LEARNING TIPS - RESITS. In week 6 of semester 2 (Monday Mail #23.21) the learning tips item focused on exam results, discussing pass marks, compensation, the requirements for progressing from one year to the next and the requirements for accredited degree programmes. In this item we will look at resits, under which circumstances you may be required to do them and how marks are recorded in transcripts. If you are in 1st or 2nd year then resits are available to enable you to meet the University progression requirements. There are currently no resits available for 3rd and 4th year students. (Please see below if you have resits after having accepted mitigating circumstances.) You will have to resit a course unit if:
- You have achieved a mark of less than 30% in one or more course units.
- You have failed to pass 80 credits (at 40% or more) across all course units.
- In the case of COMP16321 and COMP16412 you have achieved a mark less than 40%.
- You are on an accredited degree programme (all programmes apart from the Computer Science and Mathematics programmes) and you have any course unit marks in the compensation zone (30-39%).
The number of resits you will have will depend on your results for Semester 1 and Semester 2 exams. However, you will have to resit ALL course units with a mark of less than 30%. You have two attempts at passing a course unit - this 1st attempt at the end of the semester and, if needed, the 2nd attempt, or resit, which takes place in August.
If you are required to resit a course unit, then you must meet the progression requirements to progress to the following year via the resit exam. The mark that is recorded in your transcript for any course unit you have had to resit depends on the mark you achieved at the 1st attempt. If you achieved a mark at the 1st attempt of 29% or less, and you pass at resit, then 30R will be recorded in your transcript. If your mark from the first attempt was in the compensation zone, 30-39.9%, and you then pass at resit, then the mark you achieved at the 1st attempt is recorded in your transcript. For example, if you achieved 35% at the 1st attempt and achieved a pass mark at resit, then 35R is recorded. That may seem odd, but what you demonstrated by passing the resit is that you understand the subject area well enough to be awarded the credits for the course unit(s) in question.
At resit, the assessment may differ from the assessments used to determine the course unit mark at the 1st attempt. In some cases, the resit mark will be the mark you achieved in the resit exam, with any coursework from the semester ignored. In some cases you may have a resit exam and also be allowed to submit any missing coursework from during the semester. In some cases, you may have a resit exam and new coursework will be set by the examiners. The format of the resit depends on the course unit - full details of the format of the resit and how the resit mark is calculated for each course unit can be found in the CS UG Community Blackboard page.
If you have recorded mitigating circumstances and you have to resit as a result, then often the resit will be treated as the 1st attempt, with the resit mark being recorded in the transcript. Please bear in mind that you resat a unit in order to achieve a better mark because your original mark was affected by mitigating circumstances, the mark from the resit will be the official mark even if it is lower than your original mark for that unit.