How Do I Progress?

Details of progression for each year of your degree programme.

Year 1 and Year 2 (Pre-Honours)

We provide information on the requirements needed to pass each course on Learn. You should read this carefully for each of your courses and make sure you understand what you need to do.

  • Some courses require you to pass both an exam and coursework elements - averaging a pass mark overall will not necessarily be sufficient.
  • In some courses there may be additional requirements, for example, regular attendance.

The majority of courses taken in Years 1 and 2 (which should be Level 08 or sometimes Level 07) will allow a resit opportunity if you do not pass on the first attempt.

Resits


All full-time students must pass 120 credits for each year of study.

Students who do not pass 120 credits do not have the automatic right to progress into the next year, or to repeat a year.

Core courses

  • Core courses must be passed to enable progression. 
  • For Biological Sciences students, these core courses are Biology 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D (in Year 1) and Biology 2A, 2B, 2C (in Year 2).
  • Students who fail a core course are unlikely to be permitted to progress into the next year of study - they may be able to return to repeat a year in order to have another chance to pass the core course. There may be financial (and/or visa) implications for repeating a year.

Optional courses

  • If a student is 20 credits short of the required total for the year, has passed the core courses but failed an optional course, they should seek guidance from their Student Adviser.  
  • In most cases the student will be permitted to progress into the next year of study and either carry the failed course as ‘assessment/exam only’ or be enrolled in a new course to make up for the credit shortfall. 

Progression Boards

  • In June, the Boards of Examiners will ratify Semester 2 course results (Semester 1 results will have been ratified in January). 
  • Once we have a full set of ratified results for the full year, the Progression Board will meet and review each student's academic record.
  • Students who are able to automatically progress (those who have passed all of the credits required for the year) will receive notification via Euclid.
  • Students who are not yet able to progress but have resit opportunities during the summer will receive a message that their progression is 'deferred'.
  • Decisions on students whose progression was deferred will be made at a further Progression Board in early September. 
  • It is important that you read any progression decision or other message sent to you by email or through Euclid and make sure you understand your situation and what is required of you. Speak to your Student Adviser if you are uncertain.

Progression meetings

  • Students in Year 1 or Year 2 will normally have had a chance to resit any failed courses. If there is still a credit shortfall after the resit Board of Examiners, it may be necessary to attend a meeting with the Director of Studies. 
  • The purpose of the meeting will be to determine the best path forward. This may include repeating a year, repeating courses or taking new ones, or withdrawing from study.
  • In some cases in which an academic record is of concern, it may not be possible or appropriate to repeat, in which case, the Director of Students may decide that the student should be excluded from further study. 
  • Progression meetings take place in September, before the start of the new semester. 
  • If you find yourself in this situation, please take care to regularly check your email and Euclid notes, so that you don't miss any important information or an invitation to a meeting.

Progression meetings will normally be required if you fall into one of these categories:

  • Obtained 100 credits but have failed a core course.
  • Obtained less than 100 credits at the end of Year 1.
  • Obtained less than 220 credits at the end of Year 2.

Progression while carrying credits

  • If you are being permitted to progress but need to carry credits (e.g. you have 100 credits for the year and the course that you failed was optional), a meeting may not be needed but you will receive communications via Euclid. 
  • You should see your Student Adviser to ensure that you are enrolled for any additional credits needed in the following academic year.

Year 3 (Junior Honours) and Year 4 (Senior Honours)

  • For progression into Year 3 students should have passed 240 credits (120 in Year 1 and 120 in Year 2).
  • In addition, to progress into Year 3, students must have passed all core courses in Years 1 and 2.  
  • Students who have passed only 220 credits may be able to progress but would have to make up any the credits during Year 3. The difficulty of taking a full load of Junior Honours courses in addition to extra assessment for a carried course should not be underestimated. Speak to the BTO Student Support team if you find yourself in this position and would like advice. 

  • It is not permitted to retake courses that contribute to honours classification (this includes Level 09 courses taken during Year 3).
  • Therefore, students who fail Year 3 at the first attempt will not be able to graduate with an Honours Degree.
  • They will be entitled to resit courses in the summer resit diet to allow them to gain 360 credits and to graduate with an Ordinary Degree.  

The Progression Board at the end of Year 3 considers the overall academic performance of students, to determine which students qualify to automatically progress into Year 4 and to decide whether credits are to be awarded for any courses that were failed.  

  • Progression into the final year is largely a matter of satisfying the criteria laid down by a programme and by the University Regulations.
  • All students must have 360 credits (including 120 credits at Level 9/10) before they can enter Year 4. 
  • A student must have passed all the required courses to qualify for admission into a specific honours programme.
  • For progression into Year 4 in Biological Sciences, students must have at least 80 credits in Biological Sciences Level 09 courses.  
  • Failure to meet programme-specific requirements will mean that admission into Year 4 is left to the discretion of the Progression Board.  
  • It is not permitted to carry any course from an earlier year into the final year. 

The Regulations allow the Progression Board to award credits for a Level 09/10 course that has been failed, providing:  

  • The student has attained at least 80 credits in Level 09/10 courses in the year.  
  • The average mark for the 120 credits at Level 09/10 courses is at least 40%.  
  • A significant attempt has been made to pass the course.  

Being awarded credit in this way could allow progression into Year 4 if one or two courses were failed in Year 3 (although if core courses are among those failed, the Progression Board would need to investigate whether a change of honours programme could be facilitated if that would enable progression). 


Academic Regulations

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