College screwing me over?

LegacyUser

Hey guys, im a little worried and i dont know where to look for help/advise..

My college is a complete sham- its a well known college, but noone that i know of can say a single good thing about it. The college is being run by 1/2 assed rejects who dont have the time of day to help anyone and its really starting to effect me physically, metally and emotionally. Im snapping at everyone, and now the only thing that can in anyway calm me down and stop me from snapping is getting absolutly stoned off my tits. This naturally leaves me to reflect on my situation which brings me down even more (at least im not rubbing off on anyone else tho)

Anyhoo, im in cert course for computers, and tbh, i dont belong there - its soooooo easy, i walk all the exams. Well not all, as this term i had 1 failed from first year, and 5 from last year (so i got a lil lazy ok? 24 subjects! some of em aint computer related!).. ANYWAYS...

I resat the exams this summer, worked my absolute tits off (for a change) and passed 5 of the 6 with flying colours. The ones i passed, i really honestly thought i was going to fail, but the one i failed i was 100% positive id pass - the subject is second nature, all the students in the class used to ask me for help in the subject - they passed, how come i didnt? BULL SH1T! I did detailed diagrams, explained everything with accuracy and so on - i wrote the answers down on the exam paper - checked em up, everything looked ok to me? i know i should have passed i just know it.

My failure has completely boggled my mind - i have 1 more attempt at the subject and if i fail, there's my college education gone down the drain, along with a 10k student loan to pay for it. The college in question has screwed me around left right and centre and this was the final straw. Ill Cut and paste my email i sent to the lecturer, and his reply in a minute. Ill first fill you in on the history..

The subject that i failed, infact my whole course was removed from the college when i hit second year. All the notes on the subject except for 2 exam papers from 95 are on the student intranet and are based around cobal not java. For my 3rd year in this 2 year course (this year) the college decided to remove all trace of my subject. They threw me in with Third year Comp science because that was the closest subject to what i was doing - ABSOLUTLY NOTHING like the one i did..

So i failed that exam, i put alot of hours into studying the paper, i still dont think i merrited an F (26%).

So i called up the college and asked for a paper review - which im pritty sure i have the right to, even the girl on the phone said so..

---

Hi 'bob'

Is there anychance we can arrange a meeting so i can go over my failed
exam - the subject i took in your class was the closest they had to it
as it was removed from the course. I failed the only subject which i
was 100% positive id pass, and passed the ones i thought id fail..

Would you be able to get a hold of my exam paper and go over it with
me and try straighten out what i should do for the repeat?

---

I got this in the reply

---

Unfortunately it is no longer college policy to allow students to view their
exam scripts.

I will actually be away for the next three weeks,
I recomend the XXX notes that I covered in class as the basis for your exam
in Augusts.
Most of the material is there. Or prior exam papers in that subject or xxxxxxx

---

For a start, the XXX notes have nothing to do with the subject. See above with regards to me being in 'the closest subject they could find'(3rd year comp sci) How much of a sham is that college?

Am i wrong for being in this mental state atm? I work with computers for a living. How can someone who gets paid to program fail the very subject which he makes his money on?

Im inches away from going into that college with a blowtorch and some plyers. Help me before i lash out in some irrational way.

Xennon

If you really want to take it on then see a solicitor.

LegacyUser

I cant afford that, i dont think i could get financial aid from my parents and im already 10k in debt!

My college has a nack for changing their methods and words around to sound like they are saying one thing when they are actaully saying another. If i did do something like going to talk to a solicitor, they would probably work 24/7 to get all the notes up todate and cover any of my problems up and point the blame at me. I know it sounds harsh and unlikely, thats what my parents say, but it is actually how they are.

Im lost

Lex_Diamonds

Dbs?

skywalker

Isnt there any appeals/recheck facility in the college?

red_ice

I think he answered that already when he said "Unfortunately it is no longer college policy to allow students to view their exam scripts".

Sounds like my college, im getting something similar atm myself, but nothing on that scale

zAbbo

Whats your attendance like ?

You walk all the exams, except for the 6 you failed. right

LegacyUser

Hi there

I read your mail with interest. I am an academic and it’s interesting to read a student’s perspective. Let me give you an academic’s perspective. This is no reflection on you or your ability – I am merely playing devil’s advocate.

Your mail is unclear and I’m not sure what exams you are failing – ie 1st or 2nd year. Normally students get 4 attempts at an exam. So if you are on your final chance this means you have failed this exam three times.

When it comes to exam boards – the boards that decide whether students go into the following year or repeat, students names are read out one by one and each exam mark is read out. The guidelines for the course are there so we know exactly what the minimum requirements are for a student to pass. When your name is read out, lecturers have the opportunity top mention any special circumstances that should be considered. Believe me – “he studied very hard and should be allowed to pass” or “he is 100% positive that he passed” is not among these.

Your mark will be read out along with your track record. When you hear it in the cold light of day – it doesn’t sound very impressive. Failed one exam from 1st year and 5 from second year. No offence, but I doubt you get a second glance. A big “R” is put by your name.

I have marked papers for several years and I can’t stress how easy it is to pass exams. Academics don’t want the hassle of repeating students, setting supplementals, and marking more damned scripts. Marks go for everything. All you need is 40%. Stop looking for someone else to blame and go and pass the exam.

And stop getting stoned. It does you or your argument no good whatsoever!

Re posting the mail from your lecturer – he is perfectly entitled to go away for three weeks. In fact if he is in an IT he is perfectly entitled to be away for 3 months. You are lucky he replied at all. You got yourself into this mess. Get out of it!

PS - Good luck!

skywalker

red_ice wrote:

I think he answered that already when he said "Unfortunately it is no longer college policy to allow students to view their exam scripts".

Sounds like my college, im getting something similar atm myself, but nothing on that scale

Not really. Its not neccessarily policy to et you see the paper. Doesnt mean theirs no appeals procedure for exam results. In fact Id be surprised if there werent. I thought all colleges had one.

Sleepy

Academic wrote:

Academics don’t want the hassle of repeating students, setting supplementals, and marking more damned scripts. Marks go for everything. All you need is 40%. Stop looking for someone else to blame and go and pass the exam.

And stop getting stoned. It does you or your argument no good whatsoever!

Re posting the mail from your lecturer – he is perfectly entitled to go away for three weeks. In fact if he is in an IT he is perfectly entitled to be away for 3 months. You are lucky he replied at all. You got yourself into this mess. Get out of it!

PS - Good luck!

With the exception of your last three words, I'm damn glad you weren't one of my lecturers. Any student should have the right to have a paper re-checked or gone over with them. Lucky he replied at all? The student is his customer, in a private college or not, fees are paid to the institution to educate the student. Being shown where your mistakes on a paper were (particularly when the OP seemed so sure he'd passed the paper) isn't much to ask for and tbh shouldn't take more than half an hour or so of the examiners time.

Have a career re-think, you're obviously not suited to one in education.

Sleepy

skywalker wrote:

Not really. Its not neccessarily policy to et you see the paper. Doesnt mean theirs no appeals procedure for exam results. In fact Id be surprised if there werent. I thought all colleges had one.

AFAIK the only third level institution without an appeals procedure is the Kings Inns, but then again, that's more of an old boys club than a proper institution of education.

OP - it might be worth your while talking to the free legal advice centre www.flac.ie

Or if you have one, the student's union should be your first port of call.

WhiteWashMan

this is odd... wrote:

Hey guys, im a little worried and i dont know where to look for help/advise..

My college is a complete sham- its a well known college, but noone that i know of can say a single good thing about it. The college is being run by 1/2 assed rejects who dont have the time of day to help anyone and its really starting to effect me physically, metally and emotionally. Im snapping at everyone, and now the only thing that can in anyway calm me down and stop me from snapping is getting absolutly stoned off my tits. This naturally leaves me to reflect on my situation which brings me down even more (at least im not rubbing off on anyone else tho)

Anyhoo, im in cert course for computers, and tbh, i dont belong there - its soooooo easy, i walk all the exams. Well not all, as this term i had 1 failed from first year, and 5 from last year (so i got a lil lazy ok? 24 subjects! some of em aint computer related!).. ANYWAYS...

I resat the exams this summer, worked my absolute tits off (for a change) and passed 5 of the 6 with flying colours. The ones i passed, i really honestly thought i was going to fail, but the one i failed i was 100% positive id pass - the subject is second nature, all the students in the class used to ask me for help in the subject - they passed, how come i didnt? BULL SH1T! I did detailed diagrams, explained everything with accuracy and so on - i wrote the answers down on the exam paper - checked em up, everything looked ok to me? i know i should have passed i just know it.

My failure has completely boggled my mind - i have 1 more attempt at the subject and if i fail, there's my college education gone down the drain, along with a 10k student loan to pay for it. The college in question has screwed me around left right and centre and this was the final straw. Ill Cut and paste my email i sent to the lecturer, and his reply in a minute. Ill first fill you in on the history..

The subject that i failed, infact my whole course was removed from the college when i hit second year. All the notes on the subject except for 2 exam papers from 95 are on the student intranet and are based around cobal not java. For my 3rd year in this 2 year course (this year) the college decided to remove all trace of my subject. They threw me in with Third year Comp science because that was the closest subject to what i was doing - ABSOLUTLY NOTHING like the one i did..

So i failed that exam, i put alot of hours into studying the paper, i still dont think i merrited an F (26%).

So i called up the college and asked for a paper review - which im pritty sure i have the right to, even the girl on the phone said so..

---

Hi 'bob'

Is there anychance we can arrange a meeting so i can go over my failed
exam - the subject i took in your class was the closest they had to it
as it was removed from the course. I failed the only subject which i
was 100% positive id pass, and passed the ones i thought id fail..

Would you be able to get a hold of my exam paper and go over it with
me and try straighten out what i should do for the repeat?

---

I got this in the reply

---

Unfortunately it is no longer college policy to allow students to view their
exam scripts.

I will actually be away for the next three weeks,
I recomend the XXX notes that I covered in class as the basis for your exam
in Augusts.
Most of the material is there. Or prior exam papers in that subject or xxxxxxx

---

For a start, the XXX notes have nothing to do with the subject. See above with regards to me being in 'the closest subject they could find'(3rd year comp sci) How much of a sham is that college?

Am i wrong for being in this mental state atm? I work with computers for a living. How can someone who gets paid to program fail the very subject which he makes his money on?

Im inches away from going into that college with a blowtorch and some plyers. Help me before i lash out in some irrational way.

you didnt pass because you didnt answer the questions right.

there is only one person who sat the exams.

why do you feel the need to blame other people for your situation.

as for sleepy, well, another classic example of of your attitude. have you thought about becoming a shop steward for a union. you argue against the establishment at every chance. we could almost post for you at this stage. again, another naive post. but you do make me laugh though, so thats ok.

secret_squirrel

WhiteWashMan wrote:

you didnt pass because you didnt answer the questions right.

there is only one person who sat the exams.

why do you feel the need to blame other people for your situation.

Thats overly harsh. How is the OP meant to know how to answer the questions correctly when he cant review his paper?

Any good college should have a review/appeals procedure for precisely this situation. Also if his course is radically different to the one he signed up for he has legitimate grounds for complaint.

OP - WWM does have a point tho - it doesnt sound like your attitude and approach has helped the situation.

WhiteWashMan

secret_squirrel wrote:

Thats overly harsh. How is the OP meant to know how to answer the questions correctly when he cant review his paper?
.

no, you miss the point of the exam....

you dont get to see the questions before you go in. thats why its an exam.
otherwise it would be homework...

LegacyUser

Sleepy wrote:

With the exception of your last three words, I'm damn glad you weren't one of my lecturers. Any student should have the right to have a paper re-checked or gone over with them. Lucky he replied at all? The student is his customer, in a private college or not, fees are paid to the institution to educate the student. Being shown where your mistakes on a paper were (particularly when the OP seemed so sure he'd passed the paper) isn't much to ask for and tbh shouldn't take more than half an hour or so of the examiners time.

Have a career re-think, you're obviously not suited to one in education.

"Customer"?? Sorry - that's not how it works. There is something called academic standards.

With regards to it "just being a half an hour", what if every student wants to go over their paper. Three or four hundred times a half an hour is a lot of hours. As I said - "being sure I passed" just doesn't cut. Every college (whether this poster realises it or not) has an appeals procedure, but for administrative purposes this is usually a set time after the results are posted.

College is about having fun, socialising and work. Each as important as the other.

With regards to your last comment - it doesn't merit a reply. I posted my comment to try and give the view of an academic perspective. At the end of the day, students are responsible for their own academic success. There is considerable support in all institutions to help them achieve this. But if anyone - yes including lecturers should they dare - want to take three weeks off after teaching all year, I'm sure you wouldn't begrudge them that...

With reference to actually helping the poor sod involved, I agree with other poster - contact students union or class tutor.

secret_squirrel

No you're missing my point. If a candidate believes he did better than his mark indicates then any reputable examining board offers an appeals process for precisely the situation the OP finds themselves in.

Most decent lecturers I had also conducted revisions courses based on old papers before the exams.

Boston

All I can say is o my fuking christ you absolutely have a right under freedom of information to view your exam script. They are a goverment funded body and remind them of that fact. If they refuse apply for it under the freedom of information, it will cost you a few quid.

4Xcut

Stop getting stoned, its not helping!! Start studying for your repeats.

Nightwish

DIT?

The place is a shambles. horrible horrible college. They fu<ked me over a few years ago, when I missed my summer exams due to long term illness, and they never let me know about the autumn exams. Had to take a year out and wait til following summer. Wasted a year of my life due to an "admin error" :mad:

LegacyUser

It doesn't sound like DIT - as far as I know they still allow you to view your exam scripts.
OP - yes you have a right to appeal the result - talk to your Students Union, Lecturers and Admin staff - I am sure at least one of them will be able to inform you of the procedure of appealing.
Apart from that, on the issue of a lack of study material - it is entirely at the lecturers discretion whether they provide you with this while on their summer holidays. They are paid to lecture you and provide you with study material from September->May (the academic year). It is your responsibility to attend college, take notes, and keep them during the academic year should such a situation like this arise.

Bluetonic

Is the *** in question (and even though you might not be using his real name) **************

Just guessing.

Beruthiel

I do not, under any circumstances, want to see anyone putting down real names of people in this forum!
I will ban you out right
B

BizzyC

OP, I'm sorry, but you already failed the exam twice, and after the 3rd time you're blaming everyone else?

It was a bit harsh the way the college threw you into a different subject and all, but get over it.

Your "I worked really hard, and was sure I passed" line wont cut it. This happens to 1,000s of students around the country every year.

I cant see any real reason why you could take legal action in this case.
Contact the students union if you're unhappy about not seeing your paper.

But what do you expect?
Someone decided "I dont like this guy, so I'm going to take 50% of his marks away!"
It just doesn't happen.

LegacyUser

Hi,
OP, I've done the repeat route once or twice. The point of seeing where you failed is to ensure you study what you don't know. I didn't know what I got wrong, asked the teacher nicely, BOOKED a time with them, and went over the exam. Yes, it meant that I had to travel down there for a quick 40 minute chat, but it was worth it. I found out where I was doing right, where I was doing wrong, and went from there.

Also, ask nicely to book an exam sometime before the exams. Maybe a week before them, or something. The lecture's are usually around then.

Demanding to speak to them, FoI act, yada yada yada, may get you the papers, but not in time for the repeats, and they won't advise you on what to do.

Ask nicely, tho, and they (the lectures) usually tries their best to help you.

=-=

Oh, and the "10,000 in debt, yet you can still support a drug habit" sounds like you're not doing much study.

Imposter

Has the college got a tutor system? If not get in touch with your tutor straight away. Otherwise talk to the students union. These will know more about the colleges rules than you or anyone on here. Then see where you want ot go from there.

BossArky

Get a face to face meeting with the lecturer before the exam. Be positive and co-operative with him, he/she will see that you are trying. Study well for the exam in the last week or two. You'll be fine.

Jelvon

OP get in touch with your Student's Union. They can/will help! If you need a hand doing that or want me to contact them on your behalf just give me a bell at su.president@qub.ac.uk

The USI training for officers is up in belfast at the mo so I've probably already met your SU president or representative. Just give me a shout if you want me to highlight your case to them...

b3t4

It is possible that the person who was correcting the paper made a mistake.

I went to college in the University of Limerick and they do allow a student to review their paper. A few friends of mine went to review their papers and found that the person who had corrected the paper had made a few errors. One example was where the person correcting the paper had adding up the totals for each section incorrectly.

So it is a possibility that the OP might have passed.

Also the lecturer may have be spouting BS when it came to college policy. OP check up the college policy yourself and find out if what the lecturer said is in fact correct. When you have all the information then email/send letter to someone.

Also, OP your original email was overly vague and if I had recieved something along what you typed I'd have no idea as to what you were talking about. So less of the ranting and more of the information gathering.

A.

ADUB?

this is odd... wrote:

Well not all, as this term i had 1 failed from first year, and 5 from last year (so i got a lil lazy ok? 24 subjects! some of em aint computer related!).. ANYWAYS...

Emmm seems like a case of stop blaming everyone else and start blaming yourself! so i got a lil lazy ok? No its not ok, that line sums whole post up.
Grow up and stop blaming others for your problems

get studying!

LegacyUser

Excuse this post, i am reading everyones points and answering them one by one as best i can - i realise you are trying to help, i also note some may be having a dig. If i appear to be getting moody in your direction, please understand i am in alot of stress - i know the majority of you are trying to help so please excuse me.

'And stop getting stoned. It does you or your argument no good whatsoever!'

Did i mention that i did that during my college term? No. I've been smoking since i got my exam results.

My mail is unclear for a reason - im only giving you what you need to know, and no, im not giving you 'my side'.

'Re posting the mail from your lecturer – he is perfectly entitled to go away for three weeks. In fact if he is in an IT he is perfectly entitled to be away for 3 months. You are lucky he replied at all. You got yourself into this mess. Get out of it!'

You obviously DO your job. If my lecturers/college did theirs, i wouldnt be in this mess. The exam that i was given, was totally unfair, noone passed it out of the 10 repeats.

Im not making excuses for failure - how dare you say im pointing the finger at everyone else, i worked damn fu<king hard, and i dont need another closeminded lecturer who thinks 'the college system is always right' trying to point the finger at me. I did it right this time - i did not miss a single day of college, i did assignments even tho i was only repeating exams, i put the full works into passing that subject, and i deserve it. I know that subject better than the bloody lecturers that were teaching me as i (if i was cocky enough) would have corrected the lecturer for the ammount of fu<kups he maked every 10 minutes. It seems you dont pay attention academic, i've already mentioned that i do it for a living and make a damn fine one of it too.

Academic, i could tell you sooooo much more - but that would make me have to say names, and give what college i am in away. I cant do that, granted you are giving a much needed 'academic' pov, but its an even lighter version of the one my college has IF THEY DECIDE TO REPLY, truth be told, becasue they have the power to say yes/no/we can help/we cant be bothered to help, i have to sit back and take it up the ass that i failed - no way!

Now academic, you tell me this.

How am i ment to pass an exam if my college changes the papers layout without any notice, doesnt have any notes on the subject, doesnt upload notes on the subject, has no past papers on the subject and wont let me review my exam with someone who knows the subject?

Your telling me thats how a college is run? WAKEUP!

As for you and your academic standards, you have just given me more materail. I know girls that have litteraly sucked nob to make it through the course. Take that for what it means, sexual favors for exam results. They dont have a clue about anything computer related, yet they have their qualifications. They cheated their way thought the exam, and got other people to do their papers. Thats a mighty fine standard, but im sorry, im a little old fashoned with my results, i like to earn them.

I dont care about the details, i did not merrit a fail in my subject - i need to see my paper. If i saw it, and realised i did do wrong, well then id accept it fair enough, i wouldnt be beating myself up over it and be left in this mental state that i am in right now. Why all of a sudden is it not college pollicy to let me see my paper? People did it last year. Something IS up.

Reading onwards YES! You have just said exactly what i wanted to hear.

'Apart from that, on the issue of a lack of study material - it is entirely at the lecturers discretion whether they provide you with this while on their summer holidays. They are paid to lecture you and provide you with study material from September->May (the academic year). It is your responsibility to attend college, take notes, and keep them during the academic year should such a situation like this arise.'

THERE ARE NO NOTES FROM SEPTEMBER TO MAY EITHER! All year round there are no notes! If you read the post i said my college put me in the subject they thought was closest to the exam i am actually taking - the notes dont work. I have 2 a4 books of hand written notes from lectures and a further book of broken down notes, to a subject which i dont need to know. As i said I put the work in. You find me a student that every day when he gets in from an exam, reads over his notes for an hour, and spends another half hour redoing the notes to a high standard so he can keep up to date and ahead of a lecture which he AGAIN doesnt need to know and has no relivance to what he is learning.

Ocys
Oh, and the "10,000 in debt, yet you can still support a drug habit" sounds like you're not doing much study.

I have mentioned that i have a job - read the forum.

Exactly why i want a review b3t4 mate.

Also to the chap who said that he would email my SU for me, thanks loads, i really do appreciate your offer, but I think its best i do this myself, besides, im good mates with this years pres, ill have a word with him.

Thanks for the backup and pov's, i will take more action on this, but correct me if im wrong or ask if i have left out any details, i will reply because i want to be 100% sure im in the right before i take any further action.

Thanks

Sleepy

WhiteWashMan wrote:

as for sleepy, well, another classic example of of your attitude. have you thought about becoming a shop steward for a union. you argue against the establishment at every chance. we could almost post for you at this stage. again, another naive post. but you do make me laugh though, so thats ok.

Actually I'm not particularly pro-union at all. Like I said in my post, students are the customers of a college (whether they're paying the institution directly or the government are paying on their behalf) and as such deserve to be treated as any business should treat it's customers: properly. Of course the lecturer deserves his holidays, but the OP deserves access to a proper appeal procedure too.

My posts may be naieve in your opinion, tbh I'd rather they be naieve than condescending, ignorant and bordering on abusive, but that's just me.

cuckoo

b3t4 wrote:

It is possible that the person who was correcting the paper made a mistake.

I went to college in the University of Limerick and they do allow a student to review their paper. A few friends of mine went to review their papers and found that the person who had corrected the paper had made a few errors. One example was where the person correcting the paper had adding up the totals for each section incorrectly.

I've heard of this happening in several different colleges.

Sleepy

Yeah, seen it happen a few times myself.

planck2

listen man you failed 1 subject in 1st year, 5 in 2nd and failed one of them. Cop yourself on. The appeals process only works if you've got a good track record, by the looks of it you're in one hell of mess. The only way you can get out of it is by studying your ass of for that exam.

secret_squirrel

planck2 wrote:

listen man you failed 1 subject in 1st year, 5 in 2nd and failed one of them. Cop yourself on.

Try reading the follow up post - he's pretty much convinced me he worked hard.
Also he failed his best subject (in his opinion) now I've known some idiots in my time but very few people are that lacking in judgement they mistake their worst subject for their best one.
The only possible explanation I can come up with is that he answered the exam how it related to the course he wanted to do - not how the exam board expected it to be answered. In which case - given the situation the OP has described he deserves to know that. After all the college is the one that dumped him on a poorly fitting course.

planck2 wrote:

The appeals process only works if you've got a good track record, by the looks of it you're in one hell of mess.

Cop on yourself -an appeals process is for everyone. All students should get equal treatment in this situation.

OP : If you get no satisfaction I would seriously consider consulting a solictor. An initial consulation will only cost 100-200 and could pay dividends. If the college has messed you and your course about as you say then I would have thought it represents a breach of contract or consumer legislation since its obviously not the same course you signed up to.

WhiteWashMan

Sleepy wrote:

My posts may be naieve in your opinion, tbh I'd rather they be naieve than condescending, ignorant and bordering on abusive, but that's just me.

it aint easy bein' green...

planck2

listen I've been in college for the last 5 years I know how the thing works

BizzyC

secret_squirrel wrote:

Try reading the follow up post - he's pretty much convinced me he worked hard.
Also he failed his best subject (in his opinion) now I've known some idiots in my time but very few people are that lacking in judgement they mistake their worst subject for their best one.

You know, your right, since he worked hard and is convinced he should have passed, that means he did!!!
The college are liars!

It happens to hundreds of people every year. Just because you work hard, and think you know the subject, does not mean you deserve a pass.

This is simply a case of; get over it, start studying for the repeat.

All of the possible options have already been layed out by people here, so there's no point argueing that the OP passed/No he didn't etc.

Kingp35

BizzyC wrote:

It happens to hundreds of people every year. Just because you work hard, and think you know the subject, does not mean you deserve a pass.

This is simply a case of; get over it, start studying for the repeat.

All of the possible options have already been layed out by people here, so there's no point argueing that the OP passed/No he didn't etc.

Man I think your missing the point of why the OP is so pissed off. Its because he has been well and truely fúcked over by his college by being put into a module which didnt relate too well to the one he was doing so everything he learned in the module he was put into to didnt help him with his exam at all.

For example your doing a computer programming module in Java and for some reason this has to be cancelled so they put you into a module that they think relates the closest to the one you were doing so they put you into a computer preogramming module in PERL.
Now still at the end of the semester this guy is expected to go and do his exam in Java. Do you think thats fair? He has no relevant notes or past papers to help him because the module he was put into doesnt directly relate to the exam he has to do.

Now this hardly a case of "get over it, its your fault". Dont be ridiculous man this is totally unfair on the OP he should do something about.

WhiteWashMan wrote:

you didnt pass because you didnt answer the questions right.

there is only one person who sat the exams.

why do you feel the need to blame other people for your situation

Again read the above. You gotta be some fool to think this is just him making up excuses for failing. He was treated really badly by his college and has every right to complain about it.

secret_squirrel

BizzyC wrote:

The college are liars!

[/QUOTE]

Or perhaps the examiner made a mistake? It happened to a friend of mine, they asked for a review since their mark was much lower than expected. And hey presto it turned out that the examiner had missed an entire page of the answer booklet. They were marked Up 2 grades.

BizzyC wrote:

It happens to hundreds of people every year.

So does the situation I described.

BizzyC wrote:

Just because you work hard, and think you know the subject, does not mean you deserve a pass.

I agree, but just because you were given a fail doesnt necessarily mean you did.
Examiners are human too they make mistakes.
Where there is a reasonable doubt an appeals process is essential. Indeed I havent heard of a reputable examining board or college not doing this.
Afaics the OP is being denied this.
His College should also be brought to book for their incompetent course changing. (assuming the OP is giving us all the story - and we have no reason to doubt him)

rsynnott

Academic wrote:

"Customer"?? Sorry - that's not how it works. There is something called academic standards.
...
At the end of the day, students are responsible for their own academic success.

Just as well really; do we really want people who don't know what "DC" means after two years of an EE degree (true story) designing aircraft systems and things?

rsynnott

LiouVille wrote:

All I can say is o my fuking christ you absolutely have a right under freedom of information to view your exam script. They are a goverment funded body and remind them of that fact. If they refuse apply for it under the freedom of information, it will cost you a few quid.

They may be a private college. And I don't THINK the FOI applies to this sort of thing. Here's NCAD's policy on it, for instance: http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:ecAE8DzltU0J:www.ncad.ie/about/foie.html+freedom+of+information+act+ireland+exam+results&hl=en&client=firefox-a

me again wrote:

Im not making excuses for failure - how dare you say im pointing the finger at everyone else, i worked damn fu<king hard, and i dont need another closeminded lecturer who thinks 'the college system is always right' trying to point the finger at me. I did it right this time - i did not miss a single day of college, i did assignments even tho i was only repeating exams, i put the full works into passing that subject, and i deserve it. I know that subject better than the bloody lecturers that were teaching me as i (if i was cocky enough) would have corrected the lecturer for the ammount of fu<kups he maked every 10 minutes. It seems you dont pay attention academic, i've already mentioned that i do it for a living and make a damn fine one of it too.

People have this strange idea of entitlement about the education system. "I worked at it so I should get it" or even "I paid for school/college so I should get it". The idea of a university is not to give out qualifications to people who don't qualify for them; if it was they'd have to be called "disqualifications" or something. I could work as hard as I wanted doing a fine arts course; since my artistic abilities peak at stick figures, no-one would ever give me a degree in it.

THERE ARE NO NOTES FROM SEPTEMBER TO MAY EITHER! All year round there are no notes! If you read the post i said my college put me in the subject they thought was closest to the exam i am actually taking - the notes dont work.

So? We don't get notes in most of our lectures. Hint; you're meant to go to the lectures. In some courses you can be failed automatically if you miss too many.

If you work hard at it, and go to all your lectures, and do all your coursework, and still fail, well, that's not a problem from the college's point of view either; either you lacked aptitude for the course or you're just not good at exams (which is a legitimate problem, but a separate one, and one that the educational establishment is very unwilling to address in general). But as you said, that doesn't seem to be the case; you imply you didn't go to a lot of the lectures.

There will be some sort of appeals process; go through it. The college really, really isn't looking to screw you; most lecturers try as hard as they can to help students get through college.

0utshined

rsynnott wrote:

So? We don't get notes in most of our lectures. Hint; you're meant to go to the lectures. In some courses you can be failed automatically if you miss too many.

If you work hard at it, and go to all your lectures, and do all your coursework, and still fail, well, that's not a problem from the college's point of view either; either you lacked aptitude for the course or you're just not good at exams

I think you've missed the OPs point. As I read it he had to repeat a certain subject and had to repeat it this year. The subject he failed wasn't a part of the course this year so he had to attend lectures in the subject which replaced it and showed an aptitude for this subject, but the exam he failed was still on the original subject for which there were no notes.

RicardoSmith

From personal experience I have to say that my experience of colleges is that a lot of grading is very suspect. I think some lecturers take a dislike to some students and grade them very harshly, whereas other students get graded very favourably. I also thing that a lot of college adminstration is a shambles. They make up a lot of rules and regulations and then simply don't adhere to them. In some cases it because of a shortage of staff and short cuts are taken. I many cases they don't even know what the rules are.

I'll give some examples.

Stuck an entire class on a inappropriate module for a term. The class as a group refused to do it and eventually after 3 months of grief and hassle the college moved them to a more suitable subject.

College refuse to accept a students project as appropriate for the course. Student fails project. The project is set a compulsory the following year.

Student fails to submit the min number of assignments for the year. Is expelled. He challenges it legally, and it comes to light the the board that explelled him was not empowered to do so. He gets back into college.

Student plagiarizes a well know project (well know world wide) of a famous person in the field, recieves an A grade. A few weeks later the college marks it back to a D after popular outrage of the other students.

Student fails to submit all the required projects and assigments for the year, but gets a 1.1 degree.

Students fails exam, fails repeat. After repeats requests for his exam paper and to see his marking which are refused, the paper is regraded to a D and then to a C. The paper is never released, the student knows his answers and reckons he should have had at least a B.

The split of marks for projects are frequently, redistributed after the projects are submitted. So if you choose to spend most of your effort on the section with the most % it could be that it now has the least %.

Student submits all the required CA (continual assesment) assignments, and has enough points/grades to pass without even doing their final exam. The recieve a low grade in their final exam and is given a fail overall, which is a mathimatical impossibility. Student has to appeal within a week to the head of dept. Head of dept is on holidays for the week of the results. A few weeks later after much argument, they regrade the student to a pass degree. Un related, the student recieves a international prize for their thesis which was part of their overall mark.

I've seen alot of this kinda messing over the years. Its been a good few years since I was in college and have recently gone back to to a distance/part time course, and I find the exactly the same kinda messing going on. Nothing has changed. I think a lot of it is down to the quality of the lecturers you get, which is just luck of the draw.

What tipifies it for me was a letter I got on Friday, which I opened on Fri after work, containing a form that had to be submitted at the lastest, that Friday. It had only been posted on Wednesday. It contained the barest of info, and in fact was missing half the stuff it should have contained. When I rang for clarification on Monday, everyone was on holidays and no one could answer my questions. Tyical!

RicardoSmith

me again - if I was you I'd just keep at them, and keep asking for your papers. Be stubborn and persistent. It might take you a few months but they'll eventually have to deal with you, if only to end the hassle.