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taking a supplementary exam (1 Viewer)

westwing

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i was sick for a whole week and i wasn't able to perform very well on two of my exams.
i put in a special consideration form and a got an email for the unit coordinator saying that i'm welcome to take the supplementary exams.

the thing is, i seriously don't want to study cause i'm finished with all my exams now.
if i recall correctly, the exam results come out on the 12th of december. but the supp exams are before that date.
i only want to take the exams if i know i failed =_=
if i reject the supp exam what happens with my marks? does it get marked up or what?

any ideas on what i can do?
 

Blue Suede

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Deal is, if you sat the exam, they can't just magically give you more marks. That would be unfair to everyone else because you're not demonstrating your knowledge. That's why they have supplementary exams, to give you the extra time to study that you weren't able to have because of being sick.

The supp exams are before the results come out because the supp exams get marked and replace your mark where you didn't do too well.

If you reject the supp exam your mark will be whatever you got for the original exam. It will NOT magically get an extra couple of marks.

My suggestion - suck it up and study. If you were seriously sick enough to apply for special consideration, then you should relish having this extra time to study and do better than you did before. Otherwise, what was the point in putting in for special consideration?

Alternately, you could email back and ask what your original mark was (though it's unlikely they'll tell you) and make your decision based on that.
 

Shoom

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I know that at chem, if you are offered a supp but can not make it, you get an absent fail. Also don't results start coming out from next week?
 

Shoom

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Can someone please tell me when the supplementary exam period is at USYD? Is there a no later then xx date for all supplementary exams to be done?
 

Blue Suede

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I think it depends on the faculty, but unless there's exceptional circumstances, usually supp exams are done before the second week of dec.
 

Shoom

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Oh OK, say I did get offered a supp, is it my right to decline it and just keep my fail?
 

Blue Suede

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Oh OK, say I did get offered a supp, is it my right to decline it and just keep my fail?
... just don't turn up.

I'm not entirely sure why you'd want to fail though?
 

Shoom

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I have to leave Aus for 8 weeks because of a family issue. So I can't do the supp.
 

Blue Suede

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you can try explaining that to them and seeing if you can do the supp at a different time
 

Shoom

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Thank you, I just want to let my coordinator know that I was unwell during the exam, this may have effected my ability to answer. Since I know sometimes lecturers pass students who are close to passing [ one lecturer said it himself during the course]. So I don't want to be offered a supp right now, therefore nullifying the exam I did which may be enough to pass me. Does that make sense?
 

zxreth

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Thank you, I just want to let my coordinator know that I was unwell during the exam, this may have effected my ability to answer. Since I know sometimes lecturers pass students who are close to passing [ one lecturer said it himself during the course]. So I don't want to be offered a supp right now, therefore nullifying the exam I did which may be enough to pass me. Does that make sense?
nope.
 

Blue Suede

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Thank you, I just want to let my coordinator know that I was unwell during the exam, this may have effected my ability to answer. Since I know sometimes lecturers pass students who are close to passing [ one lecturer said it himself during the course]. So I don't want to be offered a supp right now, therefore nullifying the exam I did which may be enough to pass me. Does that make sense?
Yeah, I understand. I don't think it's the smartest decision to just refuse the supp exam because it can't be guaranteed that it might be enough to pass you. It's actually quite unusual that they pass students who are close but haven't quite met the requirements. The only situations I can think of when that has happened has been to do with scaling, but USyd science faculty is getting rid of scaling (iirc, you're science, yes?)

Essentially, you need to speak to someone who actually knows what's going on (like your coordinator), we're just people on the internet speaking about what we know, but we have no official title and at the end of the day, our understanding of whats going on doesn't matter, it's the people who run your course and decide the marks that must be listened to.
 

study-freak

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Yeah, I understand. I don't think it's the smartest decision to just refuse the supp exam because it can't be guaranteed that it might be enough to pass you. It's actually quite unusual that they pass students who are close but haven't quite met the requirements. The only situations I can think of when that has happened has been to do with scaling, but USyd science faculty is getting rid of scaling (iirc, you're science, yes?)

Essentially, you need to speak to someone who actually knows what's going on (like your coordinator), we're just people on the internet speaking about what we know, but we have no official title and at the end of the day, our understanding of whats going on doesn't matter, it's the people who run your course and decide the marks that must be listened to.
Not exactly sure about that cause at least stats has some kind of scaling process
Wasn't it bell curve based vs standard based change in method of scaling? or am I getting confused with something else I might have heard before...
 

Riproot

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Not exactly sure about that cause at least stats has some kind of scaling process
Wasn't it bell curve based vs standard based change in method of scaling? or am I getting confused with something else I might have heard before...
I think they have a set standard of marks to get a P, C, D, and HD, but they don't have your standard bell curve scaling anymore (at least MBLG doesn't).
 

Shoom

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Thanks for all the advice, well I can only wait now, as I said I would gladly do the supp, but have to leave Aus for a while on Wednesday.

Wow, standard based. Last sem Chem 2404 must have had really low standards. I skipped roughly 40/180 and only got 56% prac mark, ended up with a 67. I doubt I got 123/180 raw.

OK, so I contacted my DSU officer who contacted the Faculty of Science on my behalf to see what I can do and she said I could do this

"I have contacted the faculty for advise and assistance in relation to your query. What they have advised is that:

1. You email your course co-ordinator indicating the difficulties which occurred and as requesting as detailed in your email below."- which was pretty much I felt sick please keep this in mind while arking.

Option 2 was apply for a supp, but this is through faculty only, so my school ha nothing to do with it.
 
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REad 14.14.a of Assessment Procedures at http://sydney.edu.au/policies/showdoc.aspx?recnum=PDOC2012/267&RendNum=0

(a) Replacement assessment.
(i) This may be made available where an application relates to an examination based assessment, typically a final examination. Other forms of examination, such as weekly quizzes, may be more appropriately accommodated by reweighting or averaging.
(ii) A replacement assessment should assess the same skills and knowledge, with appropriate preparation, as the original assessment.
(iii) Where a successful claim for special consideration is made prior to, or during or immediately after an assessment, any replacement assessment will be treated by the faculty as a first attempt and the original attempt at the assessment will be deemed not to have occurred.
(iv) The faculty is responsible for setting the date of the replacement assessment. A student may lodge a further claim for special consideration if they are unable to attend the replacement assessment due to injury, illness or misadventure.
(v) The faculty and the student must use their best endeavours to complete the replacement assessment within 6 weeks of the date of the final examination in the unit of study, or within such longer period as the faculty decides.
(vi) If the student is unable to attempt the replacement assessment within the specified time, or the faculty is unable to construct a valid form of assessment, the faculty will determine alternative means of assessment. If this is not possible, the faculty will award a grade of DNF.
(b) Formal extension.
 

Shoom

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I wish I saw this before, maybe I did but you know when you are all worried you tend to not function properly. I would have been very happy with a DNF. Since I will be gone for 8 weeks, from around 5 hours.

Thanks mate.

Too late :(
 

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