Fail / Absent Fail / Withdraw *kindofurgenthelpplease* (1 Viewer)

[Shaking Paper]

Ok, here's the situation:
1st year BA here, so i'm doing four units, but one i'm almost certainly going to fail. :mad1:
Anyway, my questions are:

1) Is it true that if you dont attempt an assignment, no matter how much it's worth, you fail the unit?
2) Which is better: to withdraw now and get a fail, complete the final exam but get a failing mark, or getting an absent fail?
3) In any of these cases, when and how do I make up the unit that I quit/failed?

Also, just out of curiosity, if you fail three or all four of your units, what happens? Like, what do you need to do to be dropped from Sydney uni?

 

[xeuyrawp]

No offense, but have you tried working?

 

[Shaking Paper]

Um. Yes. That last question was just something I was wondering about. I'm going fine with my other units. I just really dislike one of them, and think I might want out as soon as possible, I also have an assessment early this week with I more or less can't do.

 

[Bunny04]

Assignments usually make up a bulk of your semester mark, usually around 25-30% with exams and other asssessments say a tutorial presentation or what not. If you don't hand in a singal assignment-depending on it's weighting, you wont necessarily fail the course. You'll just loose that percentage of your overall assessment. Think about it logically lol. Look at your course notes etc.

 

[Shaking Paper]

Assignments usually make up a bulk of your semester mark, usually around 25-30% with exams and other asssessments say a tutorial presentation or what not. If you don't hand in a singal assignment-depending on it's weighting, you wont necessarily fail the course. You'll just loose that percentage of your overall assessment. Think about it logically lol. Look at your course notes etc.

Thanks, yeah, this one in particular will be worth about 10-15%
It was just that I overheard people before a lecture saying that if there was any assessment that you didnt attempt no matter it's worth, you get an absent fail which would apparantly be worse than a regular fail. (maybe they were just stupid people?)
Also, i'm going poorly enough in the subject that anything could be the difference between pass and fail (and i'm not sure if skipping this tutorial, and probably the next, last one would push me over the amount of missed classes to make an auto-fail).

What happens when you do fail a unit? Would it just meen an extra one next semester?

 

[The_Apprentice]

Ok, here's the situation:
1st year BA here, so i'm doing four units, but one i'm almost certainly going to fail. :mad1:
Anyway, my questions are:

1) Is it true that if you dont attempt an assignment, no matter how much it's worth, you fail the unit?
2) Which is better: to withdraw now and get a fail, complete the final exam but get a failing mark, or getting an absent fail?
3) In any of these cases, when and how do I make up the unit that I quit/failed?

Also, just out of curiosity, if you fail three or all four of your units, what happens? Like, what do you need to do to be dropped from Sydney uni?

1. You're not gonna get dropped from Sydney uni because you failed a unit. They'd love you to come back an extra semester and pay them an additional $612 for that arts unit. I'm not sure what happens if you continuously fail your units....maybe you shouldn't be at uni in the first place if that is the case.
2. If you do fail, you can either overload next semester, stay back an extra semester (i.e. uni for 3.5 yrs instead of 3) or do the unit in summer school.

Read the arts handbook and make sure you meet your requirements for the degree i.e., what are you majoring in and how many spare units do you have left over etc.

 

[Shaking Paper]

Thanks for the serious answers so far.

When I started the degree I didn't consider that I might choose a unit so wrong for me so never looked too far into what to do if this happened.


Does it makes any difference in the long run if I officially discontinue the unit or if I simply fail it?

 

[manifestation]

I dropped bio this semester cause I knew I was going to fail even though I was trying...I suppose it was just not my subject (and I found it hard, not managing my time etc). Like it's too late to drop with fail now I think, but if you seriously think you are going to fail in the end just concentrate on your other subjects and either stick to an absent fail or don't attempt it and fail the subject.

I'm making up for my fail by doing summer school (however remember it is pretty expensive).

Just have a think about it...but be realistic. And failing a subject isn't really that bad lol (unless you want to transfer)

 

[Shaking Paper]

I dropped bio this semester cause I knew I was going to fail even though I was trying...I suppose it was just not my subject (and I found it hard, not managing my time etc). Like it's too late to drop with fail now I think, but if you seriously think you are going to fail in the end just concentrate on your other subjects and either stick to an absent fail or don't attempt it and fail the subject.

I'm making up for my fail by doing summer school (however remember it is pretty expensive).

Just have a think about it...but be realistic. And failing a subject isn't really that bad lol (unless you want to transfer)

Yeah, thats pretty much how it is with me and this subject. Have up until the 9th to drop with fail. But is that better than just going to the final exam and failing??

Doubt i'd make up for in in summer school rather than just doing an extra subject next semerster and being much more careful with my time... as long as it's not the end of the world right? It's hard to know what position you're in when you don't really know the system.

 

[ujuphleg]

2. If you do fail, you can either overload next semester, stay back an extra semester (i.e. uni for 3.5 yrs instead of 3) or do the unit in summer school.

Option 1 doesn't work - overloads are only granted if you pass all your subjects (from my understanding...I think it depends on your faculty)


To Shaking Paper:

You have up to the 9th to drop and fail anyway right?

1) If there is even a small chance that you could pass this subject, then just take the final exam anyway. You never know, you might be surprised, and save youself $600-$2000 dollars re-doing it either through HECS or at Summer School

2) If preparing for thatexam will mean that you fail other subjects, don't do it, and drop it now.

Again, from my understanding, if you take a subject and do not complete an assignment or hand it in more than 3 weeks after the due date, I think its an auto-fail -- again, thats for my faculty though (Economics and Business) but its been like that for my Arts subjects too.

May I ask what subject you are referring to directly? Someone here might be doing it and can help you, or at least be familiar with the administrative particulars of the course in question.

 

[Shaking Paper]

To Shaking Paper:

You have up to the 9th to drop and fail anyway right?

1) If there is even a small chance that you could pass this subject, then just take the final exam anyway. You never know, you might be surprised, and save youself $600-$2000 dollars re-doing it either through HECS or at Summer School

2) If preparing for thatexam will mean that you fail other subjects, don't do it, and drop it now.

Again, from my understanding, if you take a subject and do not complete an assignment or hand it in more than 3 weeks after the due date, I think its an auto-fail -- again, thats for my faculty though (Economics and Business) but its been like that for my Arts subjects too.

May I ask what subject you are referring to directly? Someone here might be doing it and can help you, or at least be familiar with the administrative particulars of the course in question.

It's an English subject, tomorrow is just a speech in a tutorial that i'm going to be skipping, i'm very behind in my readings and have barely gotten passing marks for the essays so far and all that's left is the final exam, which i'd need a very high score to pass. I don't think doing the exam would cause me to fail anything else though, besides this i'm doing pretty well.
So... when I do fail, I can't just do an extra one next semester...? I don't understand how these things work at all.

Do you know who on staff I should be asking about what will happen and what I should do about it? Surely i'm not the only one in this boat.

 

[ujuphleg]

Hi,

Ok, with regards to question 1 about how to discontinue:

To discontinue a unit of study, go to the Faculty of Arts Office on or before the last day to discontinue without failure and complete a Variation of Enrolment form.

source

You should ask them there about who you should see about your situation as well - they have Academic Advisors on staff who can assist you.

With regards to overloading, this can only be done in Second Year (first years are not allowed to overload except in exceptional circumstances) and you'll need permission from your faculty. They'll usually only grant permission if you have demonstrated you are a capable student - ie. a credit average or above, so if you fail a unit and try and make it up next year, it is highly unlikely that they will permit it.

Exceeding semester limit
Students other than first year are permitted to undertake units of
study up to 30 credit points per semester. Only students due to
complete their degree requirements may be permitted to exceed the
limit with the permission of the Faculty.

taken from page 65 of the Arts Handbook, 2006


I would strongly advise that you go to the Arts Office though (in Main Quad, diagonally opposite the Great Hall) and tell them about your situation and ask what you should do.

Good luck.

 

[jellybeenz]

Which english are you doing?

Why don't you go to the doctor and tell them you have had a migraine for the past few days and have been unable to do your work, seriously tell them how overwhelmed you have been and im sure you will get a doctors certificate, apply for special consideration and talk to your tutor. I am sure they will be understanding.

Don't take a fail unless you absolutely have to... English isn't that hard, you can do a speech without having done all your readings, just do the one it is on and ask your tutor to make it up at another tutorial- you'll get a penalty but at least it will be done. If you aren't failing your other subjects i don't know what the problem is in getting this one assessment done....

English exams are incredibly easy to pass, I was getting just passes for Fiction Film and Power last year and ended up with a credit at the end because I studied for the exam (not even a lot).

 

[Shaking Paper]

Which English is this? 1002? Or the other one?

If it's 1002, I empathise.

Yeah, it's 1002.

I don't think it's something I could arrange to do at a later tutorial, there's only one left anyway.
It is my fault for getting so behind in the readings and not putting enough energy into the subject which I found that I couldnt enjoy, as long as it's not the end of the world. Still, I just don't like the effect that failing a unit might have on me later on, I don't want to have to stay back half a year after my degree, and I was planning to do honours and whatever might come after that, and I don't know if this might have an impact.
Well thanks for the advice, I guess i'll try to get down to the Arts Office during the week.

 

[Shaking Paper]

Are you in the 12pm tute on Tuesdays? Cause that's my one.

I can't fucking stand the subject either, it drives me up the wall. I also wouldn't be surprised if I failed it as well, because like you, I've barely been attending it due to sheer boredom. And if you're in my tute, you'd know our tutor spends most of the stupid thing rambling about utter shit and it just makes it worse... /end rant.

I can't give you constructive advice except for: wank on... make your speech the most pretentious, pompous, most overblown thing EVER and then you'll probably get an HD, if past example is anything to go by.

Nah, i'm an hour later, 1pm with Margaret. It's pretty awful.

Haha, that's a pretty good idea, but there's just no time, I won't have the opportunity to do the reading, or write a speech by tomorrow, especially since I need to study for a speech that I have for another unit the period before and the test I have for another unit a couple of periods afterwards. (I pretty much collapse into bed when I get home every day, definately cuts into what study time I do have)
Also, even if I had written a speech, I really don't think i'd be able to get up and do it in front of that lot.

As long as I dont get an Absent Fail for the unit for not showing up to do the speech at least i'll have some sort of chance with the final exam... not really though. Maybe i'll try to schedule a moment to talk to my tutor later this week.

 

[Olsen]

Is that Margaret Freund?

I can't bear her...lucky i dont have her for any of my primary ed tutes.

 

[darkroomgirl]

Margaret Freund? She's my tutor for Education... and she's nuts. Laughs really scarily too... and by herself as well.

 

[KeypadSDM]

I believe you can overload up to 30cp (5 normal subjects) without faculty permission. Even 32 (I believe) is the upper limit.

 

[transcendent]

i have two assignments that are late and will net me 0 even if i handed them in. do i care? no. but i still have to hand something in if i want to pass with exam marks or other marks not assigment related. i'm also on probation for this semester and this hasn't altered my lack of interest in attempting to perform well. hopefully they don't kick me out.

 

[Toodulu]

just read your course outline- it'll tell you the requirements to pass
also absent fail looks very bad unless you have a medical certificate saying you got ran over by a bus. most people fail a subject here and there and that's fine. but at least hand in something.

i know it's daunting and you think you can't do it.. but just give it a go, it's not that hard to pass first year. also even if you hand it in a few days late you will be penalised but at least you will still get something for it. just not turning up and not handing things in is a very bad habit to get into esp. in first year. that plus any extra marks may be the ones that get you over the pass line. lecturers are always going to be more lenient if they remember seeing your face turning up every week and you're marked down for tutorial participation etc. if you go speak to some lecturers that could usually mean a difference between pass and fail.. but if you put in no effort they will be very nasty to you!