IT issue during Uni exam

[Ellerby83]

Ds in 1st year of of degree sat an exam today. It was a 2 hour exam worth 50% of one of the semester 2 modules. It was a maths paper sat at uni under exam conditions on a computer. Unfortunately his computer froze with 40 minutes to go so he didn't finish the paper. He got 45% on what he did complete. From talking to him and reading the Uni policy it seems the only option is to put in for exentuating circumstances and resit the whole paper on August. He was finding the topic tough but was expecting to get at least 55%. He is going to contact his personal tutor but it does seem unfair.

That's unlucky! If it was a university-supplied computer and an invigilator was informed and can attest to the issue then he should be OK - we would never penalise a student for that. He should definitely contact his tutor/programme leader/whatever the title of the person he's assigned to. Each university would have its own way of dealing with that - might be another attempt or some form of compensation adjusting from what he was able to complete. If it was his own computer then things are a bit murkier but you'd be surprised how little difference one exam would make to a final mark anyway. Fingers crossed for him!

Thanks. It was a uni computer. It is a CS degree so I assume they were in the CS lab. I don't understand why they weren't able to give him extra time afterwards once the issue had been fixed. I will speak to him properly tomorrow to try and get the full story.

Ah that's unfortunate. Where I am we'd allow him to carry the mark if he passes the module overall, or resit for full marks in August.

Setting exam papers takes so much work, and then they have to be reviewed internally and by the external examiner. That's why there's one resit opportunity in August, to mop up fails as well as those who were absent through illness or had other problems.

Did he actually mention the problems to the invigilators? They would have been able to help him there. Depending on the platform used for the exam, the exams people should be able to see what went wrong and when.

Yes the invigilators knew what was going on, they were trying to help fix the problem.

Then this needs to be pushed. He was doing the exam in the format they requested on their equipment and the responsibility for everything running smoothly lies with them.

Absolutely, but sometimes things go wrong. Typically a student who experienced technical issues in an exam would be given more time so I imagine there was a reason he wasn't. Room booking not long enough (room bookings for rooms suitable for assessments like this is a nightmare), not possible to set the exam up with flexibility on end time, something in the design of the assessment that prohibited an extension, no invigilator senior enough to make that call (again invigilator recruitment can be difficult).

If they weren't able to give an extension then there was likely a reason for that. The mitigation will be another go for full marks at the next attempt, which is August.

It sucks but sometimes life happens and at least it's first year not finals.

Most degrees do not use year 1 grades for the final degree classification so as long as he has passed the module, it may not be worth the stress of resitting. However, he was clearly at a disadvantage and will have the opportunity to resit the exam

The problem is that though he has got high marks on the modules in semester 1 he is struggling a bit with this module. This exam was worth 50% of the module but he has heard rumours from students in year 2 that the second part of this module is even tougher so he wanted to get a higher mark to give him a bit of a cushion.

I know yr one results don't matter to the final grade but he will be applying for placement years in the autumn and will need to include his first year results.
It seems unfair that the only choices are to accept a low mark which was no fault of his own and may result in him failing the entire module if he struggles with the second half of it.
Or retaking this exam in August which will mean revisting a topic 5 months later having to revise it all again. It always more difficult picking something again after a gap. He was planning to work and travel in the summer not rearrange everything around retakes.

I know it's miserable but lots of students are back in August through no fault of their own, whether illness or personal problems etc. The August session is there to allow students to progress without repeating the year, whether they need the extra sitting because of fails or problems outside their own control.

STEM academic here. I agree completely with this, and the PP @ColleenDonaghy quoted.

OP, it is certainly bad luck for DS, and highly regrettable. But part of growing up is learning that sometimes this stuff happens and it isn’t anyone’s fault, proximately at least.

I too am sorry this happened but it should sail through Mit Circs on a nod with a Resit as First Attempt (with uncapped marks) in August. A positive view of the situation would be that it’s quite a substantial piece of work and now DS has a chance to really learn the material and bring his mark up.

I don’t mean to sound glib, but if this is the worst piece of bad luck that befalls him at uni he will be fairly lucky. Best wishes to DS

Update. DS was offered a choice to resit as a first attempt in August or have an increase in his mark in proportion to the time he lost. He chose the latter and was happy with the outcome.