Resitting year at Uni

[Monica53]

Hi
Just wondering if anyone has experience of their student having to resit a year at Uni. Our D has just found along with a few others that they have to resit due to missing pass by 2marks. Thank you #Bekind😊

Is there no option to resit exams before September and progress?

My DS did. He failed 2 modules in his first year and failed the resits so he had to re-do those 2 modules in his second year in order to progress to the next year of the course.

IMHO it did him the world of good! It was a kick up the bum and he realised that he couldn't bimble along doing the minimum he thought he could get away with. For the record (proud mum boast coming up) he graduated this year with a 2:1 in Forensic Science and has just started a job in a Financial Crime unit of a massive worldwide company! I actually think it was the making of him

First question is whether there are any resits over the summer - that would be usual. This would mean an opportunity to pass and progress without retaking the whole year.

Student Finance will generally cover the length of your course plus a year (for situations like this), but worth checking it out.

@LIZS - they did a resit and had one weeks notification for revision and sadly they failed by 2marks 😞

@EduCated Thankyou - they’ve had a resit and after meeting informed they have to do year again , she’s now alone a few have also. Not been best of years however I secretly think it will do them good, just need to know SFE is ok with it ? As for me means my reducing hours at work as to be put back which isn’t great 😌

Which uni?
Depending on if they're resitting just modules or the entire year will determine if they have to get another tuition loan for that year. If repeating a full year Bath uni for example charge another years fees. Brighton for example weigh it up depending on if there are mitigating circumstances.

@milkytwilight it is Bristol and medicine course not sure about fees - she’ll
Need to make enquiries unless anyone here has knowledge? Thank you

She will get the extra year funded so don't worry about that. However now that you've mentioned it's Medicine can I strongly suggest both you and she have a really good think about what led to her failing both the module and the resit.

Be very honest - second year medicine is much much harder and more stressful than first year medicine. Is she up to the stress and academics required. There's no point passing the first year on her second attempt only to find that the same issues prevent her from passing the second year. This might be a good time to consider other options.

Check with uni as many as relaxing the rules this year a little eg allowing progression to next year if fail is in outside subject. One week to study for resits seems unfair. I guess most people will have a reasonable idea of how they have done so if unsure probably started studying immediately after initial exam. Did your DD think she had passed comfortably?

DS2 once failed a module as he thought he only needed to turn up for the exam having done so well in the previous assessments. Hadn't read the handbook. Turned up in fancy dress having been out all night partying, left early as he thought he was going to spew. He explained what had happened to his tutor who found it hilarious and got him out of the resit. Appears on his academic record though.

Sorry cross posted. Now I see it is medicine that is an entirely different thing. I work with medics and I think repeating a year quite common. Although that might be biased as these medics are now in (pharma) industry.

Many universities, including mine, are relaxing progression requirements this year, but professional requirements, as in medicine, would not be relaxed. Usually medical students have to pass everything, I think, and that won’t change. Otherwise the professional standing of their degrees would be compromised. The same is true of accredited degrees like Engineering where our progression rules are more stringent than the university’s general ones.

You need to check whether they will be resitting 'in attendance' (i.e. expected to go to all lectures etc.) or 'not in attendance' (i.e. just resitting the exam in the next exam period). If it is the latter this will not be funded by student finance but will not have to pay full tuition fees and your DC may need to get a job for the year to support themselves. If they are 'in attendance' they will still get student loans and need to pay tuition fees etc.

@titchy - I had a chat with her dad and said same thing - so picking a time to have a chat and make sure it’s what she wants and she can cope with work etc?

@ClerkMaxwell
Thank you for reply- she didn’t have a clue if she had passed or not , also last first years exams were cancelled as they’d missed some face2face about 3months , so some of her group thought unfair to do exams bearing in mind year they had, however it’s happened and I do think maybe a wake up call?

I retook a year of dentistry which is comparable to medicine in terms of stringency of requirements, workload and so forth. It happens, usually Student Finance allow one "extra" year so funding shouldn't be an issue. I know more than a handful of people who have retaken years and gone on very smoothly. Just properly reflect on what went wrong and how to do better next time.

@CupcakesK oh I’ll have to get her to check - at present all she knows is she needs to resit year? No further information or: which sections etc .. any pointers appreciated

Without knowing the situation, it's tricky to know - usually if it's just one module and there were no personal problems that caused it to be failed then usually the student will sit 'not in attendance'. She can do this from home while working/volunteering. Your DC needs to talk to her tutor/module lead/head of year to find out the details - I would recommend her e-mailing as many people as possible as some will be on annual leave at the moment.

@CupcakesK Thanknyou - she did have a few family upsets during year - uncle passed and other relationship issues -I’ve suggested she emails tutor for more feedback in order to put herself in a good place to start

This may not be applicable to you, but in Ireland medical students only have one opportunity throughout their entire course to repeat a year. Thus if she were to fail resits again, the consequences could be dire.

She can get one year extra funding from SFE but the extra year won't count as a qualifying year for the NHS bursary. You can also get one extra year of NHS bursary funding if you have to repeat a later year after you are eligible for the bursary.

www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/2020-06/NHS%20Bursary%20Funding%20for%20Medical%20and%20Dental%20Students%202020-21%20%28V1%29%2006%202020.pdf

It's very common for medical students to have to resit an exam at some point. Retaking a year is less common. I believe at my DC's med school, you are only allowed to retake a year after failing resits if there are mitigating circumstances. I guess if there a quite a few students retaking, the university has decided disruption from COVID has affected their studies. I don't think failing one paper by 2 marks is an indicator that your DD isn't up to the course, if they only had one week to revise and, more crucially, the university is allowing them to continue. How were the rest of her exams/assessments? It is worth her reflecting on what happened though and talking it through with her personal tutor, as titchy suggests.

I'm quite surprised that they only had one week's notice though. Exam weeks and resit weeks are set at the beginning of the year at both my DC's universities.

@chesirecat99 thank you for information - yep I did question the one week before resit? Very strange ? I do believe Covid disruption hasn’t helped at all. Off to beach for sit and chat to see which way etc she wants to go - though I’ve suggested she emailed tutor for call and advice?

@catlovingdoctor Thank you - she plans, I think to email one of tutors to discuss and go from there. Have to see if she definitely wishes to continue

@Monica53 she absolutely needs to make contact with her tutor, explain her mitigating circumstances , and find out where she went wrong and how she can overcome the hurdles for next year

As PP said Medicine is a rough degree and is full of exams even after you qualify MRCP etc etc which are tougher. So she totally needs to be up for it. On the other hand she did have the ability to get into med school in the first place so perhaps didn't appreciate the level of study required etc and just dropped the ball a little this year

I’m a uni lecturer…..if she really had only been given one week’s notice of a resit that could possible be a cause for appeal.

However I’ve had students claim they had a similar notice of a resit and then I have to point out to them the resit date is in the assessment schedule which has been there since the start of the academic year on their blackboard site. Plus they failed the original assessment 2 months ago and have made no attempt to contact me and ask when the resit is (if they hadn’t found it in the assessment schedule). And that maybe they should have thought about that.

But if the situation is the former then it’s worth trying an appeal, she can talk to her personal tutor and also the SU should be able to help.

@CovidCorvid thank you - I’ll get her to have a look at the schedule , I’m sure she’ll have it somewhere online, her whole group had stated their concern at only a week, and I’d it is the case I did suggest appeal? We,ll see. Thank you