Should I do it?

LegacyUser

Hey guys,
I had 2 exams next week for college. Due to a lot of personal stuff I'm not ready for them. I have two options
A) send my kids to their fathers house and study like hell and scrape a pass in both exams
defer the first exam until may, this will allow me to do very well in one exam next week and I will have a lot of time to study for the deferred exam and do well

I have being working extremely hard to have good grades (over 70 percent overall) I just fell if I do these exams next week I will bring my entire marks down when I can easily defer and do well in both. Of course I would like to get them both out of the way but I really care about my grades. I am a single mother to two kids so deferring seems like the best option for me.
The college doesn't penalise for deferring exams

Any opinions?

SV

You don't get penalised and would do better if you deferred them.

Honestly I don't understand what you're asking here, obviously you defer them.

username123

+1

Defer - it seems obvious!

Am I missing something?

LegacyUser

Thanks for the replies
I had decided to defer but a friend said I would be stupid to defer and have it hanging over my head. I've worked my ass off for the past 2 years on every assignment/ exam and don't want to let my marks slip because of this one exam. I will do one exam next week and defer the other
I just wanted another opinion

Thanks again!

Youzername

Just be careful, as far as I know you have to fill out a form (application?) to defer your exam and the reason for it must also be deemed reasonable by the exams office?

Your said because of personal stuff, so I can imagine you have a fair enough reason.

Good look!

woodchuck

Without knowing the full situation I'd actually say study your a$$ off and do them next week. From my experience, having longer to study doesn't mean you'll actually do any better. Cram cram cram; you'll get in the zone and do better than you think (this is assuming you don't crumble under pressure). As you said, it'll just be hanging over your head for months otherwise.

Also will you have other exams in May too? No sense in letting them all pile up...

ShaShaBear

Are you in your final year?

My college doesn't penalise for deferring, but if you sit an exam in May that you should have sat in January/Sit in August what you should have sat in May, you are only entitled to a basic "pass" degree, irrespective of your GPA.

Be sure this is not the case, as obviously you have the chance to improve your GPA in May to get a better award, but it's worthless if the deferral costs you a degree of merit!

LegacyUser

Op here, I'm in it IT Sligo
Now I'm worried incase I won't be given the degree at a level higher than a pass. I have hears I won't be penalised but now I'm wondering if it will stop me getting a higher degree than a pass.
Anyone know the rules for IT Sligo?

freshpopcorn

I think it depends on how your college would react to you deferring. I know where I went to college if you differed an exam for what ever reason you would only get a pass mark.

woodchuck

Deferring wrote: »

Op here, I'm in it IT Sligo
Now I'm worried incase I won't be given the degree at a level higher than a pass. I have hears I won't be penalised but now I'm wondering if it will stop me getting a higher degree than a pass.
Anyone know the rules for IT Sligo?

You should REALLY contact IT Sligo about this directly asap.

ViveLaVie

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I think it depends on how your college would react to you deferring. I know where I went to college if you differed an exam for what ever reason you would only get a pass mark.

In most colleges you are only penalised if you're deferring for convenience. If you have legitimate reasons i.e. illness, family problems then they can't penalise you.

freshpopcorn

ViveLaVie wrote: »

In most colleges you are only penalised if you're deferring for convenience. If you have legitimate reasons i.e. illness, family problems then they can't penalise you.

I went to college with a girl and she was penalised for an issue that you mentioned above. To miss an exam you have to really sick or have major family issues for the college to accept it as a valid reason.

ViveLaVie

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I went to college with a girl and she was penalised for an issue that you mentioned above. To miss an exam you have to really sick or have major family issues for the college to accept it as a valid reason.

What college? I have personal experience in two colleges of obtaining deferrals for legitimate reasons with no penalties. It's unethical for a college to penalise if there is a serious issue that requires someone to defer. Maybe the person didn't have sufficient evidence of an issue?

freshpopcorn

The girl in question was sick and had a doctor cert but the college said that she could have turned up to do the exam even tough she was vomiting.
You also have to be very careful using personal reasons/family problems as an excuse because this is not always accepted as a valid reason and you need a lot of evidence for them to accept it as a reason.
I'm only out of college since 2011 and they got very strict on this issue in 2010/2011.
I can't name the college because it would make be identifiable from my previous posts and I don't think it right to name the college.
Back to the OP.
Just make sure that you can defer the exam without being penalised because it will really upset you in the future if you were.

ViveLaVie

freshpopcorn wrote: »

The girl in question was sick and had a doctor cert but the college said that she could have turned up to do the exam even tough she was vomiting.
You also have to be very careful using personal reasons/family problems as an excuse because this is not always accepted as a valid reason and you need a lot of evidence for them to accept it as a reason.
I'm only out of college since 2011 and they got very strict on this issue in 2010/2011.
I can't name the college because it would make be identifiable from my previous posts and I don't think it right to name the college.
Back to the OP.
Just make sure that you can defer the exam without being penalised because it will really upset you in the future if you were.

That's extremely unethical of the college and they could be challenged on that.

Call Me Jimmy

As far as I know if it is illness of any kind you may be required to have a letter/certificate from doctor, not detailing anything just saying that you are under their care, basically something official in writing.

You need to speak with your college asap as others have said because different colleges may take different approaches. Mine was very helpful at the time.

LegacyUser

ViveLaVie wrote: »

That's extremely unethical of the college and they could be challenged on that.

I agree. I'm a lecturer & have worked in a number of colleges. The situation as described would be very very unusual. Anywhere I have worked would have a standard policy to accept a doctor's certificate saying that someone is unfit for an exam. The details of the illness would not normally even be questioned. If a doctor certifies someone as unfit to do an exam, nobody in a college is really in a situation to questiin that. Your friend shoukd challenge that decision. Unless your friend isn't telling you the full story .... I see a lot of that type of thing at work among students.

To the OP. You need to apply, in advance, for a deferral and make sure you won't be penalised. The college will need to review your application and evidence (if any) and then make their decision.

freshpopcorn

ExperiencedLecturer wrote: »

I agree. I'm a lecturer & have worked in a number of colleges. The situation as described would be very very unusual. Anywhere I have worked would have a standard policy to accept a doctor's certificate saying that someone is unfit for an exam. The details of the illness would not normally even be questioned. If a doctor certifies someone as unfit to do an exam, nobody in a college is really in a situation to questiin that. Your friend shoukd challenge that decision. Unless your friend isn't telling you the full story .... I see a lot of that type of thing at work among students.

I know what you are saying. The lecturer/head of our department was a really nasty piece of work and people were afraid to challenge him or go against him about anything because he could make your life really miserable. He basically said to us that we had to be in hospital or our parents/siblings funeral were the only acceptable excuses.
I'm just speaking from my experiences with people doing this with people deferring exams and the majority of them were bad. I've also heard people getting on good in a different college.
Just know how your college will react.

Go in and talk to whatever representatives you can find and perhaps get in contact with your college's counsellor as well. Chances are that they have experience in this area and can give you advice on how to proceed as well. Actually I might say to talk to them first and see if you can get impartial advice, before moving on to the student's union and then the lecturers/head of department. At least by then you'll have a clearer idea on how to proceed.

LegacyUser

Op here, I contacted the college and found out I wouldn't be penalised but I decided to try and sit the exam, I have literally worked my ass off for the past few days! So hopefully tomorrow goes ok and the information somehow comes to me in the exam hall. And as soon as I get home it's on to studying for the next exam which is in a couple of days
Thanks everyone