[Mamamoose]

Hi - my daughter has just failed her first year and her studies have been terminated. She doesnt understand why as she was getting Bs and Cs and has failed both her modules with 35 and 39%. She does not have exams - it is all coursework. I have rung everyone I can at the uni and no one seems to want to help. We want an explanation of her marks and some help with what options she has now, but they just keep saying they cant help and passing us onto some one else.

So far I have spoken to the Student Advice centre who passed us onto her faculty advice centre who passed us onto her tutor who passed us to the Head of Studies who passed us back to the tutor, who was then not in as it was almost 5pm. All I want is an appointment with someone who can explain things for us. I also want to know if we can appeal as she was diagnosed with dyslexia in the last few weeks of term (through the uni) and recommended 25% extra coursework time, so this would obviously have affected her marks.

Anyone know who I should be speaking to at the uni? Going to try her tutor again in my lunchbreak tomorrow. Thanks

[TheSownRose]

(Original post by Mamamoose)
Hi - my daughter has just failed her first year and her studies have been terminated. She doesnt understand why as she was getting Bs and Cs and has failed both her modules with 35 and 39%. She does not have exams - it is all coursework. I have rung everyone I can at the uni and no one seems to want to help. We want an explanation of her marks and some help with what options she has now, but they just keep saying they cant help and passing us onto some one else.

So far I have spoken to the Student Advice centre who passed us onto her faculty advice centre who passed us onto her tutor who passed us to the Head of Studies who passed us back to the tutor, who was then not in as it was almost 5pm. All I want is an appointment with someone who can explain things for us. I also want to know if we can appeal as she was diagnosed with dyslexia in the last few weeks of term (through the uni) and recommended 25% extra coursework time, so this would obviously have affected her marks.

Anyone know who I should be speaking to at the uni? Going to try her tutor again in my lunchbreak tomorrow. Thanks

I'm slightly confused... She passed every single essay with 50%+, but they have somehow calculated her overall module grades as below 40%? She didn't fail any of the essays (or not hand them in), and is absolutely certain that there were no exams?

What university was this at?

[gutenberg]

Good luck getting it sorted, I hope it works out.

This is just an observation: perhaps you should be getting your daughter to speak to people such as her tutor, after all they are her results and people might be forced to be a bit more helpful if she herself was demanding answers, rather than you. I understand that she is probably upset (and may well be in contact with people, it could just be the way you're phrasing the post), and that naturally you want to help her, but from personal experience I've found that universities respond better to students speaking up for themselves rather than getting their parents to do it for them.

[Mamamoose]

Thanks for your replies. I didnt give all the details as I'm so upset at the moment - mainly with frustration that there is no clear person to speak to when you have failed!

She said she got two 'F's in one module at the very beginning of term, but since then has had B's and C's and was told by her tutor that this would be OK, not to worry. In her other module she says she got one D and the rest were B's and C's. Her modules say that her marks are 35, and 35, although when you click on the final mark one of them says 39% (so we dont understand that at all). She doesnt know her mark for her final project, so maybe that is dragging it down? We can't find any mention of what marks a B C D or F would be equivalent to to work out her final grade.

She is only just 19 and a very young 19 at that. I wasnt expecting anyone to talk to me about her results over the phone, I just wanted to make an appointment to see the correct person to discuss the marks - there may be a very good reason why she has them, but we would like an explanation, and also to ask why none of her tutors told her she was likely to fail and needed to work harder? If you are getting B's and C's you think you are OK! I also thought that a caring uni would talk to failed students with other options like, moving to another course, or repeating the first year. Their attitude to me was - oh she's been terminated so that's that!

Its not being able to find anyone to talk to who knows what we should be doing that is the most frustrating thing.

[Origami Bullets]

Grades that are lower than 40% are considered a fail at universities. I'm not familiar with the grading system (my own university just uses percentages), but you seem to have been given percentages as well.Unfortunately she seems to have had performance that is consistently sub-par throughout the year, and presumably the university doubt that she would be able to pass her degree as a whole. Was her performance at school outstanding or more average? Is there any obvious reason why her performance could have dropped whilst at university - too many nights out, not enjoying the course, problems at home (bereavements etc.)? If it's the latter, does the university know, and if so, when were they told?

In some ways, having studies terminated at this point is being cruel to be kind, because the student finance rules state that you can only have one 'false start' or repeat a year once. If you take any longer than the length of your course + 1 year to complete your studies, then you start having to fund it yourself. It may be that her best option now is to take a year out, think about where she wants to go in life, how she's going to get there (whether that involves university or not - an apprenticeship or similar can be an equally valid route forwards) etc. She could go to university in 2013, or later, or not at all - there are lots of options out there.

[gutenberg]

(Original post by Mamamoose)
Thanks for your replies. I didnt give all the details as I'm so upset at the moment - mainly with frustration that there is no clear person to speak to when you have failed!

She said she got two 'F's in one module at the very beginning of term, but since then has had B's and C's and was told by her tutor that this would be OK, not to worry. In her other module she says she got one D and the rest were B's and C's. Her modules say that her marks are 35, and 35, although when you click on the final mark one of them says 39% (so we dont understand that at all). She doesnt know her mark for her final project, so maybe that is dragging it down? We can't find any mention of what marks a B C D or F would be equivalent to to work out her final grade.

She is only just 19 and a very young 19 at that. I wasnt expecting anyone to talk to me about her results over the phone, I just wanted to make an appointment to see the correct person to discuss the marks - there may be a very good reason why she has them, but we would like an explanation, and also to ask why none of her tutors told her she was likely to fail and needed to work harder? If you are getting B's and C's you think you are OK! I also thought that a caring uni would talk to failed students with other options like, moving to another course, or repeating the first year. Their attitude to me was - oh she's been terminated so that's that!

Its not being able to find anyone to talk to who knows what we should be doing that is the most frustrating thing.

That's very frustrating for you and I hope it works out.

My instinct would be to keep pressuring to talk to her tutor, as certainly at my undergraduate university (I'm a postgrad now) our personal tutor was the portal to everything, and if anyone failed or had other issues, the tutor was the first port of call and was supposed to help you or represent you in situations like this.

I would still recommend that she try and do the contacting, you say she is a 'young' 19 and although this is a truly horrible experience, it nevertheless will stand to her in the future if anything (God forbid!) similar were to happen again.

[marcusfox]

The only way you can find out for sure is by speaking to the tutor about the grading system.

Quite often, different modules are weighted differently, and number of decent grades may not make up for a couple of big failures.

[laura130490]

Has she been to see her tutor or one of her lecturers?

Is this Wolverhampton University btw? I only ask because it's the only uni I know of that uses grades instead of percentages.

I don't know what an F or D grade is percentage wise, but even if she just fails one component of her course and fails her resit or cannot resit for what ever reason she will fail the year, regardless of whether all her other grades were Bs and Cs. It is the up to the university to decide if they will let her resit the year or not, for what ever reason they have decided to not let her.

I think the best thing would be for her to go into the university and see one of her lecturers or tutors herself in person and ask them to explain the situation.

[TenOfThem]

(Original post by Mamamoose)
She doesnt know her mark for her final project, so maybe that is dragging it down?

and also to ask why none of her tutors told her she was likely to fail and needed to work harder? If you are getting B's and C's you think you are OK! I also thought that a caring uni would talk to failed students with other options like, moving to another course, or repeating the first year.

Possibly the final project is the issue

Her course booklet (or online) should have the break down of module scores

It is entirely possible that tutors have been telling her and that she has not really engaged with what they have been saying

[TheSownRose]

(Original post by Mamamoose)
Thanks for your replies. I didnt give all the details as I'm so upset at the moment - mainly with frustration that there is no clear person to speak to when you have failed!

She said she got two 'F's in one module at the very beginning of term, but since then has had B's and C's and was told by her tutor that this would be OK, not to worry. In her other module she says she got one D and the rest were B's and C's. Her modules say that her marks are 35, and 35, although when you click on the final mark one of them says 39% (so we dont understand that at all). She doesnt know her mark for her final project, so maybe that is dragging it down? We can't find any mention of what marks a B C D or F would be equivalent to to work out her final grade.

That does clear some things up, although I can see where the confusion is coming from...

A = 70% +
B = 60-69%
C = 50-59%
D = 40-49%
F = 39% and below (fail)

I can see how the module that she got the F's on could be 35%, depending upon how bad those F's were and what weighting those essays had (if they made up a large percentage of the module between them, for example.) But I'm struggling to figure out how a module she got at least 40% in every essay could have an overall percentage of less than 40%. Is the final project attached to this module, or is it an assessment in itself?

She is only just 19 and a very young 19 at that. I wasnt expecting anyone to talk to me about her results over the phone, I just wanted to make an appointment to see the correct person to discuss the marks - there may be a very good reason why she has them, but we would like an explanation, and also to ask why none of her tutors told her she was likely to fail and needed to work harder? If you are getting B's and C's you think you are OK! I also thought that a caring uni would talk to failed students with other options like, moving to another course, or repeating the first year. Their attitude to me was - oh she's been terminated so that's that!

Its not being able to find anyone to talk to who knows what we should be doing that is the most frustrating thing.

It seems to me that this is something the tutor should be talking about. If she was concerned about the mark in a particular essay, it would be better to talk to the lecture ... but seeing as your queries are regarding the overall grades and the action that has been taken, I would say the tutor is the appropriate person.

[Mamamoose]

I understand what you are saying about being cruel to be kind, but this is what she wants to do and there is not another course that does the same thing. How can she have been consistently below par if she was getting Bs and Cs? I know the 2 F's will have dragged down the marks, but she had no idea how much - she though she was doing fine. Also one of her final grades was 39% - I mean how close can you get? As she has just been diagnosed as dyslexic and has been awarded DSA surely this could be taken into account as extra time for coursework and special computer reading equipment would have helped her.

My older daughter looked at her marking system and there are weighting %s for each assignment but without knowing what marks B C D etc represent, we cant work out why she only got 35 and 39% overall.

On a purely practical level, she really needs to stay at the same uni, even if they allow her to change her course, as two days ago we paid the first rent instalment on her accommodation, and will be liable for the whole year if she doesnt find another tenant. But we dont know whether changing courses is an option, or repeating the year, or even being allowed to progress due to mitigating circumstances yet.

I am going to try tomorrow to get an appointment with her tutor that we can both attend. It's no good asking her to ring as she wont ask the right questions. Thank you for all your comments.

[jami74]

Is it possible that she has not been totally honest with regards to attendance and grades thoughout the year?

I'd really like to hope (as I'm going in September) that the tutors spoke to her throughout the year rather than just springing the fail on her at the end of the year.

[GPH92]

What university was this? just out of curiousit.

[TheSownRose]

(Original post by Mamamoose)
How can she have been consistently below par if she was getting Bs and Cs? I know the 2 F's will have dragged down the marks, but she had no idea how much - she though she was doing fine.

I don't mean to insult and I realise your role as mother (I presume, from Mamamoose?) is to be completely believing and protective, but is it possible she's not being entirely honest? Yes, the two F's have probably had their effect of that module, but it's completely baffling how the other module could be below 40% when none of the components that make it up have been... Unless the final project was part of that module.

I also find it hard to believe that the someone at the university didn't bring up a potential imminent fail at any stage.

As she has just been diagnosed as dyslexic and has been awarded DSA surely this could be taken into account as extra time for coursework and special computer reading equipment would have helped her.

This is something to bring up, and if she looks into mitigating circumstances she may find them useful in some way.

I am going to try tomorrow to get an appointment with her tutor that we can both attend. It's no good asking her to ring as she wont ask the right questions. Thank you for all your comments.

I'm glad someone else understands this. I'm better now, but back a few years ago I was absolutely useless at getting information through a phone call - I'd often hang it up, my parents would ask "Oh, did you find out about so-and-so?" ... and it hadn't even occured to me to ask.

[electriic_ink]

(Original post by Mamamoose)
So far I have spoken to the Student Advice centre who passed us onto her faculty advice centre who passed us onto her tutor who passed us to the Head of Studies who passed us back to the tutor, who was then not in as it was almost 5pm. All I want is an appointment with someone who can explain things for us. I also want to know if we can appeal as she was diagnosed with dyslexia in the last few weeks of term (through the uni) and recommended 25% extra coursework time, so this would obviously have affected her marks.

As an adult, isn't your daughter in charge of her own studies? So, perhaps the reason the university keep messing you around is that they have a policy where they will only discuss results with her.

[sarahoo]

You definitely might want to sit down with your daughter and have a serious discussion--a lot of times when young adults are embarrassed (or maybe even anxious or depressed), they will gloss over the details of the situation. She might not want you to be any more disappointed than you currently are, but it sounds like she is leaving out a lot of the facts.

[Politics Student]

(Original post by electriic_ink)
As an adult, isn't your daughter in charge of her own studies? So, perhaps the reason the university keep messing you around is that they have a policy where they will only discuss results with her.

I had a lecturer who received a phone call from parents querying why they had not been informed about the graduation ceremony for a student who was apparently in the lecturer's tutor group. Turns out the girl had failed the first semester and quit university only to lie to her parents about progressing rather than tell them the truth.

[tehforum]

(Original post by Politics Student)
I had a lecturer who received a phone call from parents querying why they had not been informed about the graduation ceremony for a student who was apparently in the lecturer's tutor group. Turns out the girl had failed the first semester and quit university only to lie to her parents about progressing rather than tell them the truth.

Ouch.

That must've been mortifying for the parents.

[TheSownRose]

(Original post by Politics Student)
I had a lecturer who received a phone call from parents querying why they had not been informed about the graduation ceremony for a student who was apparently in the lecturer's tutor group. Turns out the girl had failed the first semester and quit university only to lie to her parents about progressing rather than tell them the truth.

One of the more amusing stories I've come across on TSR is how someone quit sixth form and then kept up the pretense of being there by dressing up in the uniform and walking up and down the town's high street for hours on end ... only to be spotted by his parents one day and get forced to return to sixth form.

EDIT: Found it! http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/show...5#post27025365

[pupillage]

I think you sound very caring and helpful and I believe you and your daughter will be able to sort this out. I'd suggest phoning the university first thing in the morning and trying to get an appointment with her tutor asap.

My guess is that the first module was dragged down too far with the two Fs (an F could be 0% for example if she didn't submit a coursework, which would really pull the grade down, but in this case I'm extremely surprised that the university did not bring this up with your daughter earlier. Also, she should have been offered the opportunity to sit one or two of the fails, if these were just individual assignments counting towards the overall module grade. For the other module, perhaps her final project was a large percentage of her grade and it is possible that she could have failed this.

Alternatively, it may be that your daughter's coursework throughout the year was not counting towards her end of year grade, and that only her final pieces of work counted, which you do not know the marks for.

I hope you are able to resolve this tomorrow, and at least get her an opportunity to resubmit some of the work and ensure they take into account her dyslexia and remark the coursework or allow her to resubmit accordingly. This certainly is something that universities must take into account and I can see no reason why your daughter's university would not do so.