Structure of the Final Exam  

• The final exam of the satellite Payload course is structured into two tests:    

1. a written test (30% of the final score): the student is required to solve exercises or answer questions about principle of operation or performance evaluation of satellite communication, satellite navigation, Earth observation Radar or to provide the corresponding  main design parameters. 
2. an oral test (70% of the final score): the student is required to answer open questions about the operation of the satellite payloads or the corresponding global space systems, about their performance, or about their processing techniques.

• Written test:  

1. duration of the test: 3 hours
2. it includes: some multiple choice questions, some open-answer questions, and some exercises on satellite communication systems, satellite navigation systems, and Earth Observation radar

• "In itinere" tests:  

1. are assigned during the course semester, approximately every two weeks, through the Sapienza e-learning platform
2. they also include quick questions in the classroom
3. if successfully submitted (all with score ≥ 3.33 out of 10) these tests can be used as a replacement of the written test
4. these tests maintain validity until September 2026 (validity does NOT include the exams held in October/November 2026).

• Oral test:  

1. Students taking the standard written test, are assigned an oral test date at the end of the written test
2. Students replacing the written test with the "in itinere" tests, must sign up for the oral test in one of the available dates, using the e-learning reservation's tools available below.  Reservations have a deadline. It is only allowed to reserve a single oral date. The reservation can be cancelled only before the reservation deadline. (Attention: having reserved the oral exam, the student  who wants to move to a different date must remove the reservation before the reservation deadline and insert a new reservation for a different date. If omitting cancellation before the reservation deadline, the student is not allowed to insert new reservations for the oral exam and the only available option remains to take a full written test)
3. in case of a high number of reservations (>10) for a specific date, the oral test for the students having reserved later can be help in the following days, depending on the availability of the instructors.

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Written Test Schedule for academic year 2025-2026: 

January 15th, 2026

February 4th, 2026

March 11th, 2026  (only for authorized students)

June 10th, 2026

July 8th, 2026

September 9th, 2026

Intermediate (in itinere)  Tests 

Reservations for the Oral Exams

only for the students that successfully completed the intermediate (in itinere) Tests