Is copying and pasting from R/Excel to Word allowed?

[yuli2513]

Hi,

I am reading the examination guidelines for 2021 September exam and I find it very confusing to understand whether or not copying and pasting from R/Excel to Word is allowed.

On page 8, bullet point 5 of the examination handbook, it states:
"When sitting subjects which require answers to be provided in Word, you may wish to use another software package to aid with calculations. You will be able to copy and paste this calculations on your submission, however, it should be noted that any calculations should appear in full in your Word answer script to ensure you receive the appropriate marks. "
And I interpret it as a permission to copy and paste from excel or R to word for all exams.

However, on page 9 right before bullet point 15, I read:
"All examination answers must be typed except where we have agreed to specific access arrangements. For the avoidance of doubt, ‘typed’ is defined as keyboard entry."
Which seems to be a ban on copying and pasting from another software to word. As although I type out the excel/R myself, it is not typed out in word.

I'm not sure if anyone else shares this concern here. I remember for the last two sittings, it is not allowed to copy paste from other source to word. Is this a change in policy here? Or shall we play on the safe side and type everything out?

The link to the examination guideline: https://www.actuaries.org.uk/system/files/field/document/Examination Handbook September 2021.pdf

I've sent an email to the exam support but I'm not sure when they are going to reply to me. If I received anything concrete, I'll post follow-up under this thread. But for now, any suggestion on how to interpret this would be highly appreciated!

 

[Noreen]

We were told in the exam preparation webinar that if you use Excel as your calculator you are allowed to copy to word but make sure you show all your workings.

For the CS subjects you are required to submit the exam script in Word not R, so I would have thought the same principle applies there.

You definately can't copy anything prepared in advance.

One option is to go the other way around, type Excel friendly numeric formula in word, copy to Excel to get the answer.

Type R code on word, copy to R to make sure it works.

 

[yuli2513]

We were told in the exam preparation webinar that if you use Excel as your calculator you are allowed to copy to word but make sure you show all your workings.

For the CS subjects you are required to submit the exam script in Word not R, so I would have thought the same principle applies there.

You definately can't copy anything prepared in advance.

One option is to go the other way around, type Excel friendly numeric formula in word, copy to Excel to get the answer.

Type R code on word, copy to R to make sure it works.

Thanks a lot!

 

[John Lee]

Part of the copy/paste ban is to prevent students using pre-written solutions or, obviously, copying other people's work.

You still have to be cautious in using them - so, if you are just using them as you would with a calculator then that is ok - but show enough working to get the marks - as just answers on their own will not score the full marks.

For example, I recommend CS1 and CS2 students do the standardisation of the normal distribution and then only use Excel or R on the last step - rather than getting Excel/R to do all the heavy lifting from the start.

 

[yuli2513]

Thanks all for answering. I also got a reply from exam support today, please find below:
"You can copy and paste work from Excel or R, for example a table of data or a balance sheet, or use these to help with your calculations.

Remember that in any calculations you make all the steps that you have taken must be shown in the Word document. You should not paste Excel formulae as the markers will not be able to see your work in full. If they cannot see your full work they will not be able to mark your work fully."