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Do you have to pass the BSC in a 6 year medical degree?

I was just wondering if this was mandatory? Or if you didn't pass it, you could just ogress onwards but miss out on the extra degree and qualification?

Also, my university don't seem to allow resits for the BSC exams at all, which is strange as there are always resits to give you a second chance.

Thanks guys
Reply 1
Original post by Tawheed
I was just wondering if this was mandatory? Or if you didn't pass it, you could just ogress onwards but miss out on the extra degree and qualification?

Also, my university don't seem to allow resits for the BSC exams at all, which is strange as there are always resits to give you a second chance.

Thanks guys

Depends on the uni - they will have a policy on it, but you'd have to look up your own. And it's quite normal to not have resits for university exams in other subjects. If you're struggling, seek appropriate academic support at your uni now rather than binning the year.
Its a standalone degree for which you get an allocated grade (1st, 2.i etc). It would be unusual to allow resits for such an exam.

Equally, its also very difficult to 'fail' such a degree - even a 3rd is still a pass technically. I'd be surprised if anyone who makes it to sit the final exam actually fails it.
Reply 3
Original post by Helenia
Depends on the uni - they will have a policy on it, but you'd have to look up your own. And it's quite normal to not have resits for university exams in other subjects. If you're struggling, seek appropriate academic support at your uni now rather than binning the year.


I had a bad migraine and tbh, felt quite queasy, but that isn't anything a doctor can confirm, it's luck sometimes it happens [just had my exam]. I prepared well for it but couldn't think because of how i was feeling.
Reply 4
Original post by Helenia
Depends on the uni - they will have a policy on it, but you'd have to look up your own. And it's quite normal to not have resits for university exams in other subjects. If you're struggling, seek appropriate academic support at your uni now rather than binning the year.


By binning the year, do you mean only getting a medical degree and not a bsc? I.E failing the bsc?
Reply 5
Original post by nexttime
Its a standalone degree for which you get an allocated grade (1st, 2.i etc). It would be unusual to allow resits for such an exam.

Equally, its also very difficult to 'fail' such a degree - even a 3rd is still a pass technically. I'd be surprised if anyone who makes it to sit the final exam actually fails it.


Is it really that hard to get below 40%?
Reply 6
Original post by Tawheed
By binning the year, do you mean only getting a medical degree and not a bsc? I.E failing the bsc?


Yes. I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that your exams for your BSc would be at the end of the year, and giving up now and not bothering to do any work would be "binning" it. I see from your later post that you have had the exam already, in which case I guess the above may be less applicable.

It depends on the format of the exams, but an outright fail is, as nexttime says, generally quite hard to achieve.
Original post by Tawheed
Is it really that hard to get below 40%?


Yes. I don't think anyone in my uni has got less than a 2.2 in a decade. Many could probably turn up and get 40% on first day of your first year.

Remember that degrees are not uniformly scaled. Usually if you get 100% on the exam you get awarded an 82 or so. The same is often true at the bottom end - 10% scales up to 40s etc - although the latter point will depend on the uni.
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 8
Original post by nexttime
Yes. I don't think anyone in my uni has got less than a 2.2 in a decade. Many could probably turn up and get 40% on first day of your first year.

Remember that degrees are not uniformly scaled. Usually if you get 100% on the exam you get awarded an 82 or so. The same is often true at the bottom end - 10% scales up to 40s etc - although the latter point will depend on the uni.


Original post by Helenia
Yes. I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that your exams for your BSc would be at the end of the year, and giving up now and not bothering to do any work would be "binning" it. I see from your later post that you have had the exam already, in which case I guess the above may be less applicable.

It depends on the format of the exams, but an outright fail is, as nexttime says, generally quite hard to achieve.


Excellent input guys, thank you so much.

My uni seems to say we only need 40% overall in the module to pass. I used to think it was 40% in each exam as well as overall in the module. Given that i've done fairly well in the ICA'S, does this mean i could pass ovrall even if i dip in the 30's for the exam?
Original post by Tawheed
Excellent input guys, thank you so much.

My uni seems to say we only need 40% overall in the module to pass. I used to think it was 40% in each exam as well as overall in the module. Given that i've done fairly well in the ICA'S, does this mean i could pass ovrall even if i dip in the 30's for the exam?


Yes depending on how much the ICAs are weighted. I don't know what you're BSc exams are like , but for us they were mainly essay/long answer based compared to medical exams which are mainly SBAs or MCQs. The actual questions were usually pretty vague so if you just regurgitated the appropriate lecture notes to answer the question you'd pass and maybe even get 70+ if you focus your answer well. Scores of 85+ were if you did extra reading and brought in new material.
Reply 10
Original post by Asklepios
Yes depending on how much the ICAs are weighted. I don't know what you're BSc exams are like , but for us they were mainly essay/long answer based compared to medical exams which are mainly SBAs or MCQs. The actual questions were usually pretty vague so if you just regurgitated the appropriate lecture notes to answer the question you'd pass and maybe even get 70+ if you focus your answer well. Scores of 85+ were if you did extra reading and brought in new material.


Thank you so much for the reply , very reassuring.

Essentially, you guys had to do coursework as well as exams right?

I've sort of got a 70% average in the module i am worried about, and according to a calculator, i need 28% in the exam to get 40% overall for the module.

Is getting 28% difficult?
Original post by Tawheed
Excellent input guys, thank you so much.

My uni seems to say we only need 40% overall in the module to pass. I used to think it was 40% in each exam as well as overall in the module. Given that i've done fairly well in the ICA'S, does this mean i could pass ovrall even if i dip in the 30's for the exam?


This will depend on your university's exam policy. My intercalated year was 80% exam, 20% dissertation, and the exams were all at the end of the year, so quite different to yours. I don't know what ICAs are. Some universities will just give you an overall grade, others want you to pass every component in order to get a pass/honours grade. Hope it's not as bad as you think!
Reply 12
Original post by Helenia
This will depend on your university's exam policy. My intercalated year was 80% exam, 20% dissertation, and the exams were all at the end of the year, so quite different to yours. I don't know what ICAs are. Some universities will just give you an overall grade, others want you to pass every component in order to get a pass/honours grade. Hope it's not as bad as you think!


I received an email recently that said that we are required to pass each module 70% being exam, 30% being coursework.The email stated that whether we pass or not is dependent on how we do overall i.e they want a 40% mark overall.

I guess this may be why some students in my group who didn't submit an assignment on time and got 0 are still able to pass the module over all, if they score highly enough in the exam to get 40% overall.

(: hopefully things will work out. I think it's bizzare if there's no resits for the Bsc, given we havve them at medical school in every year, and that people can choose philosophy, management, and many differen topics, and getting kicked out of medical school for failing one management or philosophy exam [and acing the rest] and having no re-sit is bizzare. It makes no sense whatsoever.

To throw away someones four years of hard work[we do bsc after three years] over a non-medical degree that most universities don't require their students to do is just odd. Doubly so not to even offer a resit.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Tawheed
I received an email recently that said that we are required to pass each module 70% being exam, 30% being coursework.The email stated that whether we pass or not is dependent on how we do overall i.e they want a 40% mark overall.

I guess this may be why some students in my group who didn't submit an assignment on time and got 0 are still able to pass the module over all, if they score highly enough in the exam to get 40% overall.

(: hopefully things will work out. I think it's bizzare if there's no resits for the Bsc, given we havve them at medical school in every year, and that people can choose philosophy, management, and many differen topics, and getting kicked out of medical school for failing one management or philosophy exam [and acing the rest] and having no re-sit is bizzare. It makes no sense whatsoever.

To throw away someones four years of hard work[we do bsc after three years] over a non-medical degree that most universities don't require their students to do is just odd. Doubly so not to even offer a resit.


It is completely normal for there to be no resits for university exams - if anything medicine is abnormal in allowing so many! Apart from the odd extenuating circumstance like illness, in which case many unis would allow a resit of some sort, there shouldn't be a need - students know when the exams will be, know what needs to be done and it's up to them to do the necessary work in time.

And seriously, it's very hard to fail this sort of exam. If you've put in a decent amount of work and turn up and write something vaguely sensible, that should be enough to get over the 40% hurdle. I think this is part of the reason why they can feel justified in possibly kicking people out for failing even if it's an unrelated course, because it shows an attitude/work ethic problem that they don't want to promote.
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 14
Original post by Helenia
It is completely normal for there to be no resits for university exams - if anything medicine is abnormal in allowing so many! Apart from the odd extenuating circumstance like illness, in which case many unis would allow a resit of some sort, there shouldn't be a need - students know when the exams will be, know what needs to be done and it's up to them to do the necessary work in time.

And seriously, it's very hard to fail this sort of exam. If you've put in a decent amount of work and turn up and write something vaguely sensible, that should be enough to get over the 40% hurdle. I think this is part of the reason why they can feel justified in possibly kicking people out for failing even if it's an unrelated course, because it shows an attitude/work ethic problem that they don't want to promote.


I can't even begin to thank you enough for the help you've given to me and many others on here over several years. You know, i think you're right here. It has reassured me a great deal.

I've just confirmed that we are required to pass each module with over 40%, and not individual components.

Here's how our BSC is structured:

1. 30% two ICA'S and 70% an exam per module x 3 modules = 57% of course
2. One research project = 38% of course
3. 5% from a year 2 project = 5%

Essentially, we have to pass all three modules overall with >= 40% and also importantly, the research project with >=40%.


I've just worked out in the 'problem exam', i would need 28/29% to pass it. I would absolutely understand if the medical school got furious and were not sympathetic if i was not able to achieve even 28/9%.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Tawheed


Is getting 28% difficult?


No, not at all. And if you're getting less than that, do you really deserve an honours degree in that subject?
Reply 16
Original post by Asklepios
No, not at all. And if you're getting less than that, do you really deserve an honours degree in that subject?


Honestly, no i don't. But sometimes when we stress and sworry, we assume even the most apocalyptic scenario.

I think this is a prime exampe of the importance of doing well in coursework. If you do well, it gives you a safety net in the exams, so if the worst happens, you can still pass overall.

Though we should obviously aim much higher than just passing.
Reply 17
Original post by Asklepios
No, not at all. And if you're getting less than that, do you really deserve an honours degree in that subject?


Just an update,

I decided to double check with the actual head of the BSC, and she told me that we are required to 40% per module, but we have to pass each exam with 40% as well.

The good news is, we are given a resit, although she stated that unfortunately, any resit will have to be capped at 40% pass mark.

I feel happier with this to be fair. I worked so hard for that exam, the others went well, but for this one, arguably the worst combination of questions came up, as well as the worst data analysis , which i struggle on anyway, but sent me into an incredible freeze and panick attack . I worked so hard, and i feel i have aced my coursework and other two exams, but the third exam is just what can happen in life.

My results come in 30 days, do you feel i should study premptively from now, so ican double lock down passing and get three months for the exam, or wait until then? One thing that scares me is working so hard, but on the day , just not performing.I want to overdo it and study every little niche and go over the top now.

I've never had to do a re-sit before, but this one exam was certainly an anomaly. I felt as though i would have performed better with harder questions, rather than very niche vauge ones.

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