before the exam that counts.
• Module exams. One per chapter, and the only assessment that gates progression or contributes to the certificate. These are described in detail below.

Every chapter ends with a module exam. The same rules apply to all twelve.

• Fifteen questions are drawn at random from a pool of twenty-five for each attempt, so no two sittings are identical.
• Answer options are reordered randomly on every attempt.
• The pass mark is 80%.
• There is a thirty-minute time limit per attempt.
• A learner has three attempts per chapter exam.
• After an unsuccessful attempt there is a thirty-minute cooldown before the exam can be retaken, so that a failed attempt prompts review rather than immediate guessing.
• Chapters unlock in sequence. A chapter's exam cannot be started until the previous chapter's exam has been passed.

Every question is written against the taught material and carries a written explanation, which is released after grading. Questions are not drawn from outside the course, and no question depends on knowledge the course has not covered.

Marking is automatic, immediate and performed entirely on our servers. The correct answers are never sent to the learner's browser, and the record of an attempt cannot be created or altered by the browser either. Each attempt is bound to a signed token issued when the exam starts, which fixes the question set and the start time, so an attempt cannot be extended, replayed or resubmitted with a different set of questions.

Results, including the score and pass or fail outcome, are stored against the learner's account and shown on the exam page alongside the date of each previous attempt.

Before any exam is published, the full question bank is checked automatically for the defects that would otherwise go unnoticed until a learner hit them.

• Every question has exactly one correct answer. A question with two defensible answers penalises the better-informed learner and is treated as a defect, not a quirk.
• Every question carries an explanation.
• No question is duplicated within an exam or across exams.
• Correct answers are not systematically longer than the alternatives, which would let a test-wise learner score well without knowing the material.

This check is run as part of our release process, and a failure blocks publication. Where a defect is found in a live question, it is corrected and any learner disadvantaged by it has the affected attempt set aside on request.

A certificate of completion is issued automatically once a learner has passed the module exam for all twelve chapters. It is issued in the learner's legal name, which is collected and confirmed before the first exam is taken, and it records the date of issue.

Each certificate carries a unique identifier and a verification hash derived from the certificate ID, the holder's name and the issue date. Anyone holding the certificate can confirm it is genuine at the verification address printed on it, without needing an account. This means an employer can check a certificate independently of the person presenting it.

The certificate attests to completion of the assessed course. It is not a regulated qualification and does not confer a professional licence or a right to practise.

The following are treated as breaches of assessment integrity.

• Having another person take an exam on your behalf, or taking one on behalf of another person.
• Sharing exam questions or answers with other learners, or publishing them.
• Attempting to obtain the answer key by technical means, or interfering with how attempts are recorded.
• Sharing account credentials so that more than one person uses a single seat.

The AI tutor is not a breach. It is part of the course and learners are encouraged to use it while studying. It is scoped to the lesson being watched and is not available during an exam.

Where we have reasonable grounds to believe integrity has been breached, we may set aside the affected attempts, withhold or revoke a certificate, and in serious or repeated cases withdraw access without refund. We will tell the learner what we believe happened and give them a genuine opportunity to respond before a final decision is made. Any such decision can be appealed under our Complaints and Appeals Policy.

A learner who uses all three attempts on a chapter exam should contact us. We will normally reset the attempts once the learner has had the opportunity to review the chapter, and we do not charge for this. The limit exists to encourage revision between attempts, not to sell access twice.

The thirty-minute time limit can be extended for learners who need additional time, including for reasons of disability, specific learning difficulty, or where English is an additional language. Ask before you start the exam and the adjustment will be applied to your account. You do not need to provide medical evidence for a time extension.

If you believe a result is wrong, or that a specific question was defective or ambiguous, write to us quoting the chapter and, where you can, the question. We will review the question and the record of your attempt. If the question was at fault we will correct it, regrade the attempt and tell you the outcome. Full details of how to escalate are in our Complaints and Appeals Policy.

Questions about assessment, certification or an exam result: info@spaceeconomy.education.