Essay fail

[birchtree23]

Just spent 6 months studying and bloody failed my case study. Was hoping to pass and boost my confidence for future learning but no. Was at level 9 and I've not written academic essays for 20 years. Tell me to stop being so hard on myself!!!

Managed to pass when I was a student parting most nights 🤦‍♀️. Now at home with husband and toddler. Just want to give it up. Getting the qualification won't increase my pay just did it for professional development 🤨

What are the consequences? Can you re-submit?

You’ll find lots of empathy on the Mature Study and Retraining board, btw:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/mature_students

Level 9? In the UK that would be a professorship, and you had to write an essay? How did you get through levels 6,7 and 8?

I don't know what a level 9 is or what sort of course that means you're on but what are your options, can you resit or apply for EC to do it again? Don't quit your course over a failed essay, I was working in health during covid and doing a professional qual during my masters, oh and got long covid on top of a longterm illness so failed a couple of essays. Just applied for EC and redid them. Demoralising at the time and I was pig sick of it but got there in the end! It's much harder when you're juggling a whole pile of adult stuff compared to being a carefree undergrad. Don't be hard on yourself, just keep going!

If in Scotland(?), level 9 is a non-honours batchelors degree.

I doubt someone at professor level would be looking to boost my confidence for future learning - so I assume it’s a different Level 9?

My mum did her masters at Harvard in her 50s and she was reduced to tears on occasion. She got through it. Can you meet with your professor/tutor/department head (no idea how it works here) to go over the essay and see if you can resubmit? You can't be the only one this has happened to. Don't give up!

Could you clarify what you mean by level 9 - it refers to different levels of study in different countries.

Depending on the discipline and the level, a case study is not necessarily the same skill set as an essay. Did you have to do independent research to gather the data? Was it primary data gathering or desk research? Did you need to interpret and evaluate the data?

It may not be about what you wrote, it may be about your methods but it's hard to tell from your posts what the requirements were and therefore how you might improve.

Unless it’s not allowed many hire proof readers or ask a scholarly friend.
my dh was a brutal proof reader, red pen, circles arrows entire sections crossed out.

I’m guessing it is SCQF level 9.

What professional qualification are you doing?

You need to ask for detailed feedback, and ask to see the marking rubric. This should have been available prior to the essay as well, to basically see exactly what they're looking for and how to achieve the best marks. To fail completely means you've not understood the assignment, which is not all on you...it could be unclear information prior to the essay or poor teaching. But we won't be of much help compared to your teaching institute, you need specific feedback tailored to your work.