Missed 5 Uni exams, 1% attendance, no friends, got a 2:1 degree. AMA!

As I've tried to summarize in the title, I finished university with a 2:1 classification despite:
- Missing *five exams over the whole course (and having to re-sit them)
- Attended lectures/seminars/workshops once a fortnight in the first year, once a month in the second year, and not at all in the final year (excluding tutor/supervisor meetings)
- Having no interest in making friends

There's been a lot of people worrying on TSR about the things above, and how they could affect their own degree, so this might help.

I'll answer anything but won't name the university, as I don't want to bring the university's practice into question, or turn this thread into some petty debate on 'my uni is harder than your uni'.

AMA
*Just realized that I technically missed 5 exams, but can't edit the title :/

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Reply 1

Other_Owl

Universities kick you out if you get below a certain attendance.

Reply 2

searching123job

Not true, at least in my case

They threatened us with these kind of statements but they were empty threats

My lecture attendence must have been like 5-10% throughout my 3 years and i didnt get in trouble

Original post by Other_Owl

Universities kick you out if you get below a certain attendance.

Reply 3

RiddleM

Original post by Other_Owl

Universities kick you out if you get below a certain attendance.

Mine didn't monitor attendance; we had no registers or card-machine thingies that others have.

Reply 4

Jin3011

Original post by Other_Owl

Universities kick you out if you get below a certain attendance.

Not always true. May be university/course dependent.

I skipped over 65% of lectures in 3rd and 4th year. Never once got cautioned. Mind you, my grades were fine and assignments were always handed in early, so there was nothing really to question my lack of engagement. Though if I decided to attend a lecture, lecturers would sometimes look at me weirdly as though they'd never seen me before! lol

I was quite a self-directed learner so would learn the slide material a few days in advance and do extra reading/notes during times the lectures would actually be occurring; either at home or in the library. Only attended lectures if they would help towards assignments, be useful for exams or if it was a topic that confused me.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 5

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by RiddleM

How successful have the first 5 years of your career been? Come back and tell us you've got a fantastic career and then the fact you've got a decent degree grade with a lousy attitude will look good. Until then, hope you grow up some, because employment if far less tolerant than Uni.

Reply 6

searching123job

Dont jealous him

Maybe some ppl need to go every lecture and need 100% attendance to get 2:1

But others dont need that and get by fine

Original post by threeportdrift

Reply 7

searching123job

And he is not that lousy cos 2:1 needs work

Unless you are insinuating that uni is a joke now and you can get 2:1 by being lousy

Reply 8

RiddleM

Original post by threeportdrift

"Grow up some" - Lovely attitude from someone who's supposed to be representing TSR as a Career Forum Helper, that is. :frown:

I worked two jobs while at university, which I still work at. I volunteer to litter-pick my community and help to clean rivers with a designated group. A few months ago I was at the Army's career office enquiring about a Combat Medical Technician role, which is something that I've been advised to keep pushing my fitness towards.

I wasn't trying to glorify my university experience! There were many bad points, which can be explored through this thread if necessary.

@threeportdrift
Chillax grandad *yawn emoji here*
This isn't the Careers Help sub-forum; I'm not asking for application advice!
(My posts have to be reviewed, despite this account being about 4 years old, so I'm editing a response to #10 here instead as it's faster)

Reply 9

threeportdrift

Careers Forum Helper

Original post by RiddleM

"Grow up some" - why are you being like that? Lovely attitude from someone who's supposed to be representing TSR as a Career Forum Helper, that is.

FYI I worked two jobs while at university, which I still work at. I volunteer to litter-pick my community and help to clean rivers with a designated group. A few months ago I was at the Army's career office enquiring about a Combat Medical Technician role, which is something that I've been advised to keep pushing my fitness towards.

I'm being like that because I know that's how life works after Uni. I'm not here to push the unicorns and rainbows line - there are more than enough folks to do that already.

I've also got 17 years in the Armed Forces and I can assure you that missing an exam will get you kicked out. Missing lectures will get you kicked out. Indeed, not making friends will get you kicked out. So it seems your uni experience has not been any help for joining the army. It takes a lot more than fitness.

Reply 10

Sinnoh

Original post by Other_Owl

Universities kick you out if you get below a certain attendance.

My brother finished his econ degree with 4.6% attendance (not a 2:1 though) so I'm actually not that skeptical :lol:

Reply 11

Sinnoh

I think the most obvious question is what was the course subject and what made it possible to not need to attend anything?

Reply 12

username2393237

You just created this thread to brag. You won’t be able to wing it through life, but I hope you had fun anyway.

Reply 13

DrawTheLine

This is an odd thing to be bragging about, but each to their own! :redface:

Reply 14

Xarao

Why didn't you go through the online university route? It would've been much cheaper and you still would've attained your degree.

How did you passs?

Original post by YaliaV

You just created this thread to brag. You won’t be able to wing it through life, but I hope you had fun anyway.

I'm not bragging; I included the 'missed 5 exams and no friends' bits for a reason.

Although I don't know if it was 'winging it' either. It would have taken a fair bit to overcome the capped marks from the missed exams and stay above a 2:2.

Original post by Xarao

Why didn't you go through the online university route? It would've been much cheaper and you still would've attained your degree.

I considered that in the second year but wanted to stay at the university. I liked the idea of being able to have physical support if I needed it, plus I lived close to the university and got a bursary from them. I would have felt too scared and isolated doing an OU degree. :frown:

Reply 17

username2393237

Original post by RiddleM

Why did you miss so many exams?

Reply 18

RiddleM

Original post by YaliaV

Why did you miss so many exams?

I missed my first one in the first year because I got the date mixed up. That one didn't really matter but it was the first time I'd missed an assessment, so I felt pretty bad at having to re-sit the exam and have a delayed start at joining year 2.

In the 2nd year the assessment schedule was quite bad when towards the end there were around 4 coursework assignments due and four exams within a 3 week period. I was stressing at this point so decided to deliberately miss two of the exams and do the re-sits in September, as this would reduce the load within this 3 week period. Therefore I decided to do the coursework assignments and only revise for the 2 exams, and revise for the other 2 in the resit period. However, when I arrived at one of these exams, the exam had literally just started when I got there, so I debated whether or not to walk in to see if I could still sit it, but couldn't face it. So I had to re-sit that one, too.

And then during the re-sit period, where I had to re-sit the three exams missed above, I missed one of the re-sits by confusing the date for another module. I thought that was the end of the course for me, but I was allowed to do an alternate assessment for that module, and moved onto the third year as normal.

Due to the caps of the resits, I think my overall 2nd year mark was around 54%, so I went into the final year thinking that there was a real chance that I might not even finish the course with a 2:2 minimum. :/