results support

If you have failed an assessment or exam and it was your first attempt at it (and it cannot be classed as a condoned fail,) you will normally be offered a reassessment attempt in August.

If you are not happy with your results and you think that they have been affected by something outside your control you may be able to make an academic appeal.

It’s important to say that unfortunately, simply not achieving the marks you hoped for is not a grounds for making an academic appeal – the academic judgement of the marker(s) is not appealable. You must show that there is a valid ground of appeal. For a list of these, see our academic appeals page.

While we understand it can be extremely disappointing to have just missed out on the degree classification you were hoping for, being close to the grade boundary is not in itself a ground for an appeal. 

Where regulations allow for an uplift in grade boundaries, this will have already been considered/actioned by the Exam Board before your results were released.

The most frequently used ground for an appeal is that something at the time of your deadlines or exams prevented you from performing to the academic standard that you would otherwise achieved - for example like poor health/wellbeing or personal problems such as an adverse family situation. For an appeal you will need to provide supporting evidence, and explain in detail the circumstances affecting you. 

UEA believes that they have put measures in place to prevent COVID-19 having too much of an impact on results and introduced a “safety net” (see here). Therefore, if your appeal is based upon the impact of COVID-19 you’ll need to explain why the measures UEA put in place were not enough to prevent you from being affected more than other students. COVID-19 on its own is unlikely to be enough of a reaons to uphold an appeal. There are some other valid appeal grounds – you can find more information on these on our Academic Appeals page.

Making an academic appeal can feel daunting but remember – we are here for you. You don’t have to go it alone.Click here to be taken to our dedicated academic appeals page.

Will my situation be better? 

Looking forward 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 what the "new normal" way of life and delivery will be next year and whether they will suit you. As yet we do not know how EA will run individual courses, but it is likley that some teaching will remain online, with some small group learning opportunities if government restrictions allow.

COVID-19 by itself may not be a valid reason for an appeal or repeat year. 

COVID-19 and associated restrictions may not be reason enough for UEA to accept your application to repeat the year without additional factors specific to you. This is because everyone has gone through uncertainty and disruption over the past 18 months. 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. 

However, 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 withdrawal in order to request to repeat the year. It might be better to request a repeat year or appeal now and ask for a delayed first sit, if you have grounds. The appeal process takes 4-6 weeks and if you wait to appeal until you get resit results, 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 you appeal is upheld.

If you find yourself in this situation you may be looking at taking a break in studies before you are able to return in 2022. 

While this may seem worrying, we're not looking make anyone unduly concerned. We want you to be as informed as possible in order to make the best possible decisions. 

If you feel, based upon your current situation, you are unlikely to perform at your best 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 a repeat year? 

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 3^rd 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 3^rd 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. 

This is another option available. If you think you won’t perform well in the August assessment period due to things outside of your control, but do not wish to repeat the year you could request a break in your studies and defer you reassessments until the spring 2022 assessment period. 

It’s important to note that while you are on a break in studies you will be unable to access academic support during this time therefore most of your learning and exam prep will need to be self-led. You will, however, continue to have access to the Library and course materials online. 

Again, you can make this request by submitting an extenuating circumstances report form.