Failed an exam. Not sure what to do.

So I failed one of my university end of year exams.

I'm not sure what to do because I don't know if I'm going to pass the resit.

I have a few questions.

Is it too late to apply for UCAS ? I'm worried that this isn't the right thing to do when I am still at university.

When I get my resit result it will be mid august. What do I do if I fail again ? Will I just be left without a place for a year. I've already taken a gap year so I've wasted 2 years. I can't do another gap year.

Will my university handle an internal transfer if I fail ? Or will they just kick me to the curb. I have to sort out housing so I'm really worried about this.

My university aren't very helpful. I got told to contact my tutor and received an auto-email saying he's not back for 2 weeks.

Reply 1

Soph.Jade

Depends on the uni, the module and the weighting of the exam. You should be able to resit (I know there are a few restrictions; again, depends on a few factors) so if you have failed work really hard for the resit. You could also try emailing (or preferably phoning seeing as they have to answer you)the head of the module or department and explain your personal tutor is away and it's urgent? They should contact you in due course to tell you about their procedures.

Reply 2

Arenas123

Original post by Soph.Jade

That's the thing, they aren't telling me any thing.

Does any one know what happens if you transfer internally regarding fees ? I don't suppose there's any chance you don't get the fee increase ?

Reply 3

TheSownRose

Original post by Arenas123

Is it too late to apply for UCAS ? I'm worried that this isn't the right thing to do when I am still at university.

When I get my resit result it will be mid august. What do I do if I fail again ? Will I just be left without a place for a year. I've already taken a gap year so I've wasted 2 years. I can't do another gap year.

This depends on the university, so it is frustrating that they're not talking to you. They may allow you to progress and resit the module next year, they may get you to resit the year, they may transfer you to a different course, they may kick you out altogether...

This is why it's not a bad idea to apply to UCAS and have a back up plan in place.

Will my university handle an internal transfer if I fail ? Or will they just kick me to the curb. I have to sort out housing so I'm really worried about this.

My university aren't very helpful. I got told to contact my tutor and received an auto-email saying he's not back for 2 weeks.

It's one of the possibilities - an internal transfer. Kicking to the curb is another possibility. Is there anyone else you can speak to apart from your tutor? You have important questions that need answering by someone at the university.

Reply 4

Arenas123

Original post by TheSownRose

Technically, you have the rest of this evening and tomorrow to apply to universities of your choice. However, you likely don't have any time where the admissions tutors will be available for you to talk to to check they are accepting applications and you're unlikely to be able to get a reference sorted as well. You can submit an application after June 30th that will go straight to Clearing, which you could theoretically start proceedings for in mid July.

It will hopefully be jumping the gun and you should focus on revising for the exam, but it doesn't hurt to have a back up plan in place.

This depends on the university, so it is frustrating that they're not talking to you. They may allow you to progress and resit the module next year, they may get you to resit the year, they may transfer you to a different course, they may kick you out altogether...

This is why it's not a bad idea to apply to UCAS and have a back up plan in place.

It's one of the possibilities - an internal transfer. Kicking to the curb is another possibility. Is there anyone else you can speak to apart from your tutor? You have important questions that need answering by someone at the university.

Thanks for the answer.

What kind of courses will be in clearing ? The kind of courses that are available in extra is crazy. Law is still available and so are lots of courses I would be interested in. So if it is still available for extra today will it be the kind of thing I can get through clearing ?

I will not be able to get it done by today at all, you're right. According to the UCAS dates clearing starts on results day but I would like to get my place locked down before then. I'm not waiting until my resit results come out because that will be after A-level results day and all the places will be gone. I just hope that I'm not breaking any rules that way.

Reply 5

TheSownRose

Original post by Arenas123

It is hard to predict. Extra can be a reasonable indicator of a course being generally less popular and therefore they may have struggled to get people to accept the offer ... but because Extra and Clearing are used for different purposes, it's not an exact match. Extra is used to give more offers; Clearing is used for actual places.

Imagine a course has 100 places and wants 200 offer holders, but they only have 180 from the main cycle (apply by January 15th people) - they'll use Extra to give out more offers to get the additional 20. They were in Extra because they didn't get the 200 offer holders they wanted, but because 100 of the 180 they had did make the grades, they have filled the course and therefore aren't in Clearing. Alternatively, another course has 50 places, wanted 150 offer holders and got them during the main cycle, so they weren't in Extra. However, only 40 got the grades and the others missed so much they weren't allowed in - that course will now be in Clearing.

The bulk of Clearing happens on results day and the listings aren't published until then, but if you already have your grades you can phone places from about mid July. However, the universities may not yet know whether they're going to be in Clearing; the only way they're going to know is if they didn't get more offer holders than places - say they have 100 places, but only 90 offer holders. Therefore, you may find you have to do it on A-level results day ... but you can get going very early in the morning, because you get to skip the 'going to get results' and 'recovering from being unsuccessful' stages. No, it's not breaking any rules to do it before your university resit result is known.

The best place to start with phoning around is courses that were in Extra that you liked (so make a note now), then move on to other courses if that is not fruitful.

Reply 6

poony

I am confused. You only failed one of the exams. Surely it will be easier to work hard for the resit.

It's unlikely that uni. will let you transfer if you failed your resit. Even if they let you transfer to another subject, you will have to do the first year again.

As for UCAS, I think you might have to pay the new tuition £9k. Also, you have to disclose your 1st year exam. result.

Reply 7

TheSownRose

Original post by poony

It's not that unlikely. A university is a business, they don't want to lose a customer and having a high failure rate will reflect badly on them.

Reply 8

Ice_Queen

It really does depend. I failed one of my most important modules in my first year, including the resit. I went and spoke to my course tutor and because I was so close they let me through anyway.

I suggest you talk to your course tutor about your options now. Do you want to change uni? If so you need to be looking at UCAS, but otherwise you don't need to. If you like your course, the worst that can happen is that you have to retake your year. The uni are unlikely to kick you out. They may be able to offer you a transfer (I was offered to transfer from Accountancy to Business & Finance).

Fees wise, the SLC give you a loan for the length of your course (e.g. three years) plus one, so if you retake you would not have a problem with fees. I'm not sure about if you change uni though.