Lost 3 months of University and catching up

@Gjee
It sounds like you have got the motivation to get all the exams done this year so if you feel like you can succeed, then you might as well get it done this year, when you're focused and energised. Deferring a year might make you feel less galvanised to get the work done.
I don't think you should worry too much about when you graduate (this should not be the deciding factor), what's more important is that you get a result you are happy with.
All the best,
Oluwatosin – 3rd year student – University of Huddersfield

Honestly that's a really significant amount of time and assessments missed, and as you're on a degree apprenticeship you have your work commitments as well - when are you going to have the time to catch up on everything as well as keep on top of your current academics, amidst your work hours? I would suggest deferring so you can take the assessments when you're fully prepared.

Hi there, my manager said that they’ll give me the hours to catch up. And also, I got 16.5 annual leave and I can use those days to catch up with studies. Does this change your opinion or do you still recommend deferring? Thanks.

Honestly I still think it's better to defer. It sounds like the hours your manager is giving you won't be enough, and if you use all your annual leave for studying then you won't have any annual leave for annual leave purposes. It's important to have time off where you don't have to do anything academic or work related and just have it for time off!
The other thing is, what benefit do you gain from doing so? What do you lose by just deferring? They aren't going to pay you twice if you work twice as hard, so there's no benefit in breaking your back to try and do that. You also have a perfectly legitimate reason to defer.