Advice on exam grade

3

I’m a second year geog student and for one module I had an exam worth 100% of the module and this module was worth 15 credits. I recently got my results and I only got a 37% does that mean I had a soft fail and don’t have to retake the exam or would I still have to retake and get capped at 405. Also would this massively impact. My grade if second year in total is worth 30% (third year worth 60% and first year worth 10%)

Reply 1

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by Yybb

I’m a second year geog student and for one module I had an exam worth 100% of the module and this module was worth 15 credits. I recently got my results and I only got a 37% does that mean I had a soft fail and don’t have to retake the exam or would I still have to retake and get capped at 405. Also would this massively impact. My grade if second year in total is worth 30% (third year worth 60% and first year worth 10%)

Many universities have a process whereby they effectively turn a blind eye to a failure of one module (if certain criteria are met) and treat it as a pass - allowing you to progress. The most common term for this is "condonement", although your "soft fail" term sounds like the same thing.

Factors which often impact whether condonement can be applied is the mark you achieved (they normally want at least 30%), the size of the module, your weighted average mark across the other modules, and whether or not the module was "core" or "optional".

However, each uni has its own rules and regulations. Which uni are you at?

(It's unlikely to have a dramatic impact on your overall grade, given that it's a small module and the whole year is only worth 30% of your final degree classification.)

Reply 2

ageshallnot

21

Original post by Yybb

I’m a second year geog student and for one module I had an exam worth 100% of the module and this module was worth 15 credits. I recently got my results and I only got a 37% does that mean I had a soft fail and don’t have to retake the exam or would I still have to retake and get capped at 405. Also would this massively impact. My grade if second year in total is worth 30% (third year worth 60% and first year worth 10%)

The module is worth 8% of second year, which is itself worth 30%, so the module is worth 0.24% of your entire degree. As far as I can see, If you are capped at 40% that means the module is contributing 0.0096 towards a maximum of 100 for your final degree mark. If you had achieved 60% then it would have contributed 0.0144. So, not massively significant.

Reply 3

Yybb

OP

3

Original post by ageshallnot

The module is worth 8% of second year, which is itself worth 30%, so the module is worth 0.24% of your entire degree. As far as I can see, If you are capped at 40% that means the module is contributing 0.0096 towards a maximum of 100 for your final degree mark. If you had achieved 60% then it would have contributed 0.0144. So, not massively significant.

Thank you so much! Overall I’ve had a bad year in terms of grades averaging out around 2:2 or a low 2:1.Do you recommend I resit the exam and get capped at a higher percentage.

Reply 4

Yybb

OP

3

Original post by DataVenia

Many universities have a process whereby they effectively turn a blind eye to a failure of one module (if certain criteria are met) and treat it as a pass - allowing you to progress. The most common term for this is "condonement", although your "soft fail" term sounds like the same thing.
Factors which often impact whether condonement can be applied is the mark you achieved (they normally want at least 30%), the size of the module, your weighted average mark across the other modules, and whether or not the module was "core" or "optional".
However, each uni has its own rules and regulations. Which uni are you at?
(It's unlikely to have a dramatic impact on your overall grade, given that it's a small module and the whole year is only worth 30% of your final degree classification.)

Thank you so much! Overall I’ve had a bad year in terms of grades averaging out around 2:2 or a low 2:1.Do you recommend I resit the exam and get capped at a higher percentage. Or should I just try better in my final year?

Reply 5

ageshallnot

21

Original post by Yybb

Thank you so much! Overall I’ve had a bad year in terms of grades averaging out around 2:2 or a low 2:1.Do you recommend I resit the exam and get capped at a higher percentage.

You scored 37, so theoretically increasing that to a capped 40 seems to me like a waste of effort.

Reply 6

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by Yybb

Thank you so much! Overall I’ve had a bad year in terms of grades averaging out around 2:2 or a low 2:1.Do you recommend I resit the exam and get capped at a higher percentage. Or should I just try better in my final year?

I said above that, "each uni has its own rules and regulations" and then asked, "Which uni are you at?"

Without knowing the uni, and hence it's rules and regulations, any advice given may be completely wrong.

For example, it may be that you have no choice but to resit the assessment, even knowing that it will be capped at 40%, if you must pass this module now or at some point before graduation.

Or it may be that resitting isn't necessary (to proceed and be awarded the degree) so you'd be resitting just to gain an extra 3% in a 15 credit module, in a year worth 30% of your degee - so not worth the effort.

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