What Happens If You Fail a Final?

Are you here to learn what happens if you fail a final or midterm? Well, in this article, we will give you a proper idea of what you should expect when you fail a final or midterm. We will also tell you how you can still pass the class after failing. If you have had a rough day in the exam hall or were not prepared for the exam, you can score pretty less in that exam. We have all been hearing since childhood how bad it is to score fewer marks. 

But as we grow up, we come to learn it is not just studies that help us score good marks. There are a lot of factors that should be combined together in order to score high marks in exams. Sometimes, it is stress, depression, and whatnot a student struggles with. It all ends up with a bad day in the exam hall, leading to failure in that exam. If this happens only once, in one subject, then professors will allow you to pass.

 It all depends upon your professor as well. Some professors finalize the total score by adding the scores of all subjects and taking out the average. Some professors add the score of final exams, midterm exams, and even homework, and then take out the average. 

Here is What Happens If You Fail a Final

It is still possible to pass the class if you fail one final. It is time for Weighted-Grade systems to come into play. They provide students with the numerical advantage of higher grades in other courses which they have earned. We are talking about a single subject here. If you have been good at other subjects, then your overall average may save you from failing the class. 

It also depends upon the weightage of your final exams. If your final exams are worth 20% of your overall grades, then the failure will affect 20% of your overall grades. But it is different from college to college. There are some colleges, where the final exam is worth just 10%. You see, in college, the final exam is just like another regular test. So, you do not want to take a lot of pressure for that. 

Here are a few things that decide what happens when you fail a final :

  • The weightage or worth of your final exam. 
  • What is your overall current grade? 
  • How many marks you have failed by?  

How You Can Pass The Class Even After Failing The Final? 

As we have mentioned in our above sections, the failure of the final exam will make you lose your grade unless you have enrolled yourself into a failing course grade. But that is not really a common practice. Now, it all comes down to the weightage of your final exam and how much it matters. If the exam is not much worth it, it will not cause you to fail your class. 

A thing that students should remember is to never leave their exam papers empty. If you are studying in that class, then you must be knowing at least something about that subject. So, write related stuff to the question in the exam paper, and it is possible you will be able to score some marks. If you miss the exam or leave the paper completely empty, you will definitely score a zero. And that scenario completely makes you lose all hopes of passing the class. Because that will affect your grades a lot. 

How You Can Fail The Class Even After Failing The Final? 

Well, we have discussed the possibility of passing the class even after failing the final. It is time to discuss why you can fail your class once you fail your final exams. Well, it is not uncommon for a student to fail their class after scoring badly in the final exams. Because sometimes, final exams can decide if you are going to pass the class or not. 

If you failed a class due to the failure of final exams, many odds will be against you. First of all, your course grades were already down, which put you under pressure even before the final exam. Once the final exams become the deciding factor between passing and failing the class, it becomes very difficult for a student to overcome that pressure. 

Let us take an example to make you understand the situation in a better way. Let us say your total overall score is 70% before you sit to give your final exam. In this situation, your final exam matters a lot to you. Your final exam in this case is accounting for 40% of the total score. If you see yourself scoring 40% in the final exam, that means you will fail your class with just 58%. 

Possible Outcomes of Failing a Final Exam

It is not just about passing and failing after the final. There can be other possible outcomes as well, although it all depends upon which school you are studying and their academic policy. Now, let us discuss the potential outcomes of failing a final 

Retaking the Exam

You will have to retake the final test if you have failed it for the first time. In some cases, you are required to pass only those portions in which you have failed in the final exam. But sometimes, you will have to study all the concepts again that are required for the final exam. You also need to remember the exam may not be the same one that you failed. Your teacher may keep the concepts the same but the questions can be different. So make sure you prepare well this time. 

Meeting Your Teacher

Well, it is one of the most interesting outcomes of failing an exam. It may be a bit nervous for a student to meet the teacher after failing an exam. But sometimes, the one-on-one discussion with your teacher can become very crucial for many possible reasons. If you are still unsure why you scored low marks in your final exam, your teacher can help you out and clear your doubts. 

Many times, students do not perform well in their exams because their concepts are not clear. And if you failed due to any of that reasons, you do not want to repeat this mistake next time. Once you meet your teacher, ask them to clear your concepts this time, so you can perform better. Teachers also like to communicate with students who have failed the final exams to understand their issues. It gets very important for a teacher as well to learn what has gone wrong for the student. 

Repeating the Class 

Well, this is possible the last thing a student wants after failing the final exam. It means the student will have to repeat the entire course or class. The student does earn credit towards graduation after failing a class. So for recovery of those credits, you will have to retake classes. If it is not possible for you, you will have to increase your course load in the next semester. Many times students take night and weekend classes to recover the credit. 

Ineligible for School Extracurriculars

A lot of schools take help from GPA to allow students for participating in extracurricular activities. Different schools have a different limits for that. You should be aware of the cut-off in your institute, but usually, it is a 2.0 GPA. Once the grade dip below this score, a student is not allowed to participate in the school’s athletic or extracurricular activities. A few schools do not allow students to participate in extracurricular programs once they fail the final. 

Well, here were some of the possible outcomes of failing the exam. But these are not the limits. There are so many things that schools do once a student fails a final exam. It really puts the student under a lot of pressure. Because things are not going to be better anyway. 

So, if you really want to avoid the situations we have discussed above, you should pass your final exam. You need to be consistent with your studies. Do not wait for failing in the final in order to ask your doubts to the teacher. If you face any issues with your studies anywhere, just simply go to your teacher and they will help you out. 

Final Words

We hope that now you know what happens if you fail a final. You need to be consistent with your grades throughout the year if you do not want your final exam to decide your fate. To read more interesting articles like this, please visit www.TheDarshika.com. If you feel this article has helped you out, please take a moment to share it with your friends. Also, do not forget to leave a comment down below to let us know your thoughts regarding this article. 

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