# Exams & results — Academium SMS [View the HTML page](https://academium.com.ng/sms/features/exams-and-results/) > Set up each term’s exam, schedule papers and halls, enter or import marks, grade and rank classes, then authorise and publish results. Exams & results ## From the first mark to published results. Set up the term’s exam, schedule the papers, record marks, rank each class, then sign the results off and publish them. [Download to get started](https://academium.com.ng/downloads?product=sms) [All SMS features](https://academium.com.ng/sms/features) One class’s term, from setting up the exam to publishing its results. An example. Setting up an exam ## One exam per term, made of your components. Choose which components make up the total, such as first CA, second CA and the exam itself. - **Marks, grades or both.** Report each exam as marks, as grades, or as marks and grades. - **Cumulative averages your way.** Average across terms equally, or weight each term. Weighting is offered from the second term, once every earlier term has an exam. - **Two kinds of publishing.** Publishing the exam lets staff know it is ready. Publishing the results is a separate step, and Catch Up reminds you of results that were never published. An example third-term exam made of three components, reporting marks and grades, with terms weighted in the cumulative average. Exam timetables ## Papers, halls and dates in one schedule. Lay out a class’s papers across school days, then adjust by hand. - **Generated around your calendar.** Choose a start date, papers per day, duration and gap. Weekends and holidays are skipped, and nothing is saved until you choose to. - **Halls that fit the class.** Each hall has a seat count. A hall with fewer seats than the class has students is refused. - **Drag a paper to another day.** Papers take the date of the day they are moved to. Clashing papers, and papers set on a weekend or holiday, are flagged while you edit. - **Full and pass marks included.** Each paper carries a full and pass mark for every component. Print the finished timetable for the class. An example schedule: two papers a day, skipping the weekend. A hall with fewer seats than the class has students is refused. Recording marks ## Enter marks on screen or from a spreadsheet. One paper at a time: class, section, exam and subject, with a column for each component. - **Maximums enforced.** Every component has its own maximum, and a mark above it is shown before saving and refused. - **Absent is not zero.** Mark a student absent, or as not taking an optional subject, and their mark fields close. - **Gaps you can see.** The page counts students who still have nothing recorded, with a running total for each student. - **Import from a template.** Download a sheet with the students and components already in it, fill in marks offline, and upload it back. One paper at a time. A mark above its maximum is caught, an absent student’s fields close, and totals add up as you go. Fictional marks. Grades ## Your grading scale, applied the same way every time. Grades follow percentage bands you set, each with a grade point. - **Comments follow the same idea.** Report-card comments are banded by percentage too, and Auto Fill Comments gives a whole class its comments in one click. - **No overlaps, no gaps.** Grade bands carry a grade point each. A band that overlaps another, or a range no band covers, is pointed out before saving. An example scale: a gap is flagged until a band covers it, then every student gets the grade of the band their percentage falls in. Report-card comments ## Write each comment once, not forty times. Write your report-card comments once, as templates tied to percentage bands: one wording for 70% and above, another for 50 to 69%, and so on. On Position & Comments, one click on Auto Fill Comments gives every student in the class the comment for the band their result falls in. - **Teacher, principal and head teacher.** Teacher comments apply to every class. Principal or head teacher comments are allocated class by class, so a secondary class can carry the principal’s wording and a primary class the head teacher’s. - **Uses the cumulative result.** Where a student has a cumulative average, that is what picks their comment; otherwise it is this exam’s percentage. - **Still yours to change.** Filled comments can be edited one by one before saving. Auto fill replaces what is already there, and it asks before it does. Fictional students and comments. Each one gets the wording of the band their percentage falls in. Positions and sign-off ## Rank the class. Then sign it off. Positions come from each student’s percentage, and authorising freezes the result. - **Ties are flagged.** Two students on the same position are highlighted. Edit positions by hand or renumber from the current order. - **Authorised means final.** Once results are authorised, mark entry becomes read-only and the exam timetable locks. - **Nothing left half-done.** Catch Up points out marks that are missing and results that were never published. A tie is highlighted until positions are renumbered. Authorising freezes the marks, and Catch Up reminds you to publish. Fictional students. Results recycle bin ## Cleared by mistake? Put it back. Invalidating a class’s results sends its marks and positions to a recycle bin instead of deleting them. - **Restore a whole batch.** Each invalidation is kept as one batch. Restoring brings back the marks and positions it cleared. - **Clear about what it replaces.** Marks entered after the invalidation are replaced by the restored set, and the confirmation says so. An invalidated class result kept as one batch, and restored. The confirmation says what will be replaced. Example figures. FAQs ## Exams & results questions Marks, grading and sign-off in practice. [Still have a question?](https://academium.com.ng/main/page-contact) ### Can we import marks from Excel? Yes. Download a template for the paper with the students and components filled in, add the marks and upload it. Authorised results and locked terms cannot be imported into. ### Our junior classes use grades only. Is that supported? Yes. An exam can report marks, grades, or both, and the position screen adapts its columns to match. ### Can parents see results in SMS? No. Parents and students do not sign in to SMS. Results reach families on printed report cards. ### Can marks change after results are authorised? Not from mark entry. Authorised results and locked terms are read-only; reversing a sign-off needs a privileged user. ## Run this term’s exams in Academium SMS. Download Academium SMS and set up your school, try a demo, or start in free mode. [Download to get started](https://academium.com.ng/downloads?product=sms) [Explore other features](https://academium.com.ng/sms/features)