The Student Room Group

Academic Appeals

jj
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by tty
Hi, to get a full gist of the story: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?p=37834953&highlight=

Basically, the exam board have just awarded me my BSc stating that they'd given me enough time to complete my degree. The chair of the exam board (who is also my head of year) told of this by an email and told me to ring him.

I rung him in complete shock and he told me to ignore the formality of the letter (that he wrote on behalf of the exam board) and that he wanted to speak to me discreetly as he thought that the exam board decision was unfair. I had submitted lots of evidence and I only need to sit 5 exams to finish my degree.

My head of year has pushed me to go for academic appeal. I'm so scared that I'm not going to be able to finish. Are academic appeals ever successful?


Yes they are. You need to go to appeal with a clear idea of why/how things are going to get better next year and convince the exam board that you will complete.

I'm not sure you have made all the details perfectly clear, but you should be very clear on what you are doing. It seems to me that you are turning down the chance to get a BSc (Hons) aegrotat degree (ie no grade due to extenuating circumstances) versus taking your final year and getting a classification. If there is any chance at all of you getting a 2.2 or worse then you should take the offer that is on the table at the moment.
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jj
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by tty
Hey, I was awarded a 2:2 Bsc, rather than the aegrotat. I finished 70 out of the 120 modules of my fourth year. Are they even allowed to just throw away my fourth year like that?


Yes, they probably are allowed to do that. They will be governed by the university regulations, which will be available on the university website somewhere, though it may take some heavy reading to get to grips with.

If you feel that you would be able to bring your grade up to more than a 2.2, then make the appeal. It sounds like your tutor would be able to give you specific advice about that process. The Student Union should also be able to give you practical advice and support during the appeal process.
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jj
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by tty
Hi,

My original extenuating circumstances were not upheld by the exam board at University and so I have to go to appeal. I was wondering. I had already submitted a medical certificate but say for argument sake, I submitted extra evidence in the form of a hospital discharge notice (which was not submitted previously) for the same extenuating circumstance would that be within the rules?


Does your medical certificate say you were hospitalised? If it does, then the discharge notice doesn't add any new information.
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jj
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by tty
Hey. No it doesn't - I'm a little bit confused about the academic procedure. Can I submit more evidence about a specific illness (new information about the illness) or does it have to be a new illness or extenuating circumstance altogether?

This isn't my area, but I would have thought you were appealing the decision made about your first illness. Introducing a new illness would mean starting all over again with a new claim for them to consider, wouldn't it? If you have more evidence which you didn't put forward about the original case, then this is the time to do it.
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jj
(edited 11 years ago)
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jj
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by tty
Thanks for the advice. I did speak to my Director of UG studies and he said that the appeals committee don't bother looking at the previous doctors notes and medical certificates that I submitted previously so I guess I'll have to submit something a bit more in-depth.


As I say, I know nothing about this kind of thing, so take my advice with a bucketful of salt, but I'd have thought that that might be grounds for appeal in itself. What form of evidence do they require?
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jj
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by tty
From what I gather it's "information not otherwise known to the board."


If they're not looking at what you've given them already, that's pretty much everything, isn't it? Your director of studies is the person you really need to talk to about this. The rest of us can only speculate, however much we want to help.
(edited 11 years ago)
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jj
(edited 11 years ago)
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jj
(edited 11 years ago)
Original post by tty
My director of studies said this: "You have previously indicated to me that you reported extenuating circumstances to the Board. You will not be able to challenge the decision of the Board in regard to these circumstance unless you can demonstrate that the Board's did not follow due process or that the decision is unreasonable and cannot be sustained by the facts. Alternatively if you were unable to or prevented from providing full information to the Board you can present this in your appeal and outline why you could not report the full information to the Board in the normal timescale."


Is he going to help you to do any of those things? I wouldn't put money on them not following due process.
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jj
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 17
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Original post by carnationlilyrose
Is he going to help you to do any of those things? I wouldn't put money on them not following due process.


He's the chair of the exam board, so he can't help me too much :-(
They have either accepted the circumstances and decided that their award is appropriate or they have rejected the circumstances and awarded based on your results


If it is the former then nothing is going to change your award ... if it is the latter then more evidence may help to convince them of the seriousness ... tbh though I am not really sure what this evidence actually adds


As has been said you need to talk again to your Director of Studies

Have you talked to people in the Student Union to see if they can support you in this situation
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jj
(edited 11 years ago)

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