Supporting Students for Resits

Research in the College of Science and Engineering

In 2010 interviews were conducted with 50 students in the College of Science and Engineering to learn about their experiences of resit examinations. The full report will be presented at the Learning and Teaching Committee on 1st June 2011.

Some of the broad lessons learned from this project are relevant to supporting students for resits in all parts of the University:

• it's important that students are advised about how to approach resit exams and particularly that they get a chance to think about how to avoid the mistakes they made in revising for the failed exam;
• contacting students proactively to offer support is much better than waiting for them to ask;
• students can feel awkward about asking for help with resits, particularly if they know they have made mistakes in their learning, so it's important to make it really clear that students are welcome to seek guidance;
• remember that some students are away from the University over the summer so make it clear how these students can get guidance at a distance. General exam feedback and sample answers for past papers in Moodle might be helpful;
• some students don't realise that University staff are available over the summer so make it clear who is available and how to contact these people.

There is guide for resitting students in the College of Science and Engineering, which might be helpful for your students.

Additional Sources of Support

Services which might be relevant for your resitting students would include:

• the Student Learning Service which incorporates NUMBER: Student Mathematical Support;
• the Student Counselling and Advisory Service;
• the Disability Service.
• the Advice Centre, run by the Students' Representative Council.