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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Resitting year at Uni

47 replies

Monica53 · 20/07/2021 10:55

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😊

OP posts:
Monica53 · 21/07/2021 11:57

@chopc
Thank you - I’ve suggested she emails her tutor(s) for feedback etc and to ensure she is prepared for future work

OP posts:
user1487194234 · 21/07/2021 22:37

Agree with PP
She needs an honest assessment of why she failed and to be sure she can pass next time and future years

My DC s are calling the last 2 years unfailable
On the other hand I know 3 first year medical students who are taking a year out
All did brilliantly at school but have struggled

chesirecat99 · 22/07/2021 12:44

I've just remembered that in 2020 the exams and results at DS's university were seriously disrupted due to COVID @Monica53. The university didn't reschedule the resit dates for exams that were delayed until the student union stepped in and forced them to move the resit dates so that students had the same time (over a month) between results and the resits as they would in any other year.

If your DD didn't make a mistake about the dates and they were only given a week's notice between getting the results and having to retake, and that isn't the usual situation, as CovidCorvid said, she has grounds to appeal.

DoctorDoctor · 22/07/2021 13:01

I am also surprised at the week's notice of a resit. It renders the whole thing a bit pointless as it's not enough time to properly learn anything. Are you absolutely sure your DD is being transparent with you about what she's told and when?

I'd take this to the students' union and ask them to investigate on behalf of the group. It's not in anyone's interests to have poor / unfair assessment procedures. Including patients further down the line.

Monica53 · 22/07/2021 16:41

@chesirecat99 - I thought it a tad odd giving one weeks notice , insufficient time to revise etc. They h had so much disruption due to Covid, I think she is going to email group and her tutors to check information, also check schedule. It does seem a bit disjointed to be fair . We’ll see

OP posts:
mumsneedwine · 22/07/2021 16:52

@Monica53 if she wants to appeal here is Bristol's details. A week seems v unfair. Most usually 3-4 weeks for Med school resists (from date of results - the dates are published way in advance normally but whose going to start revising again until know they're need to)

www.bristol.ac.uk/students/support/academic-advice/academic-appeal/

chesirecat99 · 22/07/2021 17:21

There's a regular poster on the medic threads with a DD going into year 5 at Bristol, @Monica53. She might know more about how long they usually get between results and resits, and how/when the resit dates are published. I would be very surprised if they weren't published on Blackboard or online somewhere, probably since the beginning of the academic year.

mumsneedwine · 22/07/2021 17:57

But even if dates are published no one is going to start re revising for an exam until they've got their results. So needs to be a good 3 weeks between results and resists, even if dates are known ??

chesirecat99 · 22/07/2021 18:42

Yes, I totally agree, mumsneedwine. Especially if a student had to resit more than one paper, there is no way they could pull that off in a week. If that has happened, she should definitely appeal. It seems bizarre that any university would only give one week's notice of resits.

DS gets exam, resit and results dates at the beginning of the year. They know the time and date when results are released but they have to log in to get them. I wonder if it is possible that both the resit date and results were online but the students hadn't checked?

RampantIvy · 22/07/2021 23:02

One of DD's friends is a medical student. he was diagnosed with ADHD earlier this year, and requested to do year 2 again. He didn't sit any exams, but feels ready to take on year 2 with a fresh start.

NoNotHimTheOtherOne · 23/07/2021 14:56

But even if dates are published no one is going to start re revising for an exam until they've got their results. So needs to be a good 3 weeks between results and resists, even if dates are known ??

This isn't really what resits are supposed to be for, though. The point of resits is to allow a first attempt for people who were ill or otherwise incapacitated on the day of the exam, and a second attempt for people who for whatever reason underperformed on the day. They aren't supposed to be a second attempt to learn the stuff you were supposed to have learned before the original exam. The gap between first sits and resits should really be as short as possible, though obviously not so short that someone who was acutely ill on the day of the exam is unlikely to have recovered.

As this case relates to a medicine course it is possible that either: (a) they operate a system of programmatic assessment, which wouldn't normally include resit attempts, but have put in a resit at short notice as part of the university's safety net because of Covid disruptions; (b) they had always planned for a short gap between first sit and resit.

In fact, I've just looked it up and Bristol uses progress testing, so it's likely that students have sat tests throughout the year (usually it's four times per year; I don't know whether this is the case at Bristol). Usually, a small number of students will be judged to to have demonstrated insufficient progress by the end of an academic year and may be required either to leave or to enter extenuating circumstances to be allowed to repeat the year. Again, university safety nets will have led to resit attempts' being introduced at allow a possibility of rescue, but there's no reason why a long preparation period should be offered. A fundamental point of progress tests is that you're not supposed to revise for them.

mumsneedwine · 23/07/2021 15:03

@NoNotHimTheOtherOne anyone managing to pass medical school exams without revising much must be an exceptional genius. At everyone one I know resists are v common as the amount of knowledge required to reach the GMC standard is tough. Exams are normally weighted so you can reach the pass mark but still fail.

chesirecat99 · 23/07/2021 18:32

There is a summative written exam at the end of the year at Bristol, as well as the formative progress tests and assessments during the year @NoNotHimTheOtherOne. As mumsneedwine says, you would need to be a genius to pass an exam testing an entire year's worth of study without revising.

ShortBacknSides · 23/07/2021 18:50

anyone managing to pass medical school exams without revising much must be an exceptional genius

@NoNotHimTheOtherOne isn't saying that students shouldn't revise for exams, but that the point of resits (either as 1st sit, or 2nd sit - sometimes also called 'deferred' and referred') is that they are an opportunity to resit an exam for which you may have been absent due to illness or extreme personal circumstances.

But the idea is that you have done your revision in the normal time, along with all the other students taking that exam, not that you have extra time to study.

chesirecat99 · 23/07/2021 20:07

@ShortBacknSides NoNotHimTheOtherOne was talking (mostly) about formative progress testing, which shouldn't require revision.

A fundamental point of progress tests is that you're not supposed to revise for them.

OP's daughter appears to have failed the end of year exam, not a progress test.

Resits of exams are for those who were unable to take the exam (deferred), eg they were seriously ill, and those who failed the exam (referred). Usually the mark is capped at the pass mark for students who are resitting because they failed, unless there are mitigating circumstances that affected their performance eg a bereavement, health issues.

If a student fails because they haven't understood the work or didn't revise well enough, they aren't going to be able to rectify that in a week! There is no point in offering the option of a second chance, albeit with a capped mark, to those students to allow them to continue the course if you aren't going to give them enough time to make improvements.

mumsneedwine · 23/07/2021 20:32

My DD doesn't know anyone who doesn't revise madly for formatives, even though they don't count but are just practice. Med school exams are hard and require a ridiculous amount of knowledge. Resists are v common throughout the 5 years but will affect ranking (v important for F1).
And marking is weird. For multiple choice they take 25% off straight away to take out guessing. So you need to get a lot right to pass. It's because they need to pass accreditation moderation if GMC come calling.
So you could get 60% right but still 'fail' and need to resit. No shame in resits but they really are resits. eg. You have another go to see if you have acquired the knowledge. It's a strange degree !

NoNotHimTheOtherOne · 23/07/2021 23:25

It's quite uncommon to have negative marking for multiple-choice exams. There are still a few medical schools that do it, but not many. The standard-setting usually takes account of the fact that you should score 20% by guessing randomly.

mumsneedwine · 24/07/2021 07:55

I'll let DD know her med school is not normal. However her friends at other med schools do exactly the same so quite a few seem to not be normal 🤷‍♀️. The question weighting is the weirdest bit as it can moderate scores down by 20%.
Basically @Monica53 what I'm trying to say is that failing one exam is not a rare thing & she should keep going if it's what she wants to do. And good luck.

chesirecat99 · 24/07/2021 13:48

I think NoNotHimTheOtherOne was talking about the termly formative progress tests that Bristol and a couple of other med schools use that are basically finals level multiple choice papers covering everything. You can't really revise for them because many of the questions will be on subjects that haven't been taught yet. I don't know much about them other than DS wasn't that impressed with the idea when he was going to open days Grin

I think it is the end of year exam on what has actually been taught that OP's DD failed. Hope all works out well for your DD, @Monica53. @mumsneedwine is right that flunking a paper at some point in med school is not unusual.

OhNoNoNoNoNo · 25/07/2021 23:30

.

bottleofbeer · 22/09/2021 20:36

Tbh you should have enough knowledge to pass with even a week's notice. You're actually expected to know this stuff. Or else, what is the point? I sound harsh, I know. But uni doesn't baby you, especially not in medical subjects. Anyway, most appeals fail because it's all right there in the handbook. You get one more shot at passing, it's not like FE or below where you can keep going until you pass. Suck it up, this is what university is.

bottleofbeer · 22/09/2021 20:40

Eh? I did loads of MCT exams and not a single question came up that hadn't been taught. Whether you listened or not is another matter entirely.

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