WSET Diploma Unit 1 Assessment
Unit 1's grade comes from four 1,500-2,000 word coursework assignments. The topics are set by the WSET in London and change each academic year. The assignments will all include a business focus, requiring you to address concepts from the Unit 1 course materials and/or classes.
Coursework assignments for the 2007-2008 academic year are available at the WSET website.
Each topic includes a detailed brief, listing points that must be touched on in your paper. In the past, students sometimes missed the point of a topic and submitted a paper that was well done but lacking in certain areas, and the WSET would designate that a "fail refer," return it to the student, ask him or her to strengthen the weak areas, and then return it for a second grading. With the detailed brief, this will no longer be needed.
The four coursework assignments -- completed over one to three years -- constitute the entire assessment for Unit 1. Once you have received passing grades for four of them you will have passed Unit 1.
You may find the WSET Examiners' Reports, which are available from our Diploma Exam & Resources page, to be a helpful resource when preparing your coursework papers.
Coursework Registration and Submission Due Dates
The papers are graded by the WSET in London. You can do as many of or as few of the four assignments as you like each year, as long as you successfully complete four of them during the three years of your Diploma registration.
Papers are due (to us) on either of two dates each year, generally the second Tuesday in April and the second Tuesday in November. (See our schedule for upcoming due dates.) We send submitted papers on to London by express courier immediately after the due date.
We must register you for a coursework assignment of your choice (and pay WSET for it) at least one month before the due date, so you must let us know you want to do an assignment -- and pay for it -- one month before the due date. Once you have registered to submit one or more papers on one of the due dates, it is imperative that you submit them by that due date, as WSET will not accept late coursework assignments, and will give you a "fail" grade for that assignment. You will lose not only the money you paid to register for that assignment, but you will also have wasted whatever time you put into research and writing the assignment, because WSET will not let you submit that assignment on a later due date.
You can begin researching and writing your coursework assignments as soon as they are posted by WSET (usually in May), but we can't submit them to WSET until the specified due dates.
Note: New Diploma students who begin their studies in the winter semester will not be able to submit any coursework assignments until the November due date because their Unit 2 exams will not be given until after the April due date. They will be invited to attend Unit 1 classes in the fall semester which will assist with their coursework assignments.
Cover Sheets for Coursework Submissions
When submitting your coursework assignments to us, please fill out and include a cover sheet:
- Phillywine Unit 1 Coursework Cover Sheet for 2007-08 (Word document)
- Phillywine Unit 1 Coursework Cover Sheet for 2007-08 (PDF)