Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Damn. Uni exam falls right in the middle of my holiday!

277 replies

QuestionableMouse · 05/04/2019 05:59

Posting for traffic.

Uni exam date was released yesterday and it falls right in the middle of my holiday. Though technically it isn't a holiday as I'm away with the local youth group who I've been volunteering with!

I could just about drive back (distance/time wise) but it would mess the ratios up and I'm not sure if I can afford the extra petrol money. Also not sure if I'll have my own car with me. (Was meant to be driving down with all the food but it might be going in the minibus now)

I'm really not sure what to do. It's an important exam so I can't miss it but equally I can't just drop out of the trip because at this point there's no one to replace me. Going into uni today to speak to my lecturer but I'm panicking!

Any ideas?

OP posts:
NicoAndTheNiners · 05/04/2019 06:34

Your lecturer isn't going to change the exam date to accommodate you. They're not going to tell you you can sit it a week later than everyone else either because that would necessitate a second exam be written.

Regardless of what it said in the module guide it's still term time and you shouldn't book holidays for term time.

Readytogogogo · 05/04/2019 06:40

If you thought the exam was a week later, were you not planning to revise the week before? You don't sound like you're taking your course seriously if this is even a dilemma. As PPs have asked, what exactly do you think your lecturer is going to suggest?

IceRebel · 05/04/2019 06:41

Going into uni today to speak to my lecturer

I can't understand why this is your first response. Confused You need to get in touch with the others helping on the trip and let them know you are not unable to go, they will be able to someone else to help.

finn1020 · 05/04/2019 06:41

This isn’t your lecturer’s problem to solve, it’s yours. The teaching calendar is set well in advance, often up to a year, and it will reserve a block for exams with the exact day being released closer to the time. This is university and not school, you need to take responsibility like an adult and organise your time better.

IceRebel · 05/04/2019 06:43

not able

Daft typing error there on my part.

Banhaha · 05/04/2019 06:46

Please don't go to your lecturer. Your course needs to be your priority.

Double0FeckingBollocks · 05/04/2019 06:48

Btw in the University I work at, if you re-sit for any other reason than EXCEPTIONAL circumstances your mark will be capped at 40. For clarity, going on holiday, even if it's volunteering and a good thing to do, won't count as exceptional circumstances.

Ellenborough · 05/04/2019 06:50

It's funny - I read/hear all the time about this generation of young adults being entitled, spoilt, with a poor work ethic and in need of hand-holding and spoon feeding and about how university lecturers are pulling their hair out with frustration about the drop in standards and a lack of intelligence/ability/conscientiousness/personal responsibility of the students they teach and I wonder how much truth there is in it.

And then I read something like this thread.

CostanzaG · 05/04/2019 06:51

Sorry but your lecturer won't be able to do anything about it.
Extenuating circumstances are for things like illness or bereavement not holidays - which this is, volunteering or not.

AlwaysCheddar · 05/04/2019 06:53

Ellenborough - ha ha, spot on!

TestingTestingWonTooFree · 05/04/2019 06:56

It's funny - I read/hear all the time about this generation of young adults being entitled, spoilt, with a poor work ethic and in need of hand-holding and spoon feeding and about how university lecturers are pulling their hair out with frustration about the drop in standards and a lack of intelligence/ability/conscientiousness/personal responsibility of the students they teach and I wonder how much truth there is in it.

And then I read something like this thread.

That’s a bit mean when OP was hoping to volunteer for a youth group.

I agree with others that you’ll have to duck out of the trip. The best you can offer is to join them for the second half after the exam.

adaline · 05/04/2019 06:59

Why on earth did you arrange to go away volunteering during term time?

This is not your lecturers problem to solve and I suspect they will be extremely unimpressed if you go in and talk to them about it! What on earth do you expect them to do?

You need to get to your exam. Like a PP said, when I was at university any resits were capped at 40 (pass) unless there were exceptional circumstances - ie. you were in hospital or a relative had passed away. Volunteering with a youth group didn't count!

GCAcademic · 05/04/2019 07:04

A student once informed me that she would be attending Henley Women's Regatta on the date of her exam and that I would need to make arrangements for her to sit the exam in a nearby venue (which we were to locate and provide an invigilator for).

ApolloandDaphne · 05/04/2019 07:05

No point talking to your lecturer. They won't make any exceptions for your scenario. The long and the short of it is that you can't go on the trip.

donajimena · 05/04/2019 07:07

In my university my friend did get mitigating circumstances because she had booked her holiday before she even decided to go to university. She had to take in the paperwork to prove it.
I missed an exam due to a funeral. Because it wasn't a relative (a very close friend) we had to jump through some hoops to prove our relationship and I was eventually allowed mit circs. I'd just be grateful for the 40 percent retake in your position unless your university are as sympathetic as they were with my friend.

Bowchicawowow · 05/04/2019 07:08

That’s brilliant GCAcademic.

EluphNaugeMeop · 05/04/2019 07:12

(1) get a time machine or other means to communicate with yourself a year ago
(2) when asked to volunteer say "I would love to volunteer but the dates are in the university summer term and the exam dates won't be set till April so it would be a good idea to find a reserve volunteer just in case."

--

Or: tell the organisers that the exam dates have only just been announced and there's a clash that means you now can't go on the trip. Apologise and ask how you can best help with finding a replacement.

ScarletAnemone · 05/04/2019 07:19

Absolutely not the university’s problem. Please don’t bother your hardworking overstretched lecturer with it. They’re probably already working a 60 hour week.

Bankofenglandfiver · 05/04/2019 07:19

What on Earth are you expecting your lecturer to do?

You don’t be able to go on the trip.

Norma27 · 05/04/2019 07:25

Uni definitely won’t let you off an exam for this reason.
Surely you should have been revising that week anyway if you believed the exam would be the following week.

I had my masters exams deferred as I had a late missed miscarriage a couple of weeks before and was very ill following surgery etc. I had to email over all my hospital notes etc. They were great and I heard back the same day. Doubt they would have been so accommodating for a trip I wanted to go on.

Stopyourhavering64 · 05/04/2019 07:27

Do not go to speak to lecturer/ university.....what do you expect them to do?....you have no choice but to tell organisers of trip that you cannot go!
Even if exam was week after your trip, you were foolish to volunteer....when were you going to revise?

Socksey · 05/04/2019 07:33

You need to decide priorities.
Uni lecturer can't do anything except make you aware of your options.
If you miss the exam and do it at your resit session then it will likely get capped at 40%.
That may not be much of an issue in first year but could severely impact your degree classification if in later years. Also it will always be on your transcript.

RancidOldHag · 05/04/2019 07:37

"That’s a bit mean when OP was hoping to volunteer for a youth group"

I disagree. You won't get any concessions from university exams because you've decided to put a voluntary role in the exam window.

What you will get them for are bereavement, international sporting tournaments and Royal events where the Queen has commanded your presence (rare, as Palace is more flexible these days), plus of course all the arrangements for candidate illness.

Dumdedumdedum · 05/04/2019 07:38

"Uni exams" and "my holiday" shouldn't be seen in the same sentence. Even if you hadn't miscalculated and the exam for that module was the week after you are due back, why on earth wouldn't you be revising for the exam the whole of the week before? Are you so confident in the subject that you know you won't need to revise for it? Because that is some chutzpah!

havingtochangeusernameagain · 05/04/2019 07:39

Or: tell the organisers that the exam dates have only just been announced and there's a clash that means you now can't go on the trip. Apologise and ask how you can best help with finding a replacement

This. I think you've been treated a bit harshly on here given the original exam date was a week later but as people have said, you don't go away in term time and you have to accept that date changes can happen.

But there could be a last minute drop out of help for the trip anyway - what happens if someone is ill or their child is ill? The people organising the trip must have contingency plans. Don't speak to your lecturer, speak to them, they've still got quite a bit of time to find someone to help. Maybe someone could help up to and including the day of your exam and you could go afterwards? So the replacement doesn't have to commit to a whole week?

Swipe left for the next trending thread