I handed in my thesis and was given a rewrite and represent.

I found out on Friday that my represent had failed. Indeed I was told it was "way below the pass mark". I dont understand why, if it was way beyond the passmark, it didnt just fail the first time.

I just feel totally numb. How can supervisors just watch you work on something they must already know is going to fail. I know that they are not there to do it for you (and neither did I expect that) but it still seems harsh. I may as well just not have bothered.

I have seen some of the thesis passed and published by this Uni. Some are written in such bad English they are almost unreadable, some just use existing tools to measure safety attitudes etc whereas I was told the thesis had to add something new etc.

Sorry - I just feel so angry and bitter. Humiliated that even though I passed my modules, work for a world leading company and am good at what I do that apparently I am not good enough :$:-(

Hi MidnightOne. First and foremost try not to panic too much. I understand you are probably feeling quite low and unhappy about it at the moment, give yourself time to get angry and frustrated, then you need to look at what the options are.

Just to clarify, is this your masters thesis or your undergraduate thesis (just from the fact this is in "prospective masters" students and the time of year). The first time you were told to rewrite it, were you given a list of where the problems and did you address all of these? Have you been given a new list of why it has failed this time around? Who was it who marked this, was it the same person/people as the first time? Have you spoken to your supervisor since as well and what did they say?

Hi and thanks so much for replying.

This is my MSc thesis.

My supervisor phoned and told me on Friday. She said she couldnt give me any more details. Information will be coming out from the Registry department apparently.

Yes - after my first submission I was given a list of things to address. I did this and handed it back in. According to my supervisor on Friday I didnt address them in enough depth. She said she was not allowed to go in to any more detail.

She was one of the markers. It was also marked by another person at the Uni and then to an external. She is a research fellow and I was her first student as a thesis supervisor.

I had no clue this was coming. Of course I realised I might still fail but to be told it was "way below" was a horrible shock and has left me really upset.

Sorry if I have posted this in the wrong forum.

Thanks for clarifying the situation.

I would ask your supervisor how long it will be before the examiners report is due to come to you or if she can't tell you this ask the registry directly. Without knowing why you failed, it's hard to know whether it or is not justified.

Have you had any problems with supervision generally? If the report comes back and you don't feel it is justfied and there have been problems, then you will probably need to lodge a formal complaint. Speak to the admissions tutor for your course, or the head of department, or get advice from your students union on this. However, you have to make sure that it is a genuinely unjustified mark and not just because you feel it is so.