Deferring an exam - any negative consequences?

[welcomemat]

Daughter is at UCL doing a STEM BSc in her 2nd year. She has three exams back to back on consecutive days. One of them is very, very heavy on memorisation. Some of her course mates have deferred this exam to late summer (end of August or early September) which is presumably when the resits are. She is thinking of doing the same and has asked my advice. Obvious pitfalls from my perspective are that she will have it hanging over her all summer (she is planning to work in July and travel in August), and that it removes any possibility of a resit if needed. (That said, she has never been in resit territory - she is on course for a first based on her assessments so far).

It will be her decision, but are there any potential consequences I haven't thought of?

Check whether any of her optional module choices next year are popular (and first come first served). DD had to do a resit (power cut in halls) and didn't get her course choices confirmed until after resit results known so was bottom of list.

Would they even allow it as an uncapped first attempt? Mine would have allowed but only maximum of a pass result.

This - make sure that she is able to receive her full marks for it, rather than having capped (usually at 40%) as a resit.

What happens if she fails it and can't resit before next year starts?

She really needs to be asking her personal tutor/module lead this as they will be aware of potential issues which you won't be.

Saying which uni she's at might help.

Defferments are usually capped at 40%. Depending on the weighting, she might not mine if the rest of her grades are good. Not something I'd willingly do!

She needs to check this. All information will be there in her departmental handbook. My department caps deferrals not on medical grounds, otherwise all students would just buy themselves extra revision time and take the pressure off during the summer exam period. Plus, as pps have said, there may be other knock-on effects to do with registration for optional modules.

The lack of being able to resit alone means this is a bad idea

This. Whether the resit mark is capped is of course a crucial issue, and the concerns you have identified are important, OP, as are others raised here. But we as outsiders can only guess. DD’s PT and, as a PP said, her School regs, will have better answers to your question. Written School regs are binding unless overridden in writing.

The first 4 words of the OP are "Daughter is at UCL"!

@welcomemat I think it would be very risky to forego the opportunity for a resit/second attempt.

In the absence of a real pressing reason to defer right now specifically - like an illness or mental health crisis - I generally would advise not. Kicking the can down the road is rarely a good idea and tends to absorb all of your future wiggle room. Quite possible/likely that the university will penalize too. They quite naturally don't want all their UGs arranging their own exam schedule. And ducking something simply because it's intimidating is not, in general, a productive life strategy and does nothing good for any issues with anxiety or mental health that people have and is not an option that will generally be open in the "real world".

Thanks all. I think she has talked herself out of it (phew!).

It's a high-stakes 60 point module that is 100% riding on the exam so I think she saw others deferring and was tempted to join them, but has now seen sense. Fingers crossed it goes ok.

My dd did this in year 3, I was fuming!!! Yes it ruined the summer. But she got 85%. Said she would have failed if she had sat in May, and the resit would have been capped at 40%.
IN hindsight it was a strategic move which paid off. They’re not stupid our kids…..

Also, DD and the others are as subject to the whims of fate as anyone. Legs break, relatives die, people become crime victims, etc. Anyone deferring is leaving themselves no cushion and students should not delude themselves about the likelihood of charitable outcomes, especially under these circumstances. (I am a Russell Group STEM academic.) Anyone who defers and is then unable to take the exam is going to regret their decision.

I know that sounds harsh, but the reality is that many students over several centuries have done three exams in three days. Often more! It is only in the last 8-10 years that this has become an issue for them.

Sorry, OP - I did not see your second post. Delighted by it! If the results of deferred exams are not capped, I think the option is a big mistake for reasons discussed upthread

That strategy only worked because taking it later still counted as a first attempt. Most unis (almost certainly including UCL) would treat a deferred exam the same as a resit.

@titchy Indeed!
But she knew there was no resit available. So still a risky strategy. Like I said, it definitely ruined her summer!