Can i resit an exam I messed up??

starprincess

Hi all,

Yesterday I had a very important final year exam-Without getting into my whole life-story, I have had a pretty rough year as I am (silently) suffering from depression and severe anxiety. As a result, I get regular panic attacks and find it impossible to concentrate or focus at times. I am generally a very good student when I am 'on form' and I know that I am capable of achieving a 2.1..
But unfortunately I have not been on form the last few days so I was only capable of doing a very small amount of study for this exam. Obviously then, I was extremely stressed out on the morning and was contemplating not even turning up for it. But unfortunately, after using all of my energy in the world to leave the house and even go into college panic and stress overcame me and I ended up suffering from a severe panic attack just beforehand. I'm sure many people have suffered from these although how severe I don't know but after it had relatively passed I was still extremely shaky and in tears.

Anyway, I was determined to at least sign in for the exam as I was in the building so I went in and sat there for the first hour very upset, staring at the paper unable to even read the questions. Towards the end I managed to pull myself together and quickly jotted down afew answers in bullet points. Now i don't know if anyone can possibly understand this but I left the exam proud of myself for even doing that much. Trying has to be better than nothing at all right?
But, obviously now on reflection I know I have most likely failed it and I am beating myself up because I know I could have done so much better!! There may be a small possibility that my continuous assessments combined with my low exam grade (i will hopefully get some marks for attempting questions) will just about pass me. But that will be a miracle!

So sorry for the long post but do you think there is any way I could ask to resit the exam?? In the last few months I have sought help for my issues as I see now how much they have taken over my life so I would just like to finish this year, get a good grade and spend the summer rebuilding my life again hopefully. I don't want to feel like I've wasted these years of college by ending up with an 'ok' grade all because of messing up on one exam

Lump

Did you tell the college that you were suffering from these issues? If they didn't know in advance they might not be too understanding. I know it's difficult, but it's better to at least tell 1 person, so if you have issues like the ones you described, they might give you an other chance.

It's unlikely you can re-sit it, as you've already seen the paper - Again, it would have been better to say something at the time you were having the panic attack.

starprincess

No I haven't told anyone in college about everything-I would just feel like I was making excuses and taking the easy way out for getting extensions etc..

At the time just before going into the exam I wanted to tell someone but the exam hall was full and all of the examiners and lecturers were already in there-I was so embarrassed and in too much of a state to tell any of them..Again I suppose I didn't think that they would understand and think that I was trying to get out of doing the exam....

Thanks for your reply anyway.

Seren_

I know in the college I study at (NUI Maynooth), final year students are allowed to resit up to 15 credits worth of modules for a better grade during the repeats. It may be the same in your college. Get in touch with the examinations office/academic advisory/your course co-ordinator and see

Well firstly, it's totally dependent on not only your college, but also your department and possibly even down to which lecturers are involved. Check the documentation for your course and get in touch with someone in charge ASAP. If you give us details of your college or post in your college's forum you might get better advice.

Secondly, while I'm sure it was extremely difficult for you to sit the exam and you were being brave to power through - it wasn't in fact the best decision. It's the same as if you're sick. In my college anyway, if you go to someone before the exam and say you can't sit it, you get a repeat, whereas once you've sat the exam you're far less likely to get another chance because it could well be likely that someone saw the paper, didn't like the question choices and decided they wanted to do it another day.

If your situation is going to affect your college work, then you can't expect any sympathy unless you let them know what's going on. Get in touch with someone soon. No one can help unless they know that you need it.