Help - Holidays booked prior to applying for Uni. Exams!

[1415isgreat]

Hello,

I booked some holidays in January for 2025, a year in advance. A few months later I applied for university and got a place and been really excited to retrain etc. As time nears, I realised there will be exams and I have come to find out the holiday coincides with the exams. If I pull out, I will not only lose 000’s but my elderly parents and my kids will all have to cancel - as they will not travel without me and thus lose their money too. ie. Cancelling is not an option.

I won’t be able to study from this September, will I? Will I need to defer to next year? 😭

My place was only confirmed this month after an interview - I had sent my application in March.

Can you move the holiday? Silly to defer a few weeks away

Defer a year for a holiday?

Is there any possibility to travel out there with them, get them settled, come back for the exam and join them later. Expensive with an extra flight but cheaper than all cancelling?

Similar happened to me. We moved the holiday by a couple of weeks. Yes, we had to pay an admin fee but it wasn’t too much .

Have you checked your module assessments? Depending on the course you may be able to do essays/coursework instead of exams.

It's just a holiday. Retraining and upskilling is far more important.

Completely depends on the course I’d say. Have you got the exam dates set in stone?

Yep, it’s definitely an exam and not able to change for coursework etc.

If it was a simple holiday with one destination then I would definitely have changed the dates.

Travelling to home country for a close family wedding - this is within xmas period, then to another 2 destinations because they are close by, with some domestic flights too - think a trip like Australia and New Zealand.

Family are not confident to navigate google maps, public transport etc without me and is actually their first holiday like this, in 60+ years. I know it sounds dramatic but I just feel like I can’t cancel as it will ruin the trip of a lifetime for them.

just so torn.

Have you spoken to the uni? Explain in detail.

They may have a way to support you. You may be able to take the exam later as long as you and they guarantee that you have no contact prior with anyone else.

The 2 weeks of exams is usually the same each year. I will be away for one of those. Dates will not be confirmed till a month before. But when emailing in it seems like exam is on the dates I will be away - from her response.

I understand about the retraining being far more important. I agree. I just hate the thought of cancelling a trip for 6+ people.

I spoke to them briefly today. No leeway for holidays, even if pre booked, apparently..

There will be a resit for the exam. I'd go on the holiday and then do the resit.

Have you told them it's for a family wedding? We would definitely allow you to defer to the resit session for a family wedding booked before you applied.

ETA no leeway for holidays is our policy but you do genuinely have exceptional circumstances.

Speak to the uni. One of ds's friends went away for 3 weeks over exam season for a family wedding.

I think he was allowed to sit the resits without any max mark. Risky if you fail as you wont get another resit, but it might be a potential option if you explain it is for a close family wedding.

If it is a matter of deferring then I would most probably speak to them anyway - nothing to loose I guess!

Check what the reassessment policy is. It may be possible for you to miss the exam and sit it as a reassessment in the summer. However, this can be a risky strategy. Your mark on the reassessment would likely be capped so if it is an exam that contributes to your final mark then it may have an impact longer term. Also, if you failed it, that might prevent your progression to the next year. The assessment policy is probably available online, might help you in exploring the options.

Please speak to the Uni, ideally someone from the course rather than someone more 'general'.
This sometimes happens to us- we ask the student to fill in relevant paperwork and move the exam for that student (similar to if they were ill on the day).
The other option as PP has said is miss the exam then sit the resit. As long as you don't mind any impact that this might have on your final score.

Just do the resit. You can apply for Extraordinary Circumstances (EC) which, if accepted, means that your grade won’t be capped at 40, but even if it is, this is first year and so your grades won’t count towards your degree.

Will it be an actual physical exam where you have to sit in an exam hall or will it be an online exam which you could then do anywhere. (Dd is at uni and most of her exams seem to be online).

Seconding the point about finding out if it's an online exam. Also, if this will be the first year of your course then getting a pass is all you need to do to progress to year 2, often (do check though), so having a capped mark for a resit wouldn't impact your overall degree classification.

Universities are pretty strict about this kind of thing and may not apply the extenuatuating personal circumstances rule to a holiday. They wouldn't do this for DD when she had covid in the middle of her final year dissertation.

Most universities have an exam period in January.

There is no way that we would uncap the resit for a family holiday where I work, and I very much doubt that many universities would be different. That would basically give students carte blanche to either go on holiday in the summer term or award themselves an extended revision period. But our exams are online and can be done remotely.

Are they in person exams? My uni does them remotely now.

I wouldn’t actually know, I assume it is in person because they had a lot of casual invigilator shifts going throughout 2024 exams (for Jan and May).

Its a 2 year MSc so I believe the first year results actually do have a weighting to final grade.

All of my sons ‘exams’ were essays last year.. can you check this?