Re-writing a failed exam?

[Guest little2]

I had taken CHM247H at UofT and failed during the year. This was my fault because I had taken too many heavy courses in one year and in the end was not able to handle all of them together.

 

I had retook the course this summer along with PSL302Y. Although, it was not a requirement for my major, I had re-done it in order to prove to myself I could, as well as obtain a mark that would hopefully average out better with the mark I had earlier obtained. Unfortunately, prior to my finals, I had some personal family problems that came up which had hindered my ability to fully prepare for the exam. Considering this was my second time taking it, I did not think it would have been good to waste more time next term re-attending lecture and taking the final in December 03.

It turned out I had been short two percent from my credit. Apparently my lab marks were very good, however, my final wasn't.

 

 

After seeing my mark,I had contacted the professor to talk to her. She told me that there was nothing more she can do, and suggested that I try to appeal and re-write the final in December. However,she said there is no guarantee that I would be allow to write this final again once I have written one in August. This entire petition and appeal process will take 1 to 2 months, which mean this would proceed right through the first semester of this school year. I know that it would take awhile to prepare for this final and that doing so could jeopardize my other courses (which are all full credit courses this year)

 

CHM247H is not a requirement for most Canadian medical school. However, it is a requirement for some American school. My friends have suggested that I forget about this course and just let it be. However, I do not want two bad marks on my record for the same course.

 

I am still quite confused as to what to do now and would really appreciate it if you can help me to clarify a few questions.How might medical school look at this situation, and would they accept my explanation of why I had recieve such a bad second mark? Or should I push for it and try to re-write this final?

 

If you have any suggestions/advice to give, I would also greatly appreciate it.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited the title to get rid of the all-caps and make it more specific. Please don't type in all capital letters as it's tough to read. Thx! -Ian

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

It's a bit of a groaner, having to write a delayed final exam, but I think you may be better off doing it. For one, when it comes to dealing with medical schools and explaining bad marks, you're much better off going to the source and changing/eradicating those marks if you can, if nothing else, lessening the amount of explaining you have to do. Second, given that you are taking all full year courses this year, you might not have a chock-a-block final exam period, so the chemistry final might be do-able. (Many full year course profs schedule their December mid-terms before the final exam period.) Third, given that you've already done well on the remainder of your course work, if you give the exam a good crack, you have a decent chance of improving your mark.

 

Cheers and good luck with your decision and the petition, if you go that route.

 

Kirsteen

[Guest aneliz]

Here is the situation from the UWO perspective:

 

Western WILL NOT allow you to count any course that you are taking for a second time as part of a full course load for GPA purposes.

 

What this means is this:

 

1. You will probably not want to use the year in which you originally failed the course as one of your best two years for GPA purposes....because that course will torpedo your GPA.

 

2. You will not be allowed to use any other year in which you repeat the course as a full-time year because repeated courses are not counted as part of a full-course load. So, you have eliminated using your next year as part of your GPA as well.

 

3. If you then repeat this course again, you will prevent another year from being eligible to be used in GPA calculations...UNLESS you were to overload on courses that year and take an additional course ON TOP of the repeated course so that you have the equivalent of 5.0 new credits + the repeated course.

 

Good luck!

[Guest little2]

Hi Kristen and aneliz,

 

Firstly, thank you very much for both your help.

 

To aneliz, I hope you don't mind if I have a few more questions regarding Western.

 

You said that the year that retake the course would not be counted towards my gpa. Then would that mean that my third year (which I will be starting this September) will not be counted since I retook chm247 this July-August?

 

If I was to do the defer the exam here, it wouldn't entail that I retake the course. Instead, I will have to reteach myself and then write the defer exam in December. Do you think that might affect how the gpa is calculated?

 

Thank you ever so much again for your assistance.

[Guest aneliz]

If you repeat the course in the summer (ie not during the normal 'academic' year) it would not be counted anyways... Western does not consider summer courses to be part of any 'year' of your program...they are considered to be separate entities and they are never counted as part of your GPA - regardless of whether you are repeating them or not.

 

 

If you took the course in the summer, you should be able to use your third year for GPA purposes...provided that you had a full (5.0 credit) course load of NEW courses between Sept and April.

 

You are not allowed to count any repeated courses that you take between Sept and April as part of a full course load. Which means that you need to overload and take 5.5 or 6.0 credits between Sept and April to compensate for the repeated course that will not be counted.

 

As for how your GPA will be calculated if you just retake the exam, I have no idea seeing as you are not actually re-taking the course...it would depend on how this would appear on your transcript. You might want to find that out from your own school and then ask the admissions office at UWO about how that would be treated if they were to see it on your transcript.

 

Good luck!