Failing Semester One

aRandomBloke

I'm a First Year student of Business Information Systems at CIT. However I have found that BIS is not the course for me (accounting seems to be a foreign language) and next year I will be moving to Software Development.

Unfortunately I think that I am going to fail the accounting module and maybe one other: leading to three passes.

Will this enable me to move onto Semester Two of this year? What do repeats actually entail?

And how does it impact Software Development: for which I have enough CAO points and Leaving Cert subject levels?

What would failing mean for the SUSI grants?

Cheers!

Dermighty

aRandomBloke wrote: »

I'm a First Year student of Business Information Systems at CIT. However I have found that BIS is not the course for me (accounting seems to be a foreign language) and next year I will be moving to Software Development.

Unfortunately I think that I am going to fail the accounting module and maybe one other: leading to three passes.

Will this enable me to move onto Semester Two of this year? What do repeats actually entail?

And how does it impact Software Development: for which I have enough CAO points and Leaving Cert subject levels?

What would failing mean for the SUSI grants?

Cheers!

Hi,

Semesterisation means that each semester is separate from the the other.

• September to December = S1
  
• January to May = S2

For the record:

Repeating a year = doing a year at the same or lower FETAC level.



Here's how it is:

1. If you fail all of S1 you still go to S2.
   
   
2. If you fail a subject but get 35% or higher you may compensate with a mark from another subject if you got more than 50% (it may be more than 45%)
   
   
3. If you get 34% or lower in a subject you may not compensate.
   
   
4. As such you need to pass 55 out of a possible 60 credits to proceed to the next year.
   
   
5. You may not compensate a subject with a subject that is worth less credits, i.e. a 10 credit module failed may not be brought up to a pass with a mark of 100% in a 5 credit module.
   
   
6. For modules other than 100% continually assessed modules you can repeat the exams in August.
   
   
7. If you got a grant this year and move to first year of a new course next year you are counted as repeating a year (technically you are repeating 1st year even if it's a different course or college) and you are eligible to pay full fees and you are not entitled to a grant. Full fees = tuition and registration. I am 100% sure of this because it happened to me.
   
   
8. If you do 3 years of a course and swap to a new course (of the same or lower FETAC level) then you are liable to pay fees for each year you are repeating (in this case three years). So if you do accounting (level 7) for three years and you move to civil engineering, you pay registration, fees and are not entitled to a grant for those three years.
   
   
9. NOTE: In the case of repeating a year you are not entitled to a grant, even if you never applied for a grant before.

aRandomBloke

Dermighty wrote: »

Hi,

Semesterisation means that each semester is separate from the the other.

• September to December = S1
  
• January to May = S2

For the record:

Repeating a year = doing a year at the same or lower FETAC level.



Here's how it is:

1. If you fail all of S1 you still go to S2.
   
   
2. If you fail a subject but get 35% or higher you may compensate with a mark from another subject if you got more than 50% (it may be more than 45%)
   
   
3. If you get 34% or lower in a subject you may not compensate.
   
   
4. As such you need to pass 55 out of a possible 60 credits to proceed to the next year.
   
   
5. You may not compensate a subject with a subject that is worth less credits, i.e. a 10 credit module failed may not be brought up to a pass with a mark of 100% in a 5 credit module.
   
   
6. For modules other than 100% continually assessed modules you can repeat the exams in August.
   
   
7. If you got a grant this year and move to first year of a new course next year you are counted as repeating a year (technically you are repeating 1st year even if it's a different course or college) and you are eligible to pay full fees and you are not entitled to a grant. Full fees = tuition and registration. I am 100% sure of this because it happened to me.
   
   
8. If you do 3 years of a course and swap to a new course (of the same or lower FETAC level) then you are liable to pay fees for each year you are repeating (in this case three years). So if you do accounting (level 7) for three years and you move to civil engineering, you pay registration, fees and are not entitled to a grant for those three years.
   
   
9. NOTE: In the case of repeating a year you are not entitled to a grant, even if you never applied for a grant before.

Thank you.
That answers all my questions!

Dermighty

aRandomBloke wrote: »

Thank you.
That answers all my questions!

No problem.

As someone who has been in your position (twice) and is now about to graduate college I will say that you should focus on passing all your exams. Nothing else is important.

If you can pass all your exams (40% is a pass, it's not like you need 90%) then you save yourself a lot of hassle when it comes to leaving college, swapping course etc.

I can confirm that CIT really, really want you to pass your exams and the courses are structured with this in mind. I understand if you are young it's easier said than done but even if you hate accounting (or whatever subject you failed) then study and pass them so that you never, ever have to do them again.

So, in conclusion: Pass any exam regardless of whether you hate them or not, you only have to pass it once.