Diploma to Degree course possible with one module fail?

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Hi everyone,

First post so please be gentle with me. Also, I found the UK Student thread but no-one has been posting in it since last year, so I hope it's ok to post my query here?

I am a second year Adult Nursing student doing the Diploma course. I started my training with an Access to Nursing course so I'm now 2.5 years down the line with studying. Right from the start I set my sights on doing the Degree course, which is an option for the those who pass every module of the Diploma in year two at the first attempt.

However, I got my results last Wednesday and found that I failed my PAN (Principles of Adult Nursing) exam by 2%. I got 38% and the pass mark is 40%. I was also extremely annoyed (to put it mildly!) as all my other grades this year have been from a low of 59% to a high of 83% and all other modules have been passed. My average grade excluding the exam is 70.5%, and even including the exam it's over 60% thus complying with the 55% average required for the degree course. I do have 4 other assignments to pass once in my 2nd year placement and of course the placements themselves, though I am confident that I can achieve that.

Does anyone know if it's at all possible that I would still be eligible to do the degree course in year three even though I failed the exam by 2%? My only hope if that isn't the case is that my mark is currently provisional until approved by a board of examiners. Maybe there's just a glimmer of hope that they will over-ride the mark and get me a pass. Or they may grade me even lower :cry:

I've also been unable to contact anyone at my university to ask for advice (no answer to phones or emails). From speaking to a number of other students in my year it appears that a very high number have failed the exam and a lot are not pleased. Maybe the tutors realise this and are letting the dust settle before speaking to anyone...

Has anyone else been in the same situation as I am and still been able to get on the degree course?

Clark

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I don't really know the answer but reading your comments on the fact that this is only the provisional mark and that so many others have failed, would be of some encouragement. I would wait and see if you get a response after the weekend and the fact that so many have also failed would lead me to one of two conclusions, the first is the lectures / directions for the module have been less than adaquate or that the marking is incorrect. Is this exam different to previous years - as it would be interesting to know the pass rates from previous student groups? I hope you get some good news soon. Jane

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I don't really know the answer but reading your comments on the fact that this is only the provisional mark and that so many others have failed, would be of some encouragement. I would wait and see if you get a response after the weekend and the fact that so many have also failed would lead me to one of two conclusions, the first is the lectures / directions for the module have been less than adaquate or that the marking is incorrect. Is this exam different to previous years - as it would be interesting to know the pass rates from previous student groups? I hope you get some good news soon. Jane

Thanks for the response Jane.

Yes, this exam was different to previous years. A new curriculum was brought in and the first Cohort to take these new exams were the students who started Year 2 in September 2007. My Cohort started Year 2 in February 2008 thus is the second Cohort to take the new exam. I do know that the Year 2 September 2007 Cohort also had a high fail rate.

In year one the final exam was multiple choice. I got 85%. I've also tried hard to maintain my standards of work in year two hence being very disappointed with the 38% exam result.

The Year 2 exam was based on four "Seen Case Studies". We were given four case studies approx. 4 weeks before the exams and had to investigate them as much as possible. This included going back over the semester notes/ lectures/ seminars and also research via books/ journals. Upon taking the exam and seeing the questions, we could then choose two of the case studies to answer the questions for.

I did my own studying and also joined up with other members of my Cohort group to pool our resources and exchange information. We covered all four case studies extensively using all the different information that we researched.

Personally I feel that we were badly prepared for the exam and that the curriculum was insufficient to enable students to pass let alone get good marks. I've never taken a 'case study' style exam before (along with most of my fellow students) and despite asking we weren't offered a chance to do a 'mock' exam.

A group of my students have asked to for a meeting with representatives at the university to discuss this matter. We are also disappointed with the lack of support available, and ringing the University switchboard is not getting any response, not even a recorded message.

Anyway, there's not a lot I can do at the moment until I get to speak with someone. My main concern is that I will not be eligible to do the degree course, and as mentioned above my second concern is that the teaching/ preparation in our year two PAN module has been substandard.

Hopefully the board of examiners may tip my results in favour of a pass, though I've no idea if that ever happens. I'll just have to wait and see.

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Hi,

We were told at our uni that if we failed any assignments then we would be unable to transfer to the degree regardless of the average mark (55% in our case too). My friend had failed one of her essays and so believed that she would be unable to transfer but was over the moon to find that the uni offered the transfer anyway and as a result she completed the third year on the degree course. So it is possible but it may depend on your particular uni. I, myself changed from diploma to degree after a lot of hard thinking and decision making, I was worried about stepping up a level, but I did it and I am now pleased I did. I hope you get the chance to do it too, good luck.

Mandy

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