What would happen if I fail

Anonymous #1

I’m nervous about my exams. I’m nervous about my marks. What if I fail the May exams?

Reply 1

SOAS Official Student Rep Two

Official Rep

Hi,

I am sorry to hear that you are nervous, the exam period is always a stressful time. Hopefully everything is ok and this is just exam nerves. Please know that even if you fail the exam, you have lots of opportunities to retake it, so try not to worry too much! When it comes to the degree regulations, these are the rules for this academic year:

You only have to resit module assessments if you have failed a core module, and they are part of it, or have not passed 90 credits.

If you fail your exam in May, but your grade for the module overall is 40+, then you have passed the module and will not have to do anything.

If you fail your exam in May and your grade for the module is less than 40, then you will be automatically entered into the late summer resit exams for that module. Your grade from that exam will be capped at 40 if you pass, but you will progress into your next year.

If you fail the resit exam but have passed between 60-90 credits, you will not progress into your next year yet and will instead have to resit the exam in May the following year. You will have access to the lectures, and normally will be assessed on the latest version of the module, rather than the original version you first studied.

If you fail the resit exam and have passed less than 60 credits, you will not progress into your next year and will normally be required to withdraw from the programme.

I hope that this helps and gives you some peace of mind. The results will come out on the 14th July for finalist students and on the 21st July for non-finalists, so please try to enjoy your summer. If you have any other questions or worries, please feel free to reach out!

- K

School of Oriental and African Studies

London