Possible failed first year - help and advice

dottygirl

Hi my daughter has just found out she has failed an essay and an exam. Her course were told they could fail one thing in the first year. She is worried she has failed the course. What advice should I give her (I never went to uni so have no idea). I have advised her to speak to her tutor. Any other advice would be gratefully received.

melancholly

get her to read her course handbook to see what the rules are. she may be able to retake the exam (coursework is less likely). you did exactly the right thing in telling her to speak to her tutor. in reality, she needs to sort this out herself with uni staff. tough as it sounds, finding out the academic rules really is up to her.

perhaps you can try and talk to her and find out what she's failing multiple parts of her first year? is she struggling with the course? is she partying too much and not working? does she want to continue? that side of things is massively important too!

Vicky496

The best thing would be for her to ask her tutor really as they'll be able to tell her more and to offer her advice on what to do next.

I agree with melancholly, that it would be a good idea to ask her what's going wrong. It can be very difficult for students in their first year of uni - particularly as when they were at school their time and resources were largely managed for them. It is tough to learn to make yourself study and to manage your own time (and money etc), she might be fine after a bit of 'mum advice'

ajwolf

Like you said she should speak to her tutor or someone in the department. She should ask if there is the possibility of doing a resit for the exam and/or the essay. Sometimes when you complete an essay there is a submission date (for handing it in) and a resubmission date for those who need it.

First priority before anything else should be the above. Also urge her not to give up on her current work. In the case where she is allowed to resit it's easier to resit one or two assessments and she doesn't want to make her life any harder but failing anything else. If it turns out she can't resit and has indeed failed the whole year (which most of the time isn't the case but do make sure she gets proper advice from a tutor/lecturer) they should be able to explain her options.

lollipopsarah

Don't panic, difficult I know, my darling did a resit last year (£120 - ouch) and managed to scrape through. ( with a little chat about working harder!!)
Best wishes and good luck.
xx

juno

Usually exams have a resit date, although this may be at a really awkward time - this is kind of intended as a deterrent, as people resitting have to go back to uni in their holidays and may find the journey/accommodation awkward. They might even wait until the summer to hold resits.

Your daughter needs to contact her tutor as soon as she can. If she can't see them in person then she should email, although a face to face meeting will be better. And if she doesn't have her course handbook then usually the policies can be viewed online.

Jodepetas

dottygirl wrote: »

Hi my daughter has just found out she has failed an essay and an exam. Her course were told they could fail one thing in the first year. She is worried she has failed the course. What advice should I give her (I never went to uni so have no idea). I have advised her to speak to her tutor. Any other advice would be gratefully received.

That is good advise,
Its only December so she would have failed the whole this yet, and in almost all universities it is possible to do retakes in the summer period, sometimes even again in the next year. Also for a lot of courses the first year isn't counted, so they are more lenient. She should just put her head down and study as best as she can to pass all the other stuff.
Good luck to her,

hbk619

As it's the first year she'll probably be allowed to resit the module in her second year for free. I failed one module (depression/stress resulted in a N grade) and just repeated in the second year capped at a D (which is a shame, could have got a B but oh well, it's not counted). Another friend failed two exams in the second year and has used his placement module to make up one, and his other results were high enough to be let off the other. Highly doubt she'll fail the course just for this.

yertiz_2

juno wrote: »

Usually exams have a resit date, although this may be at a really awkward time - this is kind of intended as a deterrent, as people resitting have to go back to uni in their holidays and may find the journey/accommodation awkward. They might even wait until the summer to hold resits.

Your daughter needs to contact her tutor as soon as she can. If she can't see them in person then she should email, although a face to face meeting will be better. And if she doesn't have her course handbook then usually the policies can be viewed online.

I agree, had a similar situation last year with my son and he had a re-sit, first year with mitigating circumstances, which he was advised in July to be taken 1st September and he had a holiday booked! I believe they are allowed to take no more than 20 credits in to their next year. As juno says you can look on their website to find out more information, which is what I did only so I had an idea what was going on and could discuss it with him which helped. Most Universities have a pastoral care service and they will also give advice to parents.

dottygirl

Thank you all for you kindness in replying to this thread. You have given me some good advice and I feel more positive for the New Year. May 2012 be a good year for you all. x