Dropping to single honours

[Yabayabadoo]

My DC is in yr 2, he is really struggling and would like to drop to single honours. He says it is too late now to drop one of his subjects and needed to be done before he started yr 2. I am not sure what to advise

Has he spoken to anyone at university about it? Have they told him it's a definite no? I think the best thing he can do is get advice from there.

I did Joint Honours (2/3rds of each respective degree) it was a slog (but doable) and in a way put me off reading for life. He should talk to the university.

I have advised him to chat but keeps saying its too late and I think its getting on top of him now

Definitely depends on the uni and course. How much of the compulsory content of the single subject might he have missed?

He is saying he has 2 assignments due in Jan on the subject he is wanting to drop so would need to catch up on all the content from the other subject from the start of 2nd yr

It’s really going to depend on how flexible the university and course structure is. He should really be aware of this already and should definitely ask if he isn’t. Some joint honours degrees are completely fixed and some have a huge degree of flexibility and will just have a minimum percentage for each subject. The flexibility in modules will also vary considerably. The same is true of single honours. Dropping a subject will not affect the volume of work if you are in the U.K. - all degrees are supposed to be the same number of credits; joint honours just means you split the credits between two subjects. If the structure is fixed, it is likely to be too late to change now.

@angelcake20 That’s not quite accurate. Eg MFL 2 languages joint is a lot more work for obvious reasons. 2 semesters split between 2 countries. Not 2 semesters learning one language. Ditto with translation and all language acquisition. Definitely more work for joint honours. However when no examined skill involved, yes, joint isn’t necessarily more work but does show breadth.

My son did MFL recently, two languages, and he didn’t do as you describe, his course was t like that at all.

He really does need to talk to his tutor and flesh out what the options are. If he has already done that then fine, but I know my slightly younger DC will leap to the conclusion that X is the only possible option and Y is impossible without really asking the questions.

Unis want students to graduate successfully. There will probably be options he is not aware of, like a "french with German" instead of joint honours, or a generic "modern languages" degree, or resitting some stuff. Main thing is not to panic, leap to conclusions and and overreact to what may be avery resolvable problem.

Also consider whether to suggest he speaks to a GP re his mental health.

@analysetheintelligence So he didn’t go to two countries for the year abroad? Half the time to perfect the languages? How did he get up to speed in both MFLs then? It’s clearly more work than one. Unless one language is an add on and not joint so less proficiency and work required. Or he was a native speaker already or the requirements were not as high?

He's not thinking straight, I'm afraid.

A Joint honours degree will have the same credit point requirements as a Single Hons degree, but across 2 subjects. If he drops one of those subjects, he'll ave to pick up the credit points from the subject he stays with.

He can't just not do those 2 assignments, if they are assessments for required or enrolled modules. He'll have to do other modules, out of sync. He'd be better just grinding on.

If it's a matter of workload, he won't reduce his workload by doing single hons. If he isn't coping with the workload now - how is he going to cope catching up in the other subject? Maybe he needs to look at his time management, his schedule, and his study skills? How much time does he spend preparing, reading, studying,.writing? Students forget they are full-time sometimes, and that means working at least a 37 - 40 hour week on their studies.

He definitely needs to talk to someone at his university to see what is possible. If there's plenty of choice of modules, it might be that he can replace a module done this term with an extra one next term, but it might be that the only way would be to catch up on a module that's already over, or halfway through, and that might not be realistic.
If it isn't possible, they can probably advise on the best way to get through this. They'll want to help, but they can't unless he talks to them.

This. Tbh having two assignments due in January isn’t onerous, even if he’s had enough of the subject and has work from the subject he wants to keep due. Is he actually working hard?

Yes he went to two countries, no it wasn’t a semester in each and wasn’t half and half.

He is pretty diligent, I just think he is is floundering in yr 2 as he says he doesnt get the subject he has no grounding in. His assignments in yr 1 were all marked highly,

There is a jump from 1st year to 2nd year. We tend to ease them in in first year, but the marks form 2nd and 3rd year count towards the final degree classification, so we are more demanding. 1st year marks generally don't count, although the learning is important.

He's finding his level.

Worth noting that thinking in terms of 'dropping' might not be helpful - he'll have the same amount of modules and assignments and need to make the same amount of credits. More students than not seem to be JH these days - it isn't more work, just more range. Do you think he gets this?

@analysetheintelligence So how was joint honours achieved then? Or was it 2 MFLs and not joint honours which is available.

By studying in two countries for varying period of time but not as you described. You seemed suggest in your initial post that there was only one way to do a joint honours modern languages degree and I am trying to say there’s other ways too!