do people actually fail exams ? (1 Viewer)

[conics2008]

how hard is it to fail a subject ??

I know u study a subject in semester 1 and then at the end u get tested etc.. but how hard is it to fail a subject in uni, also where does gpa come into play...

 

[katie tully]

GPA is your grad point average. So say you get a credit and a distinction, they add the numerical value and divide by 2. Or however many subjects you've done. Gives you an over all "average" of your performance.
Handy for honours and grad med and shit like that.

Fairly easy to fail a subject at uni.

 

[spence]

how hard is it to fail a subject ??

Not at all

 

[lou071]

how hard is it to fail a subject ??

I know u study a subject in semester 1 and then at the end u get tested etc.. but how hard is it to fail a subject in uni, also where does gpa come into play...

i heard uni is very different from high school and many students can fail subjects. (if there is no satisfactory effort)
but i think it is pretty easy to fail at uni. for example, my friend failed Spanish and had to take it again.

 

[katie tully]

Some subjects have exams that are like "pass the exam to pass the subject". Cumulative subjects (ones that rely on a cumulative mark of 50% from all assignments) are less hard, as there is usually more than one chance to accumulate the marks.

 

[lou071]

Some subjects have exams that are like "pass the exam to pass the subject". Cumulative subjects (ones that rely on a cumulative mark of 50% from all assignments) are less hard, as there is usually more than one chance to accumulate the marks.

can u explain a bit more?
so is that subjects consider every assignment and they are all worth 50% to give the final grade?

 

[Nebuchanezzar]

eg 2nd year chem is 70% final exam. don't like the exam and you fail the subject, pretty much.

 

[katie tully]

can u explain a bit more?
so is that subjects consider every assignment and they are all worth 50% to give the final grade?

Assignments will have weighting. I.e. Assignment 1 =30%, Assignment 2 = 15%, Assignment 3= 15% and final exam = 40% for a total of 100 marks. You only need to get 50% overall to pass the subject.
Say you get 100% in all the subjects, you don't need to pass the exam to pass the subject. Or say you get 50% in everything, you cumulate a mark of 50%.

Make sense?

Where as, if you have a subject that has an exam you have to pass to pass the subject, it doesn't matter if you get 100% in all the assignments, you have to pass the final exam to pass the subject.

 

[lou071]

i get it. thanks

 

[Omium]

If you put in the effort its hard to fail.

Given you put in the effort. its very hard to move up from lets say a D to a HD as there are so many "opporunities" to lose marks......

 

[lou071]

If you put in the effort its hard to fail.

Given you put in the effort. its very hard to move up from lets say a D to a HD as there are so many "opporunities" to lose marks......

what do you mean by so many opportunities to lose marks when you try to move up from D to HD?

 

[conics2008]

soo wait wait...

so failin a subject is normal.. but if u do fail wouldn't that put pressure in for you next year cuz u need to do it again + still keepin that average credit points per sem...


what is a pass in uni.. 50%

 

[jb_nc]

Sometimes the UOS co-ordinator will stipulate you need to pass the final exam to pass the course.

These are probably easier to fail than other courses.

 

[katie tully]

soo wait wait...

so failin a subject is normal.. but if u do fail wouldn't that put pressure in for you next year cuz u need to do it again + still keepin that average credit points per sem...


what is a pass in uni.. 50%

not necessarily. most are your standard 50%, but i've had 45% and 60% pass/fail subjects

 

[imyh]

soo wait wait...

so failin a subject is normal.. but if u do fail wouldn't that put pressure in for you next year cuz u need to do it again + still keepin that average credit points per sem...


what is a pass in uni.. 50%

you shouldn't even think about failing. i guess if you do all your work and be consistent you're fine. like making sure u do all the assignments blah.

 

[decypher]

what do you mean by so many opportunities to lose marks when you try to move up from D to HD?

To illustate what he means I'll use an example. Say a subject has the following assessments and you get the following marks.

Assignment 1 (Weighting 30%) Mark: 80%
Assignment 2 (Weighting 10%) Mark: 90%
Assignment 3 (Weighting (20 %) Mark: 88%
Exam (Weighting 40%) Mark: 83%

So your end of subject score is 84, and you get a D* (24+9+17.6+33.2=83.8 which rounds up). While you have got good marks always in the D-HD range, (in this case your average mark is 85.25) you only achieve a D because you performed worse in the assessments with higher weightings (the more important assessments).

Also to get a mark of 85% in an exam/assessment in uni for most people requires a far greater amount of work than what effort would be required for the same mark in high school. Plus assessments are usually designed so that only a small number of people get HDs etc.


*F=0-44
PC=45-49
P=50-64
C=65-74
D=75-84
HD=85+

 

[lou071]

To illustate what he means I'll use an example. Say a subject has the following assessments and you get the following marks.

Assignment 1 (Weighting 30%) Mark: 80%
Assignment 2 (Weighting 10%) Mark: 90%
Assignment 3 (Weighting (20 %) Mark: 88%
Exam (Weighting 40%) Mark: 83%

So your end of subject score is 84, and you get a D* (24+9+17.6+33.2=83.8 which rounds up). While you have got good marks always in the D-HD range, (in this case your average mark is 85.25) you only achieve a D because you performed worse in the assessments with higher weightings (the more important assessments).

Also to get a mark of 85% in an exam/assessment in uni for most people requires a far greater amount of work than what effort would be required for the same mark in high school. Plus assessments are usually designed so that only a small number of people get HDs etc.


*F=0-44
PC=45-49
P=50-64
C=65-74
D=75-85
HD=85+

I get it. Thank you for explaining!

 

[Student246]

if you fail a subject you get a 0 for that subject when calculating GPA

fail = 0
pass = 4
credit = 5
distinction = 6
high distinction = 7

GPA = average of those assuming all the subjects are 6 credit points

 

[lou071]

if you fail a subject you get a 0 for that subject when calculating GPA

fail = 0
pass = 4
credit = 5
distinction = 6
high distinction = 7

GPA = average of those assuming all the subjects are 6 credit points

if the subjects are 3 credit points, how do you work out GPA?

 

[BigDk]

lots of people do courses they are not cut out to do, thus the reason for fail.

i know people who put in 1 day of study before the exam and they end up with pass and credits.

others studied, and struggled throughout the semester and they failed.