Students of the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences taking a resit can currently do so in the third week of the next block. Student faction PSB is quite happy with this arrangement. ‘Students from other faculties are jealous of our system.’
But the faculty board has other ideas. They presented a plan for a new calendar. In this, the resit week is scheduled after the two regular exam weeks.
‘The current calendar is causing many practical problems’, says BSS vice dean Greetje van der Werf. ‘It’s very messy: the normal class schedule is being disrupted by a free period. Some students even use that week to go on holiday. It’s just kind of weird.’
The change will also benefit those students who want to start a master’s programme in February. In the new plan, the first resits will take place in late January.
Long time
But the student parties have their doubts. They say the change will mean that exam periods will last three weeks instead of two. ‘Three weeks is a long time to spend in the library’, says spokesperson Stan Wolbers. ‘That’s really stressful.’
The students also think the new calendar will mean they will have a poorer chance of passing their exams. When people can immediately start studying for a resit they’ll have a better chance of retaining the material, they think.
But Van der Werf does not share their ideas. Students don’t take exams seriously enough, she feels. ‘There are too many who don’t study hard enough because they know they can just take the resit. Some don’t even show up.’
Good result
She wants to protect students from themselves. ‘Research has shown that the more inconvenient the planning for resits, the more students actually achieve a good result on their first exam. Some universities don’t offer resits at all. Students often think we’re out to get them. But we’re honestly trying to prevent them from dropping out. Every student that drops out is one too many.’
In addition to BSS, only religious sciences offers a resit moment in the middle of the block. Medical sciences only has resits at the end of the academic year.