The Student Room Group

Failing a module at A2?

I have a slightly strange question to ask about how UMS marks are added together. Let's say you're sitting your summer A2s and you've already achieved 400 UMS for a particular subject and you have two more modules to sit. In order to get an A in this subject, you need an average of 40 UMS for both modules to scrape an A (80+400 UMS=480).

My question is, will a UMS below 40 count? I ask because anything under 40 is classed as a fail, but would it still count towards the UMS total for that subject or would it be discarded? So for example, let's say you got 20 UMS in one of those modules and 65 UMS in the second. These add up to 85 UMS. Would this 85 be added to the 400 to give you an A (485) or would the 20 UMS be discarded and only the 65 UMS count?

I ask because I'm in this exact situation. I need 80 UMS total from my S3 and FP3 exams but I totally screwed up my FP3 and I doubt I'll get even 40 UMS. I'll probably get around 60 UMS from my S3 but this alone isn't enough to get me an A for further maths.
Reply 1
Yes, UMS gained from 'U' grade papers still contribute towards the total UMS
Reply 2
Jsuper
Yes, UMS gained from 'U' grade papers still contribute towards the total UMS


Thank God. Do you know this for sure? Thanks for replying by the way.
Yea I sucked and got a U once in one module and it counted towards the final score! (dont worry I did a retake :biggrin:)
Reply 4
Yeh apparently it does count, don't worry. Also, I know a handful of people who did FP3 and said they *******sed it up, so the grade boundary may lower slightly.
Reply 5
Thelfo
Yeh apparently it does count, don't worry. Also, I know a handful of people who did FP3 and said they *******sed it up, so the grade boundary may lower slightly.


The problem is, most people do screw up on FP3 because it's a harder paper than most, but the exam boundaries are still quite high considering. I'm estimating I got around 35 UMS, pessimistically speaking and 45-50 for S3 so even in the worst case, I might be able to just scrape an A for further maths.

Yea I sucked and got a U once in one module and it counted towards the final score! (dont worry I did a retake :biggrin:


Well hopefully you did better on the retake then! Unfortunately these are my A2s and I can't do retakes.
Reply 6
Elegy
The problem is, most people do screw up on FP3 because it's a harder paper than most, but the exam boundaries are still quite high considering.


Yeh they're something like 57/75 sometimes aren't they? :eek: If the grade boundary is high though, it means they're generous enough with marking to allow certain people to reach such high marks. Plus, presumably, you get method marks, so unless you left half the paper completely blank (and sorry if you did:p: ), you should at least get a decent handful of UMS.
Of course it counts :smile: If it weren't to count it'd be sensible to scale all U-grades to 0 UMS.
Reply 8
In my Further Maths A2 I failed 2 of the modules, I got 19 and 39, but they both went in. Thank goodness as well, because it got me dead on 300/600, not a mark above or below a D. If they hadn't counted I wouldn't have gotten into my first choice uni so trust me they do count :biggrin:
Reply 9
Luckily, my FP3 paper was literally filled with working, even on supplimentary sheets :redface:. The last question especially took up about 3 pages of frantic algebra manipulation over about 40 minutes, and after all that I got every single answer to that question wrong. Then when I got home, I managed to do the whole thing in about half a side in about 5 minutes. That's the thing that really frustrates me, I should have been able to answer it!

Maybe I'll get a couple of method marks if I'm really really lucky. The method was sound, I was just heading in completely the wrong direction.

Anyway, thank you for all the replies. I feel a lot more at ease now. I may have totally screwed up my FP3 and S3 papers but I'm pretty sure I managed to scrape a combined 80 UMS.
Every single UMS mark you get counts, even if you fail the module. I failed 2 of my A2 history modules, with 26/90 and 39/120, and both of those marks still counted towards my total for the subject. Thank God- I would have got a D otherwise, and I was devestated enough with a C!
i need 31 out of 120 ums out of my last electronics paper to get an a overall but the paper was really difficult and i did very little revision...i'm worried i wont even get that now...

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