For some, the impact of COVID-19 will have had a greater impact than others, particularly for example those who have had caring responsibilities for those who have been shielding. For others the last academic year may have been affected by something completely unrelated to COVID-19 which has still had a big impact on their studies.
For those who feel it is right to do so, you can apply to repeat the year. If this is you – we can support you too. A request to repeat the year can be made via an extenuating circumstances report form. Click here to be taken to our dedicated extenuating circumstances page.
Things to consider for a repeat of the year -
Will my situation be better?
Looking out at the year ahead and taking in to consideration your situation now and what additional support might be put in place for you, do you think this coming year will give you a better chance to perform to your best academic ability?
The delivery of your course will be different.
It’s worth considering how the “new normal” way of life and delivery of your course will suit you. Whilst we don’t know the details of how UEA will run individual courses, it is likely to be a blended approach with a mixture of small face to face learning opportunities and online learning.
COVID-19 by itself may not be a valid reason.
Similarly to an academic appeal COVID-19 in and of itself may not be reason enough for UEA to accept your application to repeat the year. This is because everyone has gone through uncertainty and disruption since the lockdown in March. If COVID-19 is your reason for asking for the repeat of the year, you will need to explain in your extenuating circumstance form why your situation is different to others and why you have been particularly affected.
Should I make the request now or see how I do in my reassessments?
If you have not passed coursework and exams and have been sent to reassessment, you could wait and see how you get on in your reassessments before making the decision.
The thing to think about, however, is that if you take your reassessments and fail them you are likely to be withdrawn from the course. (This doesn’t apply to those taking delayed first attempts in August). If you are withdrawn from the course you will need to make an academic appeal against this withdrawal before you can request to repeat the year.
These processes are lengthy and whilst UEA has made some adjustments, there may not be time for you to go through the appeal process following withdrawal from the course to enable you to start studying again in September if your appeal is upheld. If you found yourself in this situation you may be looking at taking a break in studies before you are able to return in 2021.
While this is will worry some we’re not looking make anyone unduly concerned. It is important that you are as informed as possible in order to make the best possible decisions.
If you feel, based upon your situation, you are unlikely to perform any better in this upcoming assessment period and would like to repeat the year then this is an option you should consider. To have a chance of starting a repeat year this September, you would need to start the process of requesting it before the resits.
Can you afford it?
If you are studying with the financial support of Student Finance in terms of receiving Tuition Fee and Maintenance loans, and you have never repeated a year, you should receive a further year's funding.
Eligibility for student finances is worked as follows:
length of course + 1 additional year – previous study (HE study regardless of whether Student Finance was taken or not) = funding available.
Example 1.
Johnny is in his 3rd year of a Drama degree. He is in his final year and hasn’t repeated a year before but has requested to. For him the calculation would be:
3 years (length of course) + 1 additional years – 3 years (the three years study he has just completed) = 1 years available funding.
Example 2.
Jess was also studying Drama and in her 3rd year but she had completed a year of Biology before switching to Drama. For her the calculation would be:
3 years (length of course) + 1 additional years – 4 years (the 3 years study she has just completed on the Drama course and the 1 year doing Biology) = 0 years available funding.