Failed my first exam.

[niceupthedance]

I'm in the first year of a Bsc, part of it involves psychology units. I sat my first EVER exam two weeks ago (I don't have GCSEs etc) and just found out I failed it by 1%. It was worth 60% of the unit, so in theory possible to recoup with the essay part, but I don't think I've written a distinction-grade essay .

Anyone else had this happen and manage the rest of it OK? I feel a bit WHAT'S THE POINT in continuing...

Your university will have a student support section. Go and see them. Most places run classes or individual sessions in writing essays. These services are there specifically for people like you. Use them.

Thanks for the reply. The exam was multiple choice. I am a confident essay-writer, but I would need 70+ to pass the unit now due to poor exam mark, and at my uni no one gets distinction in 1st year (the prof says).

I will ask about revision tips though.

Is there not a retake opportunity for the the multiple choice exam? At my uni if you fail either a coursework or test or exam of any kind there's a resit later in the (academic) year - all resits are capped at 40% but its better than nothing....

yes can you resit? I'm sure you can if it was your first attempt. Also, can you go to student services or something and ask for support? if its only 1% you can bring that mark up with your essay, and also 1% may go to an academic panel to decide

Well I got my essay marks and as I did quite well I have scraped a pass - relieved!

What's come of this is that I need to find some info on preparing for exams and revision, I think!

Many congrats.

Well done!

Have you looked into what went wrong with the exam? Did you, for example, revise the wrong stuff, or did you panic and have your mind go blank? Did you run out of time? I've found, having just gone back to university myself, that the only way to make the material stick is to revise as I go - spending around 4 hours per week rewriting my notes, reading around the subject and looking up the stuff I don't fully understand. It takes up a lot of time but is necessary for me. It also means I don't get left behind in lectures as I understand what was taught in previous weeks.

Thanks.

We were told to revise the core text, about 600 pages (!) so I only managed about half of that with proper notes. The first 12 questions I had no idea on and thought I was in the wrong exam! I also went back and changed some answers in a panic, but when I had taken practise online exams this had always worked against me as my first thought was right.

I just need more time to read i think. Both me and DS have been constantly ill this term so finding time has been hard, I did miss a few lectures too.

I did another essay (while son was ill with d&v so it was rushed and under the word count) and got 68, so I know I am taking something in... Hmmm

Prioritising reading is really hard - I've tried to build it into my day so I do little and often rather than trying to read great chunks at once. It makes the task more manageable and more interesting!

It sounds like your exam technique might be a little rusty too - though if I were in an exam where I didn't know the first 12 questions I probably wouldn't have failed by 1%, I'd have failed by 20%! Do your university do learning support sessions for exam technique? Some practice of exam conditions may be really beneficial!

And 68% in an essay when you're sick and missing classes - you're definitely doing something right!