Scottish Uni - Failed an Essay in 4th Year

[MrsMozartMkII]

Just had worried DD on the phone. Her friend has failed an essay. She daren't tell her mum and is looking to friends for support. I said id ask on here as to what happens next. She was on track for a 2:1, this is, I believe, the only fail. The lecturer is on research leave, which sounds barking this close to the exams, and she's not back till well after the exam.

I understand there to be extenuating circumstances, with a very ill close relative and the student having additional needs in terms of dyspraxia and dyslexia, but is that enough as it were to get her a re-submition? If possibly yes, how does she go about it? I think she's seeing a uni person tomorrow to discuss, it'd just be good for her to have some info prior to that meeting.

TIA

So coursework goes to the final mark. Are there also exams? A 2:1 with one essay fail could only push down to a 2:2 at the worst.

Thank you.

There's one exam in this subject. She can't get to see the lecturer due to the research leave though.

Also, she needs to go on to do a Masters. Google says that's probably still a possible ad she's done a lot of extra curricular additional bits.

A fail mark isn’t a big red cross. If the rest of the marks are up to scratch it probably won’t drop the average too much over the year.

It’s good she is going to speak to someone tomorrow though as she sounds stressed beyond thinking straight.

Did her uni know of the extenuating circumstances and dyslexia/dyspraxia before the essay? If so it can't be counted again as they should have already taken it into account.

I am afraid I can't say as the rules differ (at my place per module!) but it may be that she can redo and get a maximum of whatever the pass is, leave the fail and it bring down her overall mark or redo and get whatever mark the new essay is given.

If it's her only fail I would imagine it shouldn't affect hey overall result too much in case it was weighted hugely towards that one essay.

Even if the lecture is on research leave there will be a university/department policy on extenuating circumstances or submission of the essay. These policies should be available online. There may well be a maximum mark that is the lowest pass mark.

One bad score is just a blip - bad day in the office and all that. I scored one crap mark on my coursework (someone helpfully decided to advise me on an essay and I stupidly took their advice) and it dropped my average a tiny bit - not significantly though.

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD Thank you. She was getting the life end of 1st / top end of 2:1 in her other work. Y'up! Definitely stressed. Doing what we can to calm her.

Chartreuser Thank you. Uni knew about the dyslexia and dyspraxia but not the relative and other stuff. She was trying to cope on her own.

Disfordarkchocolate Thank you. Good point! Will go investigate.

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD Thank you. She's a bit of a perfectionist, so whilst she'd already accepted she wouldn't get a 1st, to her not getting the 2:1 is a major worry, especially with the need for a Masters. I'm sorry you were so ill advised. Bloody frustrating and infuriating for you.

Don’t worry - I’ve had 20 odd years of using it as a rebuttal for any other meddling!

Most excellent. Everything has its use

Thank fou all. Everything has been relayed to her and she's calmer.

The only outstanding question really is the "Can she still do a Masters?" one. From what I understand she can't follow her chosen career without it.

I know people who have done one with a 2:1. Various subjects

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD Thank you. Do you know any who've done one with a 2:2?

Normally 2:2 or above is minimum for entry onto a master's, if it's highly sought after then a high 2:1 or even 1. Depends on her current uni and that which she is applying to.

She would be incredibly unlucky if that one fail for one essay prevented her from gaining entry onto a Masters

We have admitted many with a 2:2, if it's a v popular course she may need to take a year or two or working

Chartreuser Thank you. I'll let her know. Her dissertation is due in this week, so she's up to her eyeballs in stress and pressure poor thing.

Update:

The short version is, if I've got it right, the extenuating circumstances would be put in if(!) she doesn't mind not graduating this June... Something about the resubission timing wouldn't fit in.

However, if she does well in her exam next week, she'll still graduate this June and with a 2:1.

The lecturer has sent some useful info.

So, fingers crossed she will be okay.

She says thank you very much for your help folks!

Phew!

Hasn't she got a tutor? There is usually one who manages small sub sections of students. The lecturer themselves is seldom relevant. Does she understand where she went wrong in the essay? When you say she failed, by how much?

The issue here I think is how she failed, as in did she demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding of the subject matter, or did she simply not do enough work on it, so didn't cover everything that was required, but what she did was good?

LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD Indeed! Thank you.

Bluntness100 I don't have all the details, but it was a marginal fail. From what I can gather she's a keen student so unlikely to be lack of effort. It sounds more like a processing issue that was compounded by the sick relative (I think it was close to losing them). She seems happy that the lecturer has sent more info. I asked DD about personal tutors, but they don't seem to be too visible. Both our DDs have been through that uni and whilst it's absolutely grand in many ways there are some weird niggles.