AIBUto feel so angry with Dd's Uni

[Booklover123]

Dd taking her finals, first exam was today. Phoned me straight after distraught, as they had failed to provide the necessary appendices. Entire room were in tears, invigilators contacted dpt but to no avail.Were told to continue exam which they could not without the supplementary information! Tonight dd has received an e mail from said dpt "apologising for the error and mistake will be rectified". But how wii this be done? AIBU to be absolutely fuming with this utter balls up happening?

I don't know the ages of the posters who were being dissaproving of the crying but I wondered if they had DCs themselves. I really don't think you need to be a parent to give advice about kids but if you haven't had your own DC go through Uni then I think it's probably harder to picture the emotions that can be involved. My kids are adults but they still want me to be a parent. IYSWIM
I was a caught off guard with how seriously my DCs treat their studies. They put such a lot of effort into their degrees I know they would be VERY pissed off and upset if something like this were to happen to them.

There is another thread running at the moment where the OP has come under attack for thinking it's ridiculous to cry at football. It's quite funny as there are dozens of people chipping in to say that they cry at movies or books or art or music or whatever.

An uplift of marks across the board is unlikely, mainly because it's impossible to put a figure on the disadvantage incurred. And it sounds like the paper couldn't be done at all, in this case. The exam may be rescheduled (depending on how little of it could be completed) or else the paper being looked at in the context of other grades at the exam board is a possibility, with any deviation from the normal profile being wiped out when the final degree classification is awarded.

There is absolutely no scenario in which this paper will affect the students' final degree classification. The academics on the exam board won't want to see their students disadvantaged, and the exams office will also make sure that it provides guidance to the board (they will be aware of what's happened) because they won't want to deal with x number of appeals.

Fall I only graduated uni a few years ago myself. I do have children, but not uni aged, obviously. Things sometimes went wrong when I was at uni (as you'd expect when they're trying to coordinate 35,000 people), but no one cried about it.

I don't understand how the OP's daughter (and the rest of the group) has gotten to their final year without understanding how uni works. Surely they would've presumed that there was an error and that this would be corrected once the right people were informed. It's not a great leap to assume that.

I don't know the ages of the posters who were being dissaproving of the crying but I wondered if they had DCs themselves. I really don't think you need to be a parent to give advice about kids but if you haven't had your own DC go through Uni then I think it's probably harder to picture the emotions that can be involved. My kids are adults but they still want me to be a parent. IYSWIM
I have 2 uni students and I think the crying is ridiculous. Also think the OP has totally overreacted. My kids study hard, they take their schooling very serious but I cannot imagine a room full of crying adults because a mistake was made. Pretty sure they'd initially be pissed off but would then realise that the uni would rectify. They are adults, they've both been there for a few years so know its not the end of the world. The hysteria baffles me.

I can understand the students being upset, tbh, and crying is very common indeed with university students - so much so, that I'm surprised that anybody is surprised by it. The clamouring for the lecturer to be sacked (when this could have been an administrator's error) and comparing him to that surgeon who's been butchering women, though, I find hyperbolic and offensive.

There was an error in one of the papers in my second year end of year exams - a whole question was missing. It was flagged up to one of the invigilators, but by the time they managed to track down the lecturer it was too far through the exam to insert the question. In the end they omitted the question, pro rated the questions that we had been given to answer and in effect gave us all longer than planned to finish the whole paper. That was more proportionate than us all re-sitting the whole paper, or just one question, or suddenly taking into account coursework that previously was not graded.

The joy of universities being independent is that they can decide for themselves (within reason!) how to resolve problems. They have acknowledged the problem and do so. I'm faintly terrified by the hordes of crying students: these are adults about to enter the work place...?!

Lord - again, you misinterpret my point. Nowhere have I said I revere big business. Nowhere have I said big businesses can't make mistakes. What I have commented on is the fact that having completed an undergrad and postgrad course in my early twenties, and then a further postgrad qualification this year, with a fair bit of corporate experience inbetween, I am shocked by the shoddy standards deemed to be acceptable within the academic world. Bit of an exam paper missing? Oh, don't worry, we'll sort it out! Lecturer didn't turn up again? Don't worry - it's to be expected... No! It's just not good enough, particularly when the fees for university courses within the UK are so high. It's like an airline saying it's all a bit too complex and so regular crash landings are to be expected. If it's the business you're in, you make damn sure it functions well. I mean, it's hardly like exams come as a shock at the end of the academic year, is it?

I agree with the PP who said a degree can't be bought. However, what is being sold is the chance to gain a qualification, if you attend lectures and so on and study as directed. You take an exam as the means to prove you have the requisite knowledge and the cost of this forms part of the fees you pay. If a university can't offer lecturers who turn up, or set and hold exams appropriately, then yes, students have been missold. They have paid for a service that hasn't been delivered. No amount of moaning about tuition fees leading to students feeling entitled will change this. Gone are the days when students were deemed 'lucky' to have a good tutor who wasn't three sheets to the wind. Like it or not, a university education is a business transaction these days and as with any other big purchase, should come with some means of redress if the basics are not covered as agreed.

SpareaSquare and SuperBeagle

i think you need to look at the Crying at Football thread. 😂😭 There are dozens of posters saying that they cry at soppy movies or sad books etc. Do you think they are ridiculous too? Some people cry and some don't but if you are a cryer then I'm sure a huge mess up in a final exam would be as good as reason as any. You also seem to think that Crying equals hysteria which is clearly nonsense. Some people find a quick cry a good release. I don't think there is anything wrong with it and I'm not a cryer myself.

Im also not sure where you get the idea from that the OP has overreacted. Literally all she has done is ' be reassuring and supportive' for her daughter and pass on some advice 🤷🏻‍♀️
Or are you counting having an anonymous moan on Mumsnet as anything of any significance

well OP has described herself as "utterly fuming" and "livid" so she seems pretty upset beyond a quick moan, yes

This isn't about people crying at soppy movies. This is about a room full of adults crying because a totally 'fixable' mistake was made in an exam. Then you have the OP calling for the lecturers (?) head 'to roll' and comparing the situation to a surgeon butchering women.
So, yeah, think its ridiculous and think there is a touch of hysteria

Sprinkle -I've never worked somewhere where lecturers don't turn up (though I only have experience of working at two RG universities). I'm sure it happens, but it's very far from being the norm. I take it you've heard of the TEF? It would be ultimately suicidal for any department to act in a way that generates dissatisfaction from students. The vast majority of lecturers are committed, hardworking people, despite your bad experience. Alongside replying to this thread, I'm up at 2.00am trying to read through my PhD student's thesis draft that she should have sent me 10 days ago, but failed to. I could should have refused to pull an all-nighter so that she can get feedback before she submits her thesis, but I didn't, because I want her to do as well as possible. I've worked in the private sector too and, frankly, it was an easy ride compared to working in HE, though admittedly much less interesting.

And I profoundly disagree that a degree is a "business transaction" and a "big purchase". I consider myself to be an educator, not a vendor. The words "business" and "education" do not belong in the same sentence. They are incompatible.

I would be fuming, hoping to take on some of that anger and action on behalf of my child, who has to pick herself up and move onto her other exams.

I would be looking for appeals processes, other information from the university as to what might happen of her behalf, as she is focused on her next exams. I might search website or call the university on her behalf.

And OP I would also suggest keeping in your mind that if you feel she has been affected in her other exams (has she "lost" time after the exam trying to find answers, sorting things, being upset?). Other students in her other subjects may not have been in this exam (not taken this subject at this time), so they come in in a better position, so to speak. Obviously if she's been expected to spend hours at student services, calling lecturers, being ask to provide docs then that will distract her from study and exams. If they are not asking her to do this, then hopefully her other subject exams won't be impacted greatly.

For those saying everyone will have the same impact, I disagree. Yes everyone in that exam had the same thing happen, but how they deal with it might be very different. The appendix/appendicies might have only related to some questions, and in theory other questions may have been able to be answered in full. But the exam moderators telling them there was no mistake may have meant students gave up/couldn't focus on those unaffected questions. Certainly that is bad exam technique, but we are human and being told something so blatantly unfair/untrue in an exam will result in some people making bad choices.

Not to mention other students sitting exams in her other subjects may not have been affected by this exam stuff-up, as they maybe they didn't take that unit this semester.

YANBU to be angry and trying to help her resolve what will happen. She is not able to spend the time getting this sorted, and knowing you are behind the scenes finding out things on her behalf might help her focus on her remaining exams. Hopefully they weren't sitting in a pile in someone's office and a simple error meant they weren't available to them.

You might be an educator, Lord, but the university you work for is a vendor. Of course a degree course is a big purchase. Surely you can't be implying that £30-45K is small change?!

Incidentally, I'm talking about three RG universities too. There have been a couple of rogue lecturers on each course, roughly 25% of staff I've studied under, I'd estimate.

KellyZeros: To clarify my point, which is a bit off topic, but is the way degrees are now framed as something you can buy, the student is the customer, and it irks me
Booklover: Tuition fees?

haha. I am in the US with two DDs in university at the moment. Obv since my DDs' fees are significantly higher than £9000 pa, their degrees must be worth far more, or maybe they are extra shiny or something..
I agree with KellysZeros.

One DD will be sitting her finals this year, I suspect some time soon. The other should have her first year finals coming up. I probably should be a basket case right now.

*An uplift of marks across the board is unlikely, mainly because it's impossible to put a figure on the disadvantage incurred. And it sounds like the paper couldn't be done at all, in this case. The exam may be rescheduled (depending on how little of it could be completed) or else the paper being looked at in the context of other grades at the exam board is a possibility, with any deviation from the normal profile being wiped out when the final degree classification is awarded.

There is absolutely no scenario in which this paper will affect the students' final degree classification. The academics on the exam board won't want to see their students disadvantaged, and the exams office will also make sure that it provides guidance to the board (they will be aware of what's happened) because they won't want to deal with x number of appeals.*

+1.

I'm at some of the posters here. Nobody has ever asked me for my GCSE or A-level grades since I left uni. I get asked my final degree mark all the time. Also finals are basically a hothouse of pent-up emotion and stress.

The amount of people who are like they are not u do not need mummy to sort things out shocks me.
It is her final exams and many especially these days are under alot of pressure when it comes to exams.
Some do not handle exams at all and the stress is too much.
Sometimes everyone needs a parent and zi do not care how old my children are if they happen to be upset or stressed about it then I would always be around to talk to.
Wonder why people have issues with feelinga these days.

He'll probably give them all an A to rectify

And @StillDrivingMeBonkers that's a harsh comment .. I've had a massive panicky cry after most of my uni exams ( all v well passed) it's natural - it's the climax of 14-17 years of education, you feel like the rest of your life balances on a string, you've revised for months , you're exhausted emotionally and mentally ... nothing wrong with a good cry even at 20+

at all the commenters saying millennial are wimps and that we speak in a derogatory way about BBs ... what like the way you're slating all of us for not viewing stoicism and martyrdom as necessary qualities for success? Smh

Well of course people cry in this situation, and of course a mother is concerned for her daughter, because the stakes are so high. Many thousands spent, and the students (not being daft) are aware of the great significance of their results for their careers and futures. I have quit academia now, but when I was an academic, I found the lack of professionalism in universities very troubling. Like it or not, they are providing an expensive service, and they should provide it in a reliable, professional way. It's not good enough to say: "oh, don't worry, it will be fixed up." I've seen too many instances of lecturers trying to cover their own arses to have utter confidence that it would automatically be fixed, and it's not really a simple fix anyway. I'd encourage your daughter and the other students to make sure it is officially recorded.

Well of course people cry in this situation, and of course a mother is concerned for her daughter, because the stakes are so high. Many thousands spent, and the students (not being daft) are aware of the great significance of their results for their careers and futures. I have quit academia now, but when I was an academic, I found the lack of professionalism in universities very troubling. Like it or not, they are providing an expensive service, and they should provide it in a reliable, professional way. It's not good enough to say: "oh, don't worry, it will be fixed up." I've seen too many instances of lecturers trying to cover their own arses to have utter confidence that it would automatically be fixed, and it's not really a simple fix anyway. I'd encourage your daughter and the other students to make sure it is officially recorded.

I think this is awful. I teach students this age at a university that's well respected, and I would be appalled if this happened.

The people who believe it's millenials who cry, or that it's a sign of unusual weakness, are laughably naive. I have chatted to my emerita professor colleague about exam stress, and she agrees it isn't something that's changed in her years of teaching. She has stories of people in the 70s, 80s and 90s reacting with just as much shock and upset as this.

People mocking: you would have been the same. You probably were, in fact - you or your peers.

I think it is appalling. Saying mistakes happen is not good enough- there should be control procedures in place to make sure they do not! D's has a terrible lecturer who cannot write English correctly and his one and only past paper is ambiguous

I don't think it's a big deal at all. The university made a mistake and will obviously rearrange

I would be angry too. And yes i can imagine tears. If you have spent months carefully revising, are a bundle of nerves and are then given a wrong incomprehensible paper in exchange for your 27k tuition i would be raging too.