I Failed A Subject...What Now?

Inevitably, some students fail subjects. Some fail a lot, others fail one. Some fail for unavoidable reasons, others fail because they are bone lazy or incapable (not the same thing). Regardless, once a student fails a subject they then need to work out the consequences.

If you fail a subject that is a prerequisite for another subject it is VERY unlikely that you will be given a prerequisite waiver to take the next subject. We have tried this in the past and for the majority of students the result is continued failure and a miserably weak degree if they do manage to pass. In most cases you will simply need to wait to pass the first subject before taking the second. Of course you can study subjects that don't have prerequisites, but there will be a limit to how much of this you can do.

There is very little room in the Engineering program to take extra subjects because we have almost zero block mode subjects or multi-semester offerings. This means that to catch up your degree you will probably need to take an overload (five subjects in a semester) sometime. This will only be allowed if you have demonstrated adequate academic capacity in the previous semester by getting four grades of Credit or better - so you will need to improve your game if you have already failed a subject.

The more logical alternative for most students is to be honest about why they have failed a subject (or more) and to accept that a) they need to improve as a student, and b) they may need to take an extra semester or two to complete their degree. If this is accepted then often we can plan a new sequence of subjects that gives you a lighter load in most semesters while getting your life and your academic skills in order ... of course some students don't learn how to be a 'better' student and will simply continue to abuse every opportunity and fail more subjects - they will leave by another door.

If you have failed subjects then you are likely to need to talk to me to ensure that you have a forward-looking study plan that is achievable. All students should complete, and maintain, a "Pathway to Completion" spreadsheet. These are found in Documents>Managing your degree in the Engineering Students community in LearnJCU. There is a new version for students who enrolled in 2010, so everyone should be able to fill in a valid pathway. There will be some errors in the spreadsheet due to the amount of data involved and the recent changes to most degrees, but they are more right than wrong.

If you make an appointment to see me, make sure that you have completed a pathway to completion and emailed me copy (or bring the electronic form with you).

- Message from Mr. Phil. Turner, The Associate Dean of Engineering & Science at James Cook University, Townsville, Australia -