Possible mitigating circumstance

[Jesudumbi]

Hello, I am conflicted about how to properly explain a low score that I had in 1 module without it looking like an excuse. So this module, I only answered two out of three questions and barely passed the 50 mark. It is inconsistent with my other modules and obvious that something might have gone wrong I guess but I don't want to present it sloppily. I was genuinely physically sick and in pain on the day I wrote this module and coupled with the anxiety of the exam, I was only able to answer 2 questions. There's also the part of if I knew I was sick I should have contacted the school and probably rescheduled my paper but I was really overwhelmed and could not do that out of fear. How best can I explain this whole situation? I still got a high 2.1 overall for my aggregate so I meet the minimum qualification but I can't help but worry about this low score. Thank you for your help!

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Did you make the university aware after the exam?

 

[Jesudumbi]

Did you make the university aware after the exam?

I actually did not, unfortunately. I felt like the time I had was to recover and prepare for my next paper to prevent the same thing happening again.

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

The difficulty is here that unfortunately you won’t have anyone to verify your circumstances or how they impacted your studies - in these instances firms can be reluctant to consider them as ultimately there is no evidence of them.

You can still include explaining your mitigating circumstances in an application though and the advantage you do have is that it will clearly look like an anomaly compared to your other grades, and therefore may be taken into consideration. There is no harm in including the details - I think you just need to explain you were unwell on the day of the exam but sat the exam anyway, but due to the illness we’re unable to complete the last question.

 

[Jesudumbi]

Thank you very much for your help.