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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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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:

BrassBed · 05/04/2019 10:15

At least one student in my first year module does this every year, books a holiday in May and takes a gamble that the exam will not clash, and then is outraged that I have no power (or indeed any will, if I had) to reconfigure the entire university exam timetable to suit one person who took a gamble for a cheap holiday and lost. And our programme would require you to make a case for why you should be allowed to resit in August, and even if allowed, you would be capped at a 40% pass.

The volunteering thing is a red herring, I'm afraid, OP -- my institution has a lot of 'internal' volunteer programmes , in the UK and abroad, but everyone who takes part signs an undertaking to say that they are aware that no extensions/alternative assessments/special arrangements will be made, and that they are undertaking the volunteer work on the condition that they also discharge their academic responsibilities.

Don't beat yourself up. The volunteer organisation will have to replace you or postpone the trip. Your lecturer can't do anything.

IceRebel · 05/04/2019 10:15

Get a fit note from the doctor nearer to the time and use that for mitigating circumstances.

DON'T DO THIS !!

That is fucking stupid advice.

amusedbush · 05/04/2019 10:15

Get a fit note from the doctor nearer to the time and use that for mitigating circumstances. That's the only way you can get out of it TBH.

I've sat on countless mitigating circumstances boards and any old GP letter isn't enough to get a discounted attempt or an alternative assessment. Students need to have genuine, significant personal circumstances to be considered.

IceRebel · 05/04/2019 10:16

I'm not expecting my exam date to be changed. I would never ask that.

Then what are you expecting from talking to the lecturer?

DirtyDennis · 05/04/2019 10:19

@panicmodeonthego That's a good idea. A doctor's note would, at my university, mean that the OP could take the exam during the resit period as a first attempt so their mark wouldn't be capped at 40%.

However, I would not recommend this approach. OP would need to be very careful as this would constitute academic misconduct. That means no talking about the trip at university, no pictures on Facebook, and the OP would need to be careful about she worded the trip on her CV/statements if she was then asking her lecturers for references. What I mean is that if she put "In May 2019, I volunteered on a week-long trip to...", the lecturer might think "hold on, I thought she was laid up in May 2019 and that's why she had to do the resit".

We've had cases like this in the past and it hasn't ended well for the student.

Ellenborough · 05/04/2019 10:19

I'm not expecting my exam date to be changed. I would never ask that.

So...what then? You want him to personally lend you the petrol money?

DirtyDennis · 05/04/2019 10:22

I echo PP - if you don't want the exam date changed, why are you speaking with the lecturer at all?

adaline · 05/04/2019 10:23

I'm not a young adult. My average grade so far is 72. We've been encouraged to do voluntary work by uni. Not only do I have those things, I have a paid job and care for my mum. Still think I'm a lazy cow?

None of that has anything to do with this situation!

You chose to prioritise signing up for unpaid voluntary work over your university exams! That doesn't make you lazy, just a bit of an idiot.

Grisaille · 05/04/2019 10:24

And if the OP has already emailed her lecturer asking to see him or her to talk about how the exam clashes with a volunteering activity, you don't think that even the most harassed and marking-burdened academic is going to think a sudden sick note for the same date is suspicious?

adaline · 05/04/2019 10:25

I'm not expecting my exam date to be changed. I would never ask that.

Then what do you think speaking to your lecturer will achieve?

DirtyDennis · 05/04/2019 10:27

Ha, good point @Grisaille

redstapler · 05/04/2019 10:33

I'm not expecting my exam date to be changed. I would never ask that

so why speak to your lecturer?

PrincessAndThePee · 05/04/2019 10:34

Then what do you think speaking to your lecturer will achieve?

They will likely have a date available for people who are doing resits.

I can't see why it would hurt to ask OP. I wouldn't expect anything though.

redstapler · 05/04/2019 10:35

@panicmodeonthego you win the prize for the stupidest response I have ever seen on MN

The OP won't be ill
GPs have enough to do without wasting appointments on this sort of thing
It's fraud
she could be thrown off her course
just ?????!!!! that anyone could think this is a good idea!

PurpleTrilby · 05/04/2019 10:36

DO NOT apply for mit circs, absolutely no chance it would be accepted, not for work commitments, not for holidays, there are very strict rules about this. And the dodgy doctor's note? Really, really stupid idea, that road could lead to an Academic Misconduct hearing and you could be chucked off the course.

Take responsibility for this, cancel your trip and sit the exam. It's that simple. None of the lecturers or other staff have any say over this, you can talk to them till everyone is blue in the face, doesn't change the uni-wide rules. You are NOT an exception, this is not an exceptional circumstance by any means. You screwed up and it's simple to fix it. Do that.

Xenia · 05/04/2019 10:36

Try asking. But next time committ to nothing like that in term time. I am currently with the student children lookinag at holiday at end of 2019- start of 2020 and we have the university term dates out, just as in June we go away just after official term ends. It's just a bit too risky to take gambles you will be free in term time.

senua · 05/04/2019 10:38

Is this a reverse or a wind up? Who on earth books to go away in the build up to an exam - you should be revising then!

OP did you not do persuasive writing at school? If you had phrased this as "I've messed up big time. Help, please, MN" you would have had several offers of assistance by now. Instead you phrased it as "mix up over exams/holiday (oops, I mean volunteering. silly me, what am I like)" and have had - quite rightly - a severe talking to.

DirtyDennis · 05/04/2019 10:38

@Xenia Try asking.
What should she try asking for though?

Hadit99 · 05/04/2019 10:38

This can't be real

adaline · 05/04/2019 10:39

They will likely have a date available for people who are doing resits.

Yes, and that date is for people who were too ill to take the exam the first time, or for people who had to attend a funeral or similar. I resat on of my exams because my granddad passed away the day before - I had to provide all sorts of proof.

If you missed the first exam because of what is essentially a holiday, you'd get your mark capped at 40% if you re-sat it.

Grisaille · 05/04/2019 10:39

They will likely have a date available for people who are doing resits.

Resits are for people who are unable, though illness or significant unforeseen emergency, to sit the original exam, not just for people who have mistakenly committed to something else on the exam date. You need to satisfy a mitigating circumstances requirement that it was not possible for you to take the exam on the original date for reasons outside your control.

Otherwise, why wouldn't the entire class say they couldn't make the original exam date and thus get three or four extra months for revision before the resits?

Grisaille · 05/04/2019 10:40

Or people who failed it first time around, obviously.

Becca19962014 · 05/04/2019 10:40

Given the circumstances and speaking as an ex personal tutor you need to speak to the volunteer group and let them know. It's honestly not worth messing up your degree driving back and forth - whilst you might possibly be able to practically do that you're not going to be able to revise properly and if there's an accident/your car breaks down/weather problems (we've been dealing with snow here for the last few days with people trapped!) you'll be in trouble.

I didn't take the speaking to the lecturer as the OP wanting the exam changed more for advice, likewise posting here.

To clarify Exam timetables can be changed, I've had to do this myself BUT it is a nightmare, it pisses people off, takes weeks and it sounds to me like it's already been changed if the slot is different, it's one of the reasons it's so hard to change them and I don't see where the op has suggested this be done in any of their posts.

The ones I needed to change one agreed to another slot (meaning I and others then had back to back exams that day) the other didn't and that meant I had three exams without break and was escorted between exams. It was hell. I passed but I honestly thought I'd fail I was exhausted doing five exams in two days. The rules changed a few years later making that scenario impossible at that uni after an unfortunate incident.

As a lecturer I needed to change one as my student was in the final year and been diagnosed with cancer and needed to begin chemo that week, it was advanced (they'd had it before) and weren't expected to survive and even that was a nightmare to sort out. I managed it. Not without a lot of fighting and pissing off people though. He got his degree but died six months later. Even knowing his situation the examinations officer told me to tell him to attend or get zero (resit wasn't an option as it was a professional degree).

DirtyDennis · 05/04/2019 10:40

@senua I completely agree.

As a lecturer, if a student came to me and said "I'm sorry, I've fucked up, what can I do?" I'd be a lot more sympathetic and would talk through the processes in place. If a student came to me and said "this exams falls in the middle of my holiday, sorry I mean volunteering, what can I do?" I would have a lot less sympathy and would send them off with short shrift.

Ultimately the answer would be the same but the meeting itself would have a very different tone.

onionchucker · 05/04/2019 10:41

I'm not expecting my exam date to be changed. I would never ask that.

So what do you expect the lecturer to do about it???

It's quite simple. You will have to drop out of the trip.
You shouldn't have agreed to go in the first place.
Don't bother wasting your/your lecturer's time. Speak to the leader of the trip today and tell them that unfortunately you can't come any more because of the exam and it is non-negotiable.

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