Special Consideration

[MelonBar]

Hey guys, I've never had to apply for special consideration til now (for one of my final exams) & I was hoping someone could help me out with a few questions I had 

If your application gets accepted, can you retract it later? I'm only concerned about passing one of my subjects and if it turned out I passed I would rather not sit the exam again although I was disadvantaged when I sat it.

When do you get to know if your application is accepted?

When do you sit the supplementary exam?

Has anyone had to exercise the "final subject" rule? Where if you fail 1 of your subjects and this is preventing you from graduating that year you are sometimes able to complete additional assessment to pass. I am interested in learning more about this 

Cheers!

[heart]

15.   Reassessment
15.1.    Reassessment is not available in all courses. Faculties/graduate schools will determine the availability of reassessment and publish applicable details in subject outlines.

15.2.    Examiners may only offer a student reassessment as a second attempt at passing a subject if a borderline failure in a single subject (other than a research project or thesis) has a significant impact on the student’s progression through their course.

15.3.    A borderline failure is defined as a mark of 45% or more, however a 40% mark threshold may be applied where failure will have a significant impact on course progression. Faculties/graduate schools will decide borderline failure mark thresholds and publish details in the Handbook and the subject outline.

15.4.    Examples of circumstances in which failure of a subject will have a significant impact on course progress include the following:

The course is a fixed, full-time course and failure in one subject would result in the student’s progress to the next level of the course being delayed a year.
The subject is a compulsory subject, offered only once a year, and a key prerequisite for the next year of study in the student’s course.
The subject is a year-long subject.
The core/compulsory subject will not be available in a future year as it is part of a course that is phasing out.
The subject forms part of a fixed part-time program or a tightly integrated course where many subjects are co-requisites, or where 6.25 point subjects exist. In such cases, examiners may grant that student can undertake reassessment in two 6.25 point subjects and may vary the timing of this form of additional assessment. Where this is the case the details will be published in the Handbook, and the Course Progress Committee will decide each application.
15.5.    The board of examiners will determine the form of reassessment to be offered to students.

15.6.    Examiners will award a maximum mark of 50% (pass grade) where reassessment has been offered.


From http://policy.unimelb.edu.au/MPF1026#section-3.12

[spectroscopy]

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If your application gets accepted, can you retract it later? I'm only concerned about passing one of my subjects and if it turned out I passed I would rather not sit the exam again although I was disadvantaged when I sat it.

ye you can do that. when you find out you get accepted for special consideration, you get an email saying "you have been granted special consideration, you have the option to a) keep your exam score and do nothing or b) supplementary exam/special assessment" so you can definitely say "nah im happy with a 51 i dont want to re sit"

When do you get to know if your application is accepted?

When do you sit the supplementary exam?

a couple weeks after your application is usually when you find out if you received special consideration, and the supplementary exam is usually a couple of weeks after that.
 in june i had an exam in the first week of the exam period, got notified that i received special consideration about 3 and a half weeks later, and then had the supplementary exam like 3 weeks after that

good luck

[sjayne]

a couple weeks after your application is usually when you find out if you received special consideration, and the supplementary exam is usually a couple of weeks after that.

For one of my subjects I got notified that I received special consideration less than a week after the exam

[Gentoo]

you have the option to a) keep your exam score and do nothing or b) supplementary exam/special assessment" so you can definitely say "nah im happy with a 51 i dont want to re sit"

Just to clarify here, I've heard from a head tutor/subject coordinator (of a commerce subject, so perhaps this doesn't apply to all faculties) that if you resit an exam, they just take the highest of your marks for that subject (so if you do worse sitting the supp exam, they take your original grade). So there's no reason not to sit it (unless you think having a go at getting a higher mark isn't worth your time).

[spectroscopy]

Just to clarify here, I've heard from a head tutor/subject coordinator (of a commerce subject, so perhaps this doesn't apply to all faculties) that if you resit an exam, they just take the highest of your marks for that subject (so if you do worse sitting the supp exam, they take your original grade). So there's no reason not to sit it (unless you think having a go at getting a higher mark isn't worth your time).

i do commerce and had supplementary exams and can confirm that is not true
alot of the staff dont really know what happens with the special consideration, even when i was emailing them about supplementary exams alot of teaching staff were very weary of saying anything concrete in writing (email) because the special consideration department are very autonomous
I wish they did take the higher score though but i guess they make it this way to stop illegitimate claims

here is a copy paste from the email i got saying i got special consideration for two commerce subjects last semester

"This outcome means that you have been offered an opportunity to sit a special exam during the special exam period (16- 24 July 2015). Special exams will be assigned the same weighting with the same range of available grades as the original exam it replaces.
 
If you decide to sit the special exam your special exam mark will count towards your final result even if your original mark was higher.
 
If you decide not to attend the special exam, your original exam result will count towards your final result."

so you should definitely only sit a supplementary exam if you are really not happy with your first score because the supplementary exam will count
 

[Gentoo]

Wow, really? Geez, I really got a wrong turn there. Thanks for the correction.