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Student at University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh

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Original post by lizfairy
I was thinking of a 3 bed flat with 4 people, a couple in one and two individuals in the other...


It's a free country - you don't have to check with me before renting somewhere :wink: But that will require an HMO license.
Student at University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
I'm doing British History and Linguistics and English Language as my outside courses this year (I'm a first year literature student) and I feel as though it is very unlikely that I will be passing my British History exam, as I've not enjoyed the course and my coursework marks have been low... I got a 42 and a 44 in the first semester, but I failed the third essay and I have yet to collect the fourth. Since the exam requires me to write four good essays in three hours, I don't see my chances as being very good...

I also don't intend to continue British History next year, and I know that generally the rule is that you are supposed to continue with one of your outside courses, but you don't have to continue both. This is fine for me, as I'm relatively confident with Linguistics... however, I am now worried because I have heard that to continue into second year, you MUST pass all your course (and get your 120 credits). Is this true? I was really hoping that if I failed the exam I could simply tell the university that I want to do a different course next year, and so not have to worry about being made to resit (especially if I have to pass said resit).

I'm sure there must be other students in my position and it doesn't seem fair that I might be forced to leave the university if I'm not capable of passing this one, outside, course. Thank you in advance for your help.
Original post by cmackenzie
I'm doing British History and Linguistics and English Language as my outside courses this year (I'm a first year literature student) and I feel as though it is very unlikely that I will be passing my British History exam, as I've not enjoyed the course and my coursework marks have been low... I got a 42 and a 44 in the first semester, but I failed the third essay and I have yet to collect the fourth. Since the exam requires me to write four good essays in three hours, I don't see my chances as being very good...

I also don't intend to continue British History next year, and I know that generally the rule is that you are supposed to continue with one of your outside courses, but you don't have to continue both. This is fine for me, as I'm relatively confident with Linguistics... however, I am now worried because I have heard that to continue into second year, you MUST pass all your course (and get your 120 credits). Is this true? I was really hoping that if I failed the exam I could simply tell the university that I want to do a different course next year, and so not have to worry about being made to resit (especially if I have to pass said resit).

I'm sure there must be other students in my position and it doesn't seem fair that I might be forced to leave the university if I'm not capable of passing this one, outside, course. Thank you in advance for your help.


If you fail your British history exam then you will have to resit it in the summer exam session in August. I believe there is a payment for that but I don't know how much for sure - about £60 I think, perhaps a bit more. As far as I know the marks are capped so you quite literally pass or fail the exam. You need to pass 120 credits in first year to progress to second year, yes. This is a standard thing at all universities, not just Edinburgh. It's kind of like if you had performed badly in one of your A levels or Highers then this would have seriously damaged your university prospects even if the subject you failed was chemistry and you were a linguistics applicant - you need to pass the full package. I'm not sure what happens if you fail the resit as well - they might allow you to take additional credits in your second year to make up a total of 240 credits although I don't know as I don't know anyone who was ever in this position. If you're really concerned, speak to your DoS or course secretary now. You should also be aware that module marks appear in full on your transcript which you will use for postgraduate applications and after Edinburgh.

To be honest, I'd say it's a lot about attitude and self belief at this stage. You clearly can pass the course - I assume you have strong pre university grades in subjects relevant to history as otherwise you wouldn't have got an offer at Edinburgh. First year courses are aimed at students with no prior knowledge of the subject who are coming from an array of subject areas so your background won't be holding you back. You're doing well in English language and linguistics which will have many similarities in terms of ability to write strong essays, the need to research/read journal articles and the ability to balance arguments and see things from different perspectives. These are all key things in history. I would hazard a guess that the reason you're not doing so well is because you've convinced yourself that you are going to fail, that you hate history and that you don't want to continue it anyway. I'm a teacher and this attitude switch is the biggest barrier to success with a lot of my children and I know from experience of during my degree that convincing yourself that you can do it is the greatest single factor in whether you will actually succeed. I was utterly convinced at the start of my final year that everyone else on my degree course was better than me and I couldn't do as well as them. It was only midway through the year when I realised that was a stupid attitude to have that I actually started to pull grades out of the bag and perform to the standard I was capable of (which was better than a lot of people anyway) which I'd lost confidence in during my year abroad away from Edinburgh.

Speak to your tutor, get feedback from your essays and show yourself to be really wanting to pull your grade up. It sounds like with a bit of work you will be able to pull up your marks to at least low 50s standard - have you found out from your tutor what the problem is with your work? Why are they giving you low marks? If you find this out and get them to explain it to you by showing you where you slipped up and how to improve then this will help you.
Reply 1923
Avatar for Ronda
Ronda
14
Original post by cmackenzie
x


Original post by oxymoronic
If you fail your British history exam then you will have to resit it in the summer exam session in August. I believe there is a payment for that but I don't know how much for sure - about £60 I think, perhaps a bit more. As far as I know the marks are capped so you quite literally pass or fail the exam. You need to pass 120 credits in first year to progress to second year, yes. This is a standard thing at all universities, not just Edinburgh. It's kind of like if you had performed badly in one of your A levels or Highers then this would have seriously damaged your university prospects even if the subject you failed was chemistry and you were a linguistics applicant - you need to pass the full package. I'm not sure what happens if you fail the resit as well - they might allow you to take additional credits in your second year to make up a total of 240 credits although I don't know as I don't know anyone who was ever in this position. If you're really concerned, speak to your DoS or course secretary now. You should also be aware that module marks appear in full on your transcript which you will use for postgraduate applications and after Edinburgh.


For the bold bit, I know at the start of second year for us, anyone who had any outstanding failed courses could either retake them along with all the other courses in second year, or change it to another course if we thought we'd just fail it again, providing the course wasn't compulsory to the degree. Then again, it would have been 20 credit courses at the most rather than 40 credits, and the rules will probably be different for humanities subjects I'm guessing.

I think speaking to your DOS/course organiser is definitely your best option, and oxymoronic has given you some really good advice there too.
Reply 1924
Avatar for Lu-Tze
Lu-Tze
not certain if this holds true for other schools within the university (but it's worth taking note of and finding out if something similar applies to you) but in the school of engineering, you are allowed a maximum of 3 resits for any exam/course after which you are no longer able to get the credits (and if its a core course to your degree you may be kicked out)
*wonders if it's too early to say "When will they post exam results?"*
Yes, I know it is way too early. But I still want to know. *whines*
Original post by daeonica
*wonders if it's too early to say "When will they post exam results?"*
Yes, I know it is way too early. But I still want to know. *whines*


The way mine have gone so far, I really don't want to know :indiff:
How much on average do you spend on electric heating in Edinburgh (and how many people to you live with/how many rooms are there)?
Thought I would highlight the room booking system that's just been released, allowing you to book study spaces around the university. It's a significant improvement on the old system (in as much as this one appears to work!). https://www.ted.is.ed.ac.uk/UOE1213STU_WRB/default.aspx
Is anyone else getting sick of reading this on the bottom of posts or is it just me...

This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App


I keep thinking it's part of somebody's post :p:.
Got my degree results. :smile: 1st! :biggrin:
Original post by Rainfaery
Got my degree results. :smile: 1st! :biggrin:


Congratulations :smile:!
Original post by Rainfaery
Got my degree results. :smile: 1st! :biggrin:


Well of course...
Original post by Emmie3303
Is anyone else getting sick of reading this on the bottom of posts or is it just me...


The plan is to eventually turn it off but at the moment it's there to raise awareness of the app to encourage people to download it.
It's annoying!

Original post by Rainfaery
Got my degree results. :smile: 1st! :biggrin:


Well that was never not going to happen.
Have you ever got a grade which was below a first? :p:
Well done! Which PhD offer have you taken up? :smile:
Original post by oxymoronic
The plan is to eventually turn it off but at the moment it's there to raise awareness of the app to encourage people to download it.
It's annoying!


Ah I see :smile:. Well it's certainly doing its job then!
Original post by Emmie3303
Ah I see :smile:. Well it's certainly doing its job then!


Yeah... well the iphone/ipad downloads have already surpassed the Android downloads and we've had the Android app for a lot longer.
Original post by oxymoronic
Yeah... well the iphone/ipad downloads have already surpassed the Android downloads and we've had the Android app for a lot longer.


That's interesting. Maybe people just favour the ipad/iphone.
Original post by Emmie3303
That's interesting. Maybe people just favour the ipad/iphone.


Maybe - I think it's probably that people who have ipads/iphones are into apps whereas people who have Androids might be less interested in that sort of thing. I have the TSR app on my phone but it isn't that useful as a mod because I normally do a lot of moving around/dealing with reports/giving warnings etc which I can't do on the app. Also a lot of my replies are often "advice giving" which is just too much of a pain to write on my phone as they're long posts.
Original post by oxymoronic
Maybe - I think it's probably that people who have ipads/iphones are into apps whereas people who have Androids might be less interested in that sort of thing. I have the TSR app on my phone but it isn't that useful as a mod because I normally do a lot of moving around/dealing with reports/giving warnings etc which I can't do on the app. Also a lot of my replies are often "advice giving" which is just too much of a pain to write on my phone as they're long posts.


That's a good point. To be honest I know very little about apps and the various devices since I don't have an up to date phone or a tablet :p:. I've had the same mobile since 2007! I suppose it would be easier to write long replies via the app on a tablet but it would be awful having to do it on a tiny phone screen.
Original post by oxymoronic

Well that was never not going to happen.
Have you ever got a grade which was below a first? :p:
Well done! Which PhD offer have you taken up? :smile:


:p: I might have my first non-A grade this year; I either have a 68 or a 74 in one of my courses, so we'll see...not one that counts for anything, though.

I've decided to go to Glasgow next year. :smile: The research there most closely fits my interests.

Original post by nearlyheadlessian
Well of course...


:p:

Original post by Emmie3303
Congratulations :smile:!


Thanks :smile:

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