Repeating as external student

Nephew

I failed two exams in the summer and I missed the repeats in September. I just found out a few minutes ago that the exam board won't let me carry them forward as it's the final year, which I suspected.

Does anyone know how much it should cost to repeat these two subjects both internally and externally? It's a part-time course. I passed three of the five exams.

Both subjects are made up of assignments worth 60% and an end of year written exam worth 40%. If I opt to repeat the two subjects as an external student can I submit new assignments or will I only be allowed to sit the written exam worth 40% and use last years marks in the assignments?

kevohmsford

Hey i am in the same boat as you. It costs 200 euro no matter how many modules you carry externally. I am pretty sure this includes assignments but e-mail your lecturers anyway.
Best of luck.

accguy

Basically you have two options:
1. repeat internally
Go to classes for the year.
The cost depends on the course you are on but for a Level 8 course it is 2,319 for the whole year - 60 credits. So if you have to do 20 credits then the cost is a third of that and so on. You also would have to pay the part-time capitation fee of 135.
You need to apply for this. Go to the website and go to registration. The first tab is register me and click on I am a repeat student.
There is a downloadable form and your Head of Dept/School will be able to sign it for you and get it processed.
Chat to lecturer re CA in that case.
You get to go to lectures again and then you also get full access to webcourses and to the library etc.

2. repeat externally
Check to see if you need to do CA as well and what the deadlines are in that case and when the exam is for the modules you have to sit - first semester or second semester. You just need to enter then for exams. cost is quite low for this option but you get no library access.

Nephew

Thanks guys.

Accguy, do you think if I go for the cheaper option of repeating the subjects externally that I will be able to submit new assignments for each subject and possibly get class notes from the lecturer, even for a fee, or will DIT sever all ties with me until exam time?

accguy

Nephew wrote: »

Thanks guys.

Accguy, do you think if I go for the cheaper option of repeating the subjects externally that I will be able to submit new assignments for each subject and possibly get class notes from the lecturer, even for a fee, or will DIT sever all ties with me until exam time?

Generally when you repeat externally you do not have to do the assessments unless specifically requested by the lecturer in the exam results that you receive. It will say repeat assessment if it is required. So it is only the final exam you have to do and that counts for 100%. This can be different for lab classes and practical classes. CA is usually included in the final mark if it is beneficial in a repeat situation so if you passed it the first time then it will stand to you and help you through the next time.

It would be worth your while to speak to the lecturer to see if they are changing the course or if there is something different they are doing. Some will give you notes and others won't ... just the way it is as they only have to give notes to internal students - thats what you pay the larger fees for. If you have a good set of notes from last year then you are ok but since you are repeating this is probably not the case? If not get a set of notes from one of your friends that passed and copy them. Again make sure lecturer is not changing the course too much so the notes are useful to you.

Nephew

accguy wrote: »

Generally when you repeat externally you do not have to do the assessments unless specifically requested by the lecturer in the exam results that you receive. It will say repeat assessment if it is required. So it is only the final exam you have to do and that counts for 100%. This can be different for lab classes and practical classes.

It would be worth your while to speak to the lecturer to see if they are changing the course or if there is something different they are doing. Some will give you notes and others won't ... just the way it is as they only have to give notes to internal students - thats what you pay the larger fees for. If you have a good set of notes from last year then you are ok but since you are repeating this is probably not the case? If not get a set of notes from one of your friends that passed and copy them. Again make sure lecturer is not changing the course too much so the notes are useful to you.

Thanks, accguy.

Last year each subject consisted of 60% assignments/assessment and 40% written exam. So do you mean if I repeat these subjects as an external student that the written exam next May will probably account for 100% of the year rather than 40%?

I won't go into it but the assignments are essentially the reason why I failed the subjects, so I would rather submit new assignments if the exam is still worth 40% of the year but I don't know if this is actually possible as no one in DIT seems to want to give me information.

spiderman1885

I was in yesterday speaking to a lecturer about the very same thing. Basically, I'll be repeating 1 subject internally, each credit is worth €60. This subject is 5 credits, so €300 then you have to pay a capitation fee of €135(This could be more depending on the amount of subjects you have to repeat, I'm not sure) so total I'll be paying €435. This means I'll get to go to the classes and get another shot at that damned CA, which is also the reason I failed, both the initial exam & the repeat. Hope that helps.

Nephew

The department head told me it will cost €2100 to repeat internally. I also got an email from the exams office which said 'it is not a module based course therefore you would have to pay full fee’s to repeat internally which is €2095. The fee for repeating externally is only €200.' When I called registrations they said there is no way it will cost that to repeat two subjects internally.

Tbh both the exams and registrations office have been extremely helpful but no one seems to know how much it will actually cost to repeat internally, or if I repeat externally can I submit new assignments or am I only allowed to sit the exam that is worth 40% of each subject. The exams office told me its down to the lecturer but one of the lecturers told me to contact the exams office.

Numina

Just curious, but if you can't carry subjects over and have to repeat modules externally, do you still progress into the next year and also do the repeat modules but just don't attend classes for them, or do you have to sit the year out while you repeat modules externally?

accguy

Nephew wrote: »

The department head told me it will cost €2100 to repeat internally. I also got an email from the exams office which said 'it is not a module based course therefore you would have to pay full fee’s to repeat internally which is €2095. The fee for repeating externally is only €200.' When I called registrations they said there is no way it will cost that to repeat two subjects internally.

Tbh both the exams and registrations office have been extremely helpful but no one seems to know how much it will actually cost to repeat internally, or if I repeat externally can I submit new assignments or am I only allowed to sit the exam that is worth 40% of each subject. The exams office told me its down to the lecturer but one of the lecturers told me to contact the exams office.

Ok that's fairly odd alright. All DIT courses are modular by definition ... though there may be exceptions. Exceptions usually only apply if the course you are on is not a DIT course and is taught by DIT for some external examination. If that is the case, then you are very unfortunate but it looks like that Institute will dictate the system.

If not then if you go to www.dit.ie/registration and then click on I am a repeat student, you will find a form to fill out as an internal repeat.
There it clearly says that you fill in the modules that you have to resit and there is a basis for calculating the fees as well on a link on those pages.
http://www.dit.ie/registration/feesandgrants/fees/
It basically says that you can repeat the number of ECTS and the fee payable is a percentage based on the ECTS you are doing.

On the repeat assessment issue, decide what you want to do and ask to do that rather than just going from pillar to post. Normally external repeats are not allowed to repeat CA though. Though if you did well in the exam, maybe it is better just to do the exam as a 100% and you have more chance of passing it.

tommy.obr

Not sure about this so you may want to ask your department head. I have a felling that if you repeat a final year subject externally you can only get a pass degree, but if you repeat it internally you can get an honours degree... just another money gabbing exercise from DIT. Maybe you should be considering more than the financial cost of this choice. Maybe someone can confirm this?...

Nephew

Guys, thanks for all the help, especially accguy. I'm going to repeat externally for €200, apparently the exam will account for 100% rather than 40%.

Numina, if you repeat externally its basically you and your books for the whole year, i.e, no use of DIT services.

Tommy, fortunately I am not in the final year yet but that's good to know for next year.

tommy.obr

Dude, just repeat externally, and still turn up for classes, the lectures wont know any different...They'll see your not on the list alright, but theres always mistakes on them lists, just say you were left out. And if ya need books, stuff from the library etc i'm sure someone will lend you a student card. Alot of lecturers will answer your emails aswell, just dont mention the fact your an external repeat then they have no reason not to.

good luck with it

grimm2005

tommy.obr wrote: »

And if ya need books, stuff from the library etc i'm sure someone will lend you a student card

I'm pretty sure you can pay an extra €60 or so and that will allow you use of the library

r0qi4162fux9kg

who do you contact to organise repeating as an external student?