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Students on campus at the University of Warwick
University of Warwick
Coventry

Failed second year university

Sup,I do(did?) computer science, and failed dramatically in second year, all modules. I failed due to laziness, and I know I'm capable of getting at least a 2:1 average overall. (I got A*AB at a level, and in retakes in first year I got firsts in all modules that I retook)


I've been allowed to resit throughout the year, 3 exams at the end of term 1, 5 at the end of the year. This is when they were sat when I was at the uni.Obviously I know that this is a significant amount of work to have, and this may keep me occupied throughout this year, still, I only need to get 40%+ in these to get in to the next academic year, and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas of what I should do this year to compensate for any questions future employees might ask me about my year out.



I feel like I've completely and utterly coasted, and know little about comp sci, but somehow bluffed my way through first year etc. and I should swat up (revising and aiming for way higher than 40% in the second year modules will help out in this)



Money isn't really an issue, my parents pay for everything reasonable being food, bills, clothes etc. so getting a job purely for money-sake is low on my priorities.

Any ideas?
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 1
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Students on campus at the University of Warwick
University of Warwick
Coventry
Reply 2
I failed one module in my second year of my philosophy degree after coasting without doing much work to get an easy 2:1 in all other modules and in first year. Rather than take a year out to do one (15 credit) module I started a new undergraduate degree in law (since I was planning a postgraduate conversion course so it only added one year) as this meant I didn't waste a year and have been able to get firsts in every module so far - completed 2 years - because I'm more mature and realise my mistakes the first time. This might be an option because it would prevent coming out with a below 2:1 degree, which you really want to avoid if you wish to get a job where you can actually use your degree.

If you don't want to start from scratch and are just thinking of something to fill your CV for the year and money isn't an issue you could complete some modules on the open university. Especially if you're worried that you won't be taking the necessary knowledge away from your degree. Either through this or independently you could also dedicate some time to learning some different programming languages. When you come to applying to jobs to use your computer science degree your aptitude at and which languages you have experience with will be important, and although you may have used some at university, any extra experience would improve your applications.
Original post by Anachronism


Any ideas?


Well I just finished a Software Engineering degree in June and I must say it's not easy, you need to stay on top of everything. I have loads of mates that failed a year, some of em failed 2 years, or the same year twice but they seem to be counting their losses and moving on so I'm sure you can to.

There is no trick to making it through but all I can recommend is that you try properly. You need to go to every lecture and tutorial, everyone chats a load of crap how you don't need it but if you start going down that road you will lose your discipline very quickly and before you know it, you'll be missing several weeks in a row.

The previous mentioned point is obviously a hard thing to do, and not only do you have to go but you have to give it some effort when your there in the lab / lecture hall. The only way to make this easier is to give yourself more energy, how do you get more energy? Eat right and sleep right, simple as that. Get in the habbit of waking up early like 7 to 8... or even 6 would be better. If you can make time to go to the gym before uni then trust me it helps, it helps you focus and puts you in a better mood in general like a "ninja-mode"

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, anyway i wish you the best and hope you smash it this time round!
Reply 4
So I'm a first year MORSE student and I will probably fail a required core module resit (Mathematical Programming 1).
I know they say if you fail a resit you're out, but this module was only like 12 cats.*

Also I have mitigating circumstances and will probably be accepted for the resit to be counted as a first attempt.*

Will they let me proceed to year 2? I got 36 the first time I sat it, so close to 40. Now resat and anticipating I'll fail.


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Reply 5
Original post by JavaScriptMaster
Well I just finished a Software Engineering degree in June and I must say it's not easy, you need to stay on top of everything. I have loads of mates that failed a year, some of em failed 2 years, or the same year twice but they seem to be counting their losses and moving on so I'm sure you can to.

There is no trick to making it through but all I can recommend is that you try properly. You need to go to every lecture and tutorial, everyone chats a load of crap how you don't need it but if you start going down that road you will lose your discipline very quickly and before you know it, you'll be missing several weeks in a row.

The previous mentioned point is obviously a hard thing to do, and not only do you have to go but you have to give it some effort when your there in the lab / lecture hall. The only way to make this easier is to give yourself more energy, how do you get more energy? Eat right and sleep right, simple as that. Get in the habbit of waking up early like 7 to 8... or even 6 would be better. If you can make time to go to the gym before uni then trust me it helps, it helps you focus and puts you in a better mood in general like a "ninja-mode"

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, anyway i wish you the best and hope you smash it this time round!

I appreciate the advice, sucks that I'm a resit without residence student this year though, so I'm not allowed to go to lectures/seminars but only use the library.

You're right about maintaining good habits though, I'll make sure to stay disciplined and try and head to the library daily etc
Reply 6
Original post by Kevkev1
So I'm a first year MORSE student and I will probably fail a required core module resit (Mathematical Programming 1).
I know they say if you fail a resit you're out, but this module was only like 12 cats.*

Also I have mitigating circumstances and will probably be accepted for the resit to be counted as a first attempt.*

Will they let me proceed to year 2? I got 36 the first time I sat it, so close to 40. Now resat and anticipating I'll fail.


Posted from TSR Mobile

I failed a couple first year modules too, but passed them in the summer retakes. I'm not really sure what happens if you fail the retakes, you'd probs have to email your tutor, I feel for you though.
Original post by Anachronism
I appreciate the advice, sucks that I'm a resit without residence student this year though, so I'm not allowed to go to lectures/seminars but only use the library.


What a load of *******s! lol I reckon if you go in anyway then the tutor/lecturor won't mind as long as you pay attention.

I mean if I were a lecturer I would rather teach someone who wants to learn regardless of whether or not they're fully allowed
Retake them if I was you and you know why you failed.

As another poster has stated, go to sleep early, wake up early, eat right, exercise, have some time for yourself in the weekends etc.

Go to every lecture, tutorial, do some background reading, revise mock papers, befriend the top students.

Feel free to PM me anything, I'm on the way to completing my degree.

Also, you can get a programming job even without a degree, just learn a few programming languages, develop projects such as mini video games, websites, apps, show them on GitHub and then apply for jobs.

Good Luck!

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