Doctoral Academic Communication Requirement Assessments

Assessment registration

DACR Assessment 1 (online)

Students must take the first available DACR A1 after fully registering onto their doctoral programme, within 3 months of the registration date. This is because the aim of the Requirement is to identify as soon as possible those who need to improve their writing competence, and to ensure they can access support in the first 12 months of their doctoral programme.

Assessment dates for 2023/24

You will be able to start the 2.5-hour (maximum) remote online assessment at any point between 09.00 and 13.00. Please note that you will have to complete it in one go, i.e. you cannot start it and come back to it later. 

Registration closes at 09.00 on the Thursday before the assessment. Any students who need to register after registration has closed, please contact the CfAE administrator as soon as possible.

Students will be emailed confirmation of registration and further instructions on the Friday before the assessment.

DACR Assessment 2 (online)

DACR A2  is to be taken by students who scored level 1 or 2 on DACR A1, and have normally completed both Academic Writing 1 and Academic Writing 2. It is part of the Early Stage Assessment (ESA) carried out by your department. Please note that the latest a student can take DACR A2 is 12 months (full-time students) and 24 months (part-time students) after the date of initial registration for their doctoral degree.

Assessment dates for 2023/24

  • DACR A2: Tuesday 5 September 2023
  • DACR A2: Tuesday 12 December 2023 (registration will open once the previous assessment has passed)
  • DACR A2: Tuesday 19 March 2024
  • DACR A2: Tuesday 25 June 2024

You will be able to start the 3-hour (maximum) remote online assessment at any point between 09.00 and 13.00. Please note that you will have to complete it in one go, i.e. you cannot start it and come back to it later. 

Registration closes at 09.00 on the Tuesday before the assessment. Any students who need to register after registration has closed, please contact the CfAE administrator as soon as possible.

Students will be emailed confirmation of registration and further instructions on the Thursday before the assessment.

Assessment descriptions

DACR A1 description

Please watch this video about DACR A1

DACR A1 is not a pass or fail test. Rather, it is a diagnostic assessment to identify any gap between a student’s entry level academic writing competence and the level they will need to reach in order to complete their doctoral programme. No preparation or revision is therefore required.
 
DACR A1 is an online written assessment of a student's ability to communicate scientific or technical information at doctoral level. It consists of two pieces of academic STEMM writing and some additional short language tasks. The two pieces of writing consist of an extended text on one of a choice of 8 STEMM areas and a shorter text on one of a choice of 12 technical terms. Students have up to 2.5 hours to complete the assessment.
 
DACR A1 is used to assess competences such as text organisation, coherence, sentence structure, grammatical accuracy and academic vocabulary. Note that we are assessing academic communication competence, not  scientific knowledge. Students will not be assessed on the scientific accuracy of what they write. 

DACR A2 description

Please watch this video about DACR A2

DACR A2 is not a pass or fail test. Rather, it is a progress check that mimics the structure of DACR A1. No preparation or revision is therefore required. 

DACR A2 is an online written assessment of a student's ability to communicate scientific or technical information at doctoral level. It consists of two pieces of academic STEMM writing and some additional short language tasks. The two pieces of writing consist of an extended text on one of a choice of 8 STEMM areas and a shorter text that is related to the student's field of research. Students have up to 3 hours to complete the assessment. 

DACR A2 is used to assess competences such as text organisation, coherence, sentence structure, grammatical accuracy and academic vocabulary. Note that we are assessing academic communication competence, not  scientific knowledge. Students will not be assessed on the scientific accuracy of what they write. 

Assessment results

DACR A1 results

Please note that where plagiarism (including self plagiarism) is detected, we are unable to accurately assess that student's current competence and may not be able to offer them an appropriate writing course; instead they are automatically placed in our lowest-level writing course. Please note that this information will be reported to the student's department and the course (Preparation for Academic Writing) must be completed in order to progress onto our standard doctoral writing courses.

  • LEVEL 1: This indicates that there are significant problems with academic writing that need to be addressed within the first 12 months of the doctoral programme. We strongly recommend that the student attends the Preparation for Academic Writing course, followed by Academic Writing 1 and then Academic Writing 2. Their progress will be checked in DACR Assessment 2 around the time of the Early Stage Assessment (ESA).  

  • LEVEL 2: This indicates that there is a need to develop competence in academic writing within the first 12 months of the doctoral programme. We strongly recommend that the student attends the Academic Writing 1 course followed by Academic Writing 2. Their progress will be checked in DACR Assessment 2 around the time of the Early Stage Assessment (ESA).  

  • LEVEL 3: This indicates that the student would benefit from further language and writing development during the first 12 months of the doctoral programme. We recommend that they attend the Academic Writing 1&2 (condensed) course. The student will not be assessed again. 

  • LEVEL 4: This indicates that the student has a high level of competence in academic writing. We suggest that they attend our high-level writing courses Advanced Academic Writing and/or Writing a Research Paper. The student will not be assessed again. 

DACR A2 results

Please note that where plagiarism (including self plagiarism) is detected, we are unable to accurately assess that student's current competence and may not be able to offer them an appropriate writing course. This will be reported to the student's department.

  • LEVEL 1: This indicates that there are still significant problems with academic writing and the student is not yet able to communicate appropriately. Students can request a feedback session with a CfAE tutor. We strongly recommend that level 1 students attend the Improving Academic Writing programme.

  • LEVEL 2: This indicates that there is still a need to develop competence in academic writing and the student is not yet able to communicate complex information accurately and unambiguously. Students can request a feedback session with a CfAE tutor. We recommend that level 2 students attend the Improving Academic Writing programme.   

  • LEVEL 3: This indicates that the student can communicate reasonably well but is not always able to control and organise complex information. We recommend that level 3 students who want further language and writing development attend the Advanced Academic Writing course.

  • LEVEL 4: This indicates that the student has a high level of competence in academic writing and can communicate, control and organise complex information. Level 4 students would benefit from taking the Advanced Academic Writing or Writing a Research Paper course.