Uni re-sits

cinderelly

I wondered if anyone had any advice for us. Daughter had to resit one of her modules today at Notts Trent Uni and apparently it went dreadful again. She has passed everything else for this (2nd) year its just this one that she is really struggling with.

Can anyone advise us (well me really, she is still in Nottm, and she doesnt need me keep going on at her) what will happen if she has failed again.

Will she still have a good chance to carry on into her 3rd year or not? I'm getting really quite worried now, as I thought failing this would just pull the rest of the modules grades down, didnt realise just how important it is.

I realise she will need to talk to the uni, but its the not knowing now that is really worrying me. Any advice would be very welcome

Thank you

MrsManda

It depends on the importance of the module and how her department allocate grades/degrees. In my degree we take 12 modules, 4 in each year. You can get a degree with 11 modules BUT you have to pass all of the core modules for the degree.
To move from yr 1 to yr 2 you need to pass a minimum of 3 modules including all the core modules. To move from yr 2 to yr 3 you need to have passed 7.5 out of the 8 taken over the 2 yrs.
Your daughter ought to have the rules for progression either from her tutor or be able to find it in the course handbook/on the website. All she can do is talk to her tutor about it.

dieselhead

She must speak to the university about this as soon as possible, it may be that she has not faired as badly as she thinks and has managed to scrape through to the third year. At my university, if you haven't passed all the units you cannot progress to the next year. Also and I don't want to worry you as things may be different at different universities, but if we fail a re-sit we have to re-take the entire year.

whitfreak

This is an area which every university treats slightly differently. http://www.ntu.ac.uk/CASQ/quality_assurance/standards_quality/13838.pdf has NTU's progression rules, but they are not simple and gives the exam boards alot of disgression.

Right assuming that she isn't carrying any other failed modules, if she gets 40% or more then its all fine although 40% is the highest you can be awarded on a retake.

If she gets 35-39% on the retake then no problem as long as her overall average including that mark is above 40%. There seems to be disgression to do the same with 30-34% but its not clear.

If its an out and out fail, then it depends on the module and the mood of the exam board. She might pass onto the Ordinary Degree stream (i.e. pass/fail award rather than classification), she might be told to take an extra module in her last year to make it up, or they might just let her progress as normal (as long as the module isnt worth more than 30 credits).

From what I can see, whatever happens she should be able to go back to univeristy in September/October. But if is a core module then things might get complecated.

mummytofour

In my uni I have to get 120 credits to pass the year. I can trail 20 credits which I failed so could get into the next year with 100 but would need to make them up at some point.

pinkshoes

I failed one of my 6 modules in my 2nd year at uni due to illness, but as I had a doctor's certificate, they let me come back the following year in the summer to resit. (and I had to take a gap year at very short notice!).

They certainly didn't offer a summer resit, and those failing without good reason I think left the course or had to do a non-honours degree.

bestpud

I agree she needs to talk to a tutor about this asap.

I can understand why you are sweating too though!

Have you had a good look through the uni website, as the rules are often there somewhere.

Other than that, you could (I imagine) call someone at the uni and ask what would happen, as a hypothetical question? I very much doubth they'd discuss your dd with you, but there is nothing to stop them answering a general question...

Other than that, you just have to let her get on with it - hard as that is!

Rosie75

Just a few comments to add to what whitfreak has already said:

whitfreak wrote: »

If she gets 35-39% on the retake then no problem as long as her overall average including that mark is above 40%. There seems to be disgression to do the same with 30-34% but its not clear. Reading the regs, it seems that the board has discretion to apply compensation to marks in the 30-34% range. This means that, for example, a 2:2 mark for another module could compensate for a mark of, say, 34, resulting in both marks ending up in the 40s.

If its an out and out fail, then it depends on the module and the mood of the exam board. It won't depend on the "mood" of the exam board - they have to abide by the regulations and, in a situtation where discretion can be applied (which is rare) they will invariably go for the most favourable option for the student since they won't want to have to deal with a lengthy appeals process. She might pass onto the Ordinary Degree stream (i.e. pass/fail award rather than classification), she might be told to take an extra module in her last year to make it up, or they might just let her progress as normal (as long as the module isnt worth more than 30 credits). The regs do say something about a third attempt being possible at level 2. They also say that the board can allow the student to enter the third year with a failed module, but that the student will have to make good the deficiency during the year. When they say "can", I suspect that this doesn't mean "if they are in a good mood" but that there will be additional departmental regulations as well as the university-wide ones. Your daughter should have a degree handbook from her department which makes clear what the policy is with fails.

From what I can see, whatever happens she should be able to go back to univeristy in September/October. But if is a core module then things might get complecated.

fuzzybear01

If she has had any mitigating circumstances e.g. poor health, stress etc these can be taken into account so she might not get removed from the course. I know evidence usually has to be submitted within 10 days of the assessment date, but it varies from uni to uni

whitfreak

More importantly, mitigating circumstances normally have to be in before the student gets their result (well before the examiners meeting). Partly because the examiners have to have a meeting to work if they are relavent, and how to take them into affect, but also so the examiners don't get an load of complaints and a requests to reconsider things after the event as all of a sudden the bad marks are down to clinical stress (or something).

But as fuzzybear said this varies from uni to uni.

cinderelly

Many many thanks for all your replies. Some very useful information there! My daughter has shot off to Leeds festival for the weekend so I still havent seen her to speak to her properly yet. I know she was upset but going to Leeds couldnt have been better timed to make her feel a little better. When shes home we will be able to sort this with the uni, there wouldnt be anyone around this weekend with it being Bank Holiday anyway!

I'm really hoping she can just start next year and resit again, and I know she will go flat out this time to make sure she passes.

And there is always the chance she does still pass this exam, so fingers crossed!!