I failed an assignment 😞

[Usernamqwerty]

Postgraduate healthcare student in my first year, with two young children, a disability, a carer role and not in great health myself...

Found out yesterday I had failed a written assignment by 6 marks. Absolutely gutted and too embarrassed to tell anyone except my husband. Feel like a massive failure and if I fail again, I will get kicked off the course. Awaiting confirmation I just have to amend the original submission and not write a whole new one from scratch (critical review of a research paper). I should hear on Monday... Handhold please!!

You poor thing, sounds like you have a lot on your plate! Hopefully they'll let you amend, but if you have to write a new paper think of it as practice, with points to improve with. Be gentle with yourself x

I was a single, childless woman living at home and failed an assignment… don’t be hard on yourself. Seek support from your academic staff you will get it next time! It’s tough but you’ve got this x

Don't be too hard on yourself, take on board feedback and give it another go! You can do this 💐

Good luck, I am sorry for this. Hopefully you can amend and pass.

Take full advantage of any tutor help, and the university librarians. They get paid to help you, they’re not doing it as a favour, it’s literally their job. Are there any boards here you could ask for help on eg the health board might have nurses/physios/whatever who know of useful books.

Everyone fails essays and exams, they just keep it quiet so you don’t hear about it, that’s all.

Thank you all for your kind words 💞

Definitely ask if you can meet with the module lead or your tutor to discuss what you need to improve on the resit. Honestly (I’m a lecturer) we have students who have very little going on besides studying who fail things all the time. It happens. The key is to figure out what they need you to do that you didn’t do the first time.

Thank you! I don't think I will be the only one in my cohort to have failed. This assignment has a reputation for being difficult. Also my cohort WhatsApp chat is completely silent instead of everyone celebrating their successes 🤔

Thank you so much. They have invited us to arrange a resit tutorial with our marker (mine is on leave for weeks but I have been suggested to try the module leader). Feedback given was very detailed. Am just really really hoping I pass otherwise I will have wasted the whole year 😬

Have a look at the course notes to see what happens if you fail. On the one I am on currently, you are allowed one resubmission.

Same here unfortunately! 😞

Did you think you would pass? If so, this gives you a different starting point than if you were unsure and thought it was a bit ‘iffy’ in the first place.

Look at your learning objectives. Have you clearly fulfilled each one, to an equal-ish amount? And spread each answer throughout the essay?

Have you read the title and broken it down into its different components?

Have you put a reference every few sentences?

Is your actual reference list done properly?

This is my starting point for when I’m writing.

Will your tutorial be in person or online? Can you voice record it so you can go over it later with a fine tooth comb?

I absolutely hate academic work, plus I’m shit at it. You definitely have my sympathies.

And go through the written feedback. Print out your essay with double spacing, single sided only, and write the feedback in your essay in red ink at the relevant parts so it’s clear what needs adding/taking away and where.

Best of luck. Are you given “guided” commentary to help you to move it towards what they want, and are you able to show the revised version to someone in the know for they think that you’ve got it over the line?

Thank you. This is really helpful 🙂

Thank you. Yes I think I would pass if I amended it. I lost a few marks due to being over the word count (turns out direct quotations are included although I only had 2...)

Loads of references, apparently too many.

Many issue is they wanted depth not breadth at level 7 and more critical analysis. Feedback said I should have selected a few areas and focussed on them in more detail instead of trying to cover everything. It's only 3000 words which isn't much!

Feedback tutorial will be online but they won't be able to check a full redraft before submission.

Main issue not many!

Well done 🙂

Also I would assume a resit is capped at 50%/pass mark.

It's not, but good to know! Thank you 🙂

Thank you so much for your support. Feeling a bit more positive about things!

Update. I failed again. Bizarrely with the same mark, despite a resit tutorial and doing everything suggested. Absolutely gutted. Cried a lot yesterday. Have to wait to hear from the exam board next week if I can retake the module or if I will be withdrawn from the course by the University and I would then have to reapply elsewhere.

Can you get it remarked? And go through it with a tutor to point out exactly what you’ve missed? It seems bizarre that you’ve added what they asked you to but they haven’t added even a single mark. If you feel you’ve been given wrong advice (you said your original marker was on AL so you got help from someone else) then they must answer to why that was.