Appeal with the union, although you'll need to come up with a reason for your failure. Ring (don't email) them tomorrow, you'll have to be quick as I'm guessing your year will be started very soon if it hasn't already.
And as to Serano, you have no idea how hard some degrees are. Many people put the work in, but for subjects at the top universities like engineering, biochemistry etc it can't be extremely difficult to get to grips with the material, even when putting maximum effort. So unless you're flying through a BSc at oxford, I really don't think you can comment.