I've made a horrible mistake

[Moominfan]

So due to finish my degree employers have agreed to fund a masters all is looking well. Had my final module result and it's a fail. I've submitted my draft not my actual assignment. I can resit but grade will be capped which will drag my entire degree down outside of threshold for a masters. 6years of part time study.

Can you please tell me about your awful mistakes? I can't believe I've done something so stupid. Don't whether to laugh or cry

Lecturer here. All unis have guidance re: extenuating circumstances but general rule is that you have a limited window to apply either with or without evidence, and an application cannot be made after the result has been released (for obvious reasons).

This really sucks op, and you're not the only one it's happened to. But I don't think you'll have any grounds to appeal it (you certainly wouldn't at my uni or any others I've worked in). Do check though before writing off the Masters; not all institutions will have the same entry requirements so you may well still be able to do it.

That is awful, for you, what a nightmare. Honestly, go down the stress route if you can. You must have been stressed to do that and not realize it, and as others have said, your final version of the assignment should be time-stamped so you can prove you're telling the truth. Good luck getting mitigating circumstances.
soulrider - that is awful in more ways than one

No, not recently. Two decades ago (makes me feel old!). Internet still in it's infancy so knowing about correct procedures when you're the first in the family to go to university much more difficult.

I'm a course administrator in a university and I can't believe they are so harsh! I've had people submit drafts and we allow them to swap it out for their actual essay.

You'd need to be able to evidence your mitigating circumstances if you wanted a resit at a first attempt but if you can get a doctor's note for something, it should work.

Sorry about your masters but I'm surprised they would reject you based on this. I have a conditional offer to start a masters in October and I will only have an ordinary degree, as the university that I'm currently studying with doesn't offer Honours via their distance learning programme. You don't always need a 2:1 or whatever they ask for. The university I will be doing my masters with asks for a 2:1 but I applied anyway and got an offer.

I'm always baffled by these Threads...

You've fucked up your Degree and instead of tying to resolve this.. you're online asking for stories of others fucking up....

plain weird

Can you appeal & explain? My DH is lecturer & would support this to exam board if your record of attendance/grades was good.

Call or turn up to your course leader/head of school.

It's not weird at all. OP is upset and trying to deal with her feelings as well as the possibility that she might not be able to resolve this.

Hopefully she can, but not weird in the least to try to come to terms with her mistake by talking with others who have been in a similar position.

Could you do the masters at a less competitive uni with lower entry requirements?

Are you sure it will affect your overall grade that much? Assuming it’s a module and not your dissertation often degree classifications are worked out in such a way that one bad module wouldn’t affect an otherwise good average. I know during my undergrad the lowest module wasn’t counted if you were on or near the classification boundary

Go to your Students' Union, ask if they can help you to arrange an appeal meeting; they can send an advocate with you as well. Good luck!

Were you suffering from any stressful situation that meant you were less 'with it' than normal which is why you submitted the draft instead of the final version?

Mitigating circumstances such as mental health, family problems, trauma, bereavement (etc) would qualify you for a resit without a cap where I work. However just saying ' 'I just made a mistake' would not.

If you can show that you were suffering from circumstances that affected your ability to properly complete your assignment and have some sort of proof of that, then you might be awarded an uncapped resit.

I just though it was worth making that clear because my friend just got the start time wrong for one exam (turned up in the afternoon instead of the morning). In our place he wouldn't have even got a capped resit as you need to get a minimum mark to qualify even for that . This meant she would not graduate until the next semester and would have to pay to take the whole unit again

When she told me what had happened she was just going to accept she had been ditzy (albeit she was really upset) I reminded her that her dad had died less than a year ago and she was still grieving.

Although she was doing relatively well on her course, she just hadn't made the connection between this bereavement and her being generally less 'on the ball' as a result.

She did make an application for her circumstances to be taken into account after the exam. She wrote a statement and provided a death certificate and they agreed and allowed her to resubmit work for uncapped marking

Read the regulations on applying for mitigating circumstances at your university before accepting a capped resit. They must have them. They should be on their web pages or ask for a copy from the office or from a tutor

I’d like to add that the decision lies with the exam board so even if your university isn’t particularly helpful, there’s still hope.

I found out my mum had cancer the day before one exam and she died two days before another, both in the same exam period. I still did my exams as it was to finish my masters but was in a complete daze and didn’t even consider extenuating circumstances.

I then received rubbish results which dragged my overall grade down and so spoke to my personal tutor who said I should have declared the circumstances as soon as I knew about them and so there was nothing they could do.

I then went to student services who emailed the head of my department asking them to consult with the exam board. The exam board allowed my circumstances to be considered and commented on how the personal tutor’s incorrect response added to my stress. They were wonderful!

Gemini are you my personal tutor?

No advice OP but I feel for you and hope you get it sorted.

I've made any number of mistakes but I try not to think about what could have been. Whatever the outcome, there will be a way through it all to get to where you want to be.

Hi OP- Please talk to someone in your institution ASAP. Do you have a tutor or academic advisor or any sort? It may or may not be possible to do anything but it is well worth finding out and they will know best how things work in your context.

Its with open uni so rather than a dissertation this module has one assignment that's heavily weighted. Only realised it was wrong document when they emailed me course result as failed. I have tried to sort something out but student support systems are down so said there's no point speculating and to call back when it's all up and running. Currently an emotional mess and just needed to offload. Not ready to tell anyone real life it's just to embarrassing and I can't face their questions whilst I have no idea what's going to happen

During the time I had moved home a week before and had no internet so was spending time alternating between mcdonals, Costa and Starbucks WiFi so hoping that may help my appeal

You poor thing, definitely keep on at the uni to see if they'll let you resubmit without capping.

Oh fuck, OP. I submitted my final thesis without an abstract and only just scraped through, even though my tutor said I would have got a solid mark had it been there. But coupled with me failing a state module and having the resit capped I barely scraped through with my Masters.

My course cohort never found out and thinks I passed at the same time as them. I was at the same graduation ceremony with them. Luckily my course was either a pass or fail, there was no merit or distinction, although some on the course with higher marks tried to say they had "the equivalent of...".

I was lucky in that I scraped through, but I was in limbo for a few months thinking I would be in your position. I'm so sorry OP.

Also, my undergrad course lost one of my final exam papers before grading, and even though I was on the register as having been there they said I had to resit and it would be capped as if I hadn't turned up. Dragged my grade down to a 2.2. I'd be bitter, but I have 2 post grad degrees now, so fuck them.

Good luck! Crossing everything for you.

Don’t panic until you speak to student support services. My dh is a lecturer and this sort of thing happens frequently due to poorly administered online systems in some instances.

But also don’t give up on the masters yet. Even if your grade is capped, they are likely to still want to see your transcript and a tutor may be willing to write in support of you explaining the final grade issue

Is this the OU? Results were out yesterday for most of us, so I'm guessing it is. Based on that assumption, first of all join the FB group - www.facebook.com/groups/TheOpenUniversity/ if you're on FB. I'm sure there will be someone there who has done something similar, and tons of students/alumni to give advice.

Keep trying to get through to Student Support (they're flooded at the moment), and to your own tutor too so you can get their take on it. It will be difficult to apply special circumstances at this stage, I fear, but my initial thought is that if you can pay to take another Level 3 module, hopefully you can disregard this one towards your final classification. Obviously that adds another year onto your plans, but it may be the best of a bad situation.

UnMumsnetty hugs from a fellow student. Everything crossed for you that it gets sorted

talk to them - and make sure your actual document has not been saved since so the document shows it has not been changed since you assumed you entered it.

Do not panic until you have spoken to them

Was it obviously a draft (as in unfinished sentences, notes on it etc)? My friend did this, he submitted a copy which was in the process of being edited, it was obvious as he was using track changes, the tutor still marked it, and it failed. He appealed and whilst it wasn't covered under 'mitigating circumstances' rules he appealed directly to the course tutor who had a word with the module tutor, stating she should have notified him of the error and allowed him to immediately resubmit (as in same day, not extra time). He was allowed to submit it again, mark wasn't capped and he did pass. So there is hope.