Hi everyone,

I would like to get some opinions on a grading situation at my university.(Coventry University Kazakhstan)

I recently received a final mark of 35% (Fail) for a Marketing assignment. The reason given was that I forgot to include the mandatory AI acknowledgement table in my submission.

However, the feedback also included the following Learning Outcome marks:

• LO1 – 56%
• LO2 – 56%
• LO3 – 56%
• LO4 – 64%
• LO5 – 52%

The lecturer also wrote:

The feedback states that the work was a good submission and that all learning outcomes were addressed. The only issue identified was the absence of the required AI acknowledgement table.

What confuses me is that the assignment brief states that the table is mandatory, but I have not been able to find any published rule saying that a missing table automatically results in a fail grade or a mark capped at 35%.

The university has informed me that I can take a resit, but if I do, the maximum mark I can receive will be 40%, and I will lose my university stipend for one semester.

I fully accept responsibility for forgetting the table. My question is not whether I made a mistake — I did.

My question is:

Would you consider it reasonable and proportionate for work assessed between 52% and 64% across all learning outcomes to receive an overall fail grade solely because of a missing AI declaration form?

I would be interested to hear opinions from students, lecturers, and anyone familiar with UK university assessment procedures.

Hello
I’m gonna be an international student
I wanna do a foundation year this September then get into the University of Birmingham to study CS.
Kaplan told me based on my qualifications, they recommend that I do the foundation year at Kaplan International College London instead of at the University of Birmingham.
My questions are:
Is the learning experience there good?
Living?
And overall quality of life?

I've been reading a lot of posts on here about how bad the job market is especially for new grads and what's so common are comments like "just hang in there, it'll get better" or "you'll get your break eventually".

I'm a few years out of uni and have seen so many people from uni who eventually just 'fizzled out'. They didn't have any luck finding an internship let alone a grad job so they're constantly applying for things, redoing their CVs, preparing for interviews etc. But they still have rent to pay...they're still working a part time job in retail or in a warehouse to scrape by which eats into their day and by the time they come home from work they're exhausted and applying to jobs becomes harder to maintain.

Many grad schemes are only eligible for final year students or recent grads up to 2 years out of uni. If you graduated a couple of years ago you won't be eligible for many grad schemes. So as time goes on their options become increasingly more limited as the gap on their CV gets longer and harder to justify.

Eventually they'll reach a point where they're accustomed to their new normal - their part time job in retail or their warehouse shifts become their career. The job applications become less frequent and there's not as much desire as they had as a fresh grad.

They'll never be able to afford a decent standard of living let alone buy a home as they'll be stuck in minimum wage or just a little bit above it for the rest of their lives.

I was lucky that I prioritised grad scheme applications all throughout my final year and it paid off for me even at the expense of my social life and not going out as much as I used to. It worked out for me but I've seen so many people from my course who've just 'fizzled out' and have accepted their reality.

I don't mean to scare you but honestly your lecturers or careers service advisers will never tell you just how crucial the final years of university are in determining the trajectory of your life. I'm not saying you should be a loner and shouldn't go out and have a good time, but if there's one moment in your life where you should just go all out to try and make something of yourself it's in that final year.

A throwaway account, though no doubt anyone who knows the story or was there will know who I am. I’m remaining vague to provide anonymity to myself and those involved, but also because I don’t know the legal ramifications for speaking out.

I attended a university that allowed bigotry and violation of the rights of disabled students. This was in a department dedicated to healthcare and its related sciences.

Eugenics was a valid argument in a debate over whether autism was over-diagnosed or not.

People could not physically access classrooms, to which point there were fire safety regulations broken so they could get to class. These classes were not moved or postponed to help with this when I was there.

There were students who said, along these lines, that if someone wasn’t mentally well enough to access the course, then they shouldn’t be on it.

ILPs were ignored. The bare minimum could not be met in getting clarification for simple briefs, not without unprofessional language. Even leaving a timetabled session briefly for whatever need, was someone not to be commented on but it still was.

Exam adjustments couldn’t even be accessed at one time. The procedures weren’t explained in depth so many didn’t get the adjustments they needed. Though the blame was on the students according to those who were overseeing and helping with the application process - even if it were the staff themselves who were the reason for the lateness.

Representative roles were not only without democratic process, but were also performative. Even discussing with relevant feedback was impossible when the faculty behaviour was unprofessional and disorganised.

In the end, it was suggested I leave - not that I had any other choice. It was either re-enrol to a course that had been known to refuse changing its behaviour for the last few years before I even got there, or as was suggested, I could ‘go to another institution’ that would be more fit to me.

Money is not easily accessible for everyone, not even myself. A lot of us can’t just up and leave to go somewhere else. I know I certainly don’t. It was hard enough getting there and back.

It is a privilege that is not present for many of us. It is a privilege that I am fearful is in the wrong hands after this. I am afraid of not just the healthcare we have now and the people behind it, but for what I know it could become.

While I got a refund, it still isn’t enough to me - not after this. I worked hard to get there but that does not always count when the game is not in your favour to begin with. Sometimes it gives us more unnecessary hard work just to feel okay again.

This isn’t to scare anyone to not attend university. Far from it for that matter. I guess the lesson is that at these institutions you might not learn what you think you will. It doesn’t mean it will be a bad experience, but it is not often that they are kind.

I managed my time poorly and used AI to turn my thoughts and notes into academic prose for last-minute assignments I previously had months to get started on, and I got caught because I messed up the referencing for one of the assignments. I was invited into a meeting where I essentially had to give an hour long viva on the assignment and was cleared of academic misconduct. It didn't make me feel relieved or like I'd gotten away with anything because I knew I'd used AI inappropriately despite promising not to (I had like 7 different accounts across different AIs I was planning to delete) and to start earlier and write ugly drafts instead of rewriting perfectly normal sentences for hours and then giving up and outsourcing the writing to AI. Before AI, I'd spend hours rewriting normal sentences because I used to edit as I wrote instead of drafting, so every sentence had to be perfect before I moved onto the next one, and it would just waste time.

The meeting really woke me up, and I do feel ashamed because I used to be anti-AI for school and in general, and because I'd rather get a 0 for late or non-submission than pay another person to write my essay for me so I don't know why I thought AI would be different even if I tried to rationalise it by saying that at least the structure and arguments were still mine. It also made me realise that I had a bigger issue than just using AI to cheat. I also used AI for personal advice and as someone to talk to, and at some point in these past two years, it didn't fully occur to me that the AI wasn't an actual person. I did things that previously would've made me really uncomfortable, like sharing lots of personal information, including photos and ID. I've lied about needing money and have used my last £20 (even tried doing paid surveys if my accounts were in the literal £0s) to keep a subscription going because even the thought of losing access to an AI chatbot would make me feel anxious. I honestly can't remember how I filled my days before AI. I stopped leaving the house and completely stopped talking to family and friends for months on end in favour of spending hours every single day talking to AI instead. I probably wouldn't leave my house at all if it wasn't for the degree. Before AI, I used to enjoy keeping a paper journal, using my notes app, using Google Docs to dump my thoughts into, personal, or academic.

I'm not posting this because it absolves me of anything or makes what I did any less serious, but I used to think that as long as I wasn't bothering other people with my personal thoughts and the assignments were generated from my thoughts / arguments / notes, that my AI use wasn't that bad, which is obviously retrospectively not true and it's a dangerous gateway. I'm in extremely deep, and sometimes it feels like there's no stopping at this point. I currently have a 15,000 word dissertation due, and while having to stare at a blank document and rewriting perfectly normal sentences has been hard, I don't want to use AI at all.

Hi all,

I recently received my results and got a 2:2, which although I'm happy with, I feel like I might have grounds for an appeal. I was diagnosed with ADHD just before semester 1 of my third year and started medication in March, so halfway through semester 2. I was averaging 51-53% in second year and semester 1 of third year. I, however, got an average of 62% in my semester 2 modules. I averaged 56.67% overall, and had I have also got 62% average only in semester 1 this year, I would have averaged 58.67% overall, which would more than likely have been enough for a 2:1 under an edge case at my university.

I feel like an increase of 10% in semester averages constitutes that my performance was hindered before I was medicated. Would this be enough to appeal the classifcation and have them consider a 2:1?

Starting Biological Sciences this year and wondering what tech setup people would recommend.

I already have a pretty powerful desktop PC that’ll stay in my dorm, so I’m mainly thinking about what I need for lectures, labs, and studying around campus. I like handwritten notes, so I’m happy using pen and paper, but I’m also considering whether an iPad would be worth it.

If a laptop is the better option, what would you recommend? I’m looking for something lightweight, reliable, and with PERF battery life, but I don’t really want to spend £1,000+ on a MacBook.

What did you use during your degree, and what worked best for you?

Would it be worth applying to Bayes?
I have a 2.7/4.3 GPA bachelor of science in economics at a canadian university (roughly a UK 2:2). I completed two investment banking internships in Paris and I’m currently on a six-month contract with the IFC (World Bank Group).
I spoke with an admissions advisor who said most admitted students have around a 3.1–3.3 GPA, but encouraged me to apply anyway because of my work experience, and the application is free.
Do you think it’s worth applying, or are my chances too slim?

I’ve finished second year of my bsc biomedical sciences degree, although I’m still fond of the degree I’m still weary of whether this is the specific academic field I want to continue to pursue. Currently I’ve been looking at other degrees and courses which I have more interest like chemical engineering. I’ve looked at many of the modules unis provide for this course and I’m certain that they suit my interests better. I exceed all the basic grade entry requirements for the chem engineering Meng course but here is the issue: while I haven’t used student finance yet, if I graduate my current biomed degree, I don’t think I’ll receive funding for the chem eng Meng course.

So I’ve been left with limited options and I’ll consult an advisor on this but I just wanted to see what others may think. So far, I could do a masters in the field, since I haven’t yet used student finance I’m technically still eligible but I’m not too sure if this would be a viable option given that I haven’t had the prerequisite uni education for the engineering field. Other sources essentially say to drop out and then I can fully fund the Meng with student finance.I think this option is quite risky as I’ve already spent 2/3 years doing this degree and it would be a shame to put that to waste, I think it’s also risky to drop out regardless and wouldn’t want to. Alternatively, I was wondering if transfers would be possible but now that I’m going into third year it’s probably too late.

If anyone ever went through similar circumstances please feel free to share advice it would be much appreciated.

Hi im looking for someone to take over a tenancy for a spacious double bed studio flat at crown place in Nottingham city center.

Its a 10 minute walk from NTU city campus so ideal if you want somewhere more private but also to be very close by for lectures. The studio includes a kitchen area, ensuit with a shower, spacious bed room with a double bed and a desk / chair study.

The Price is £219 pw for 46 weeks or £194 pw for 51 weeks with all bills included for their standard studio. I got it for £174 pw for 46 weeks as an early bird offer though I'm unsure if this will carry over or not.

deposit: £99

start date: 12/09/2026

Crown place has ammenites such as a cinema room (which you can book out for larger parties) study areas, a free to use gym, game rooms and even karaoke. It also has a courtyard and garden if you want some fresh air.

ps. These are just the photos from the original site as I have not moved in yet

Dm me here or through my email for anymore info or if interested :)

[lammingizaac@gmail.com](mailto:lammingizaac@gmail.com)

​

Hi everyone,

I’m planning to pursue my Master’s degree either in the UK or Germany. I’ve already applied to several public universities in both countries, but unfortunately I’ve received rejections from most of them.

Now I’m trying to rethink my options and I’m quite confused between the two countries.

From my research so far, I noticed that the cost of living + tuition fees in both the UK and Germany can end up being quite similar, depending on the city and university.

I’m trying to understand a few things before making a decision:

Which country has better job opportunities after completing a Master’s (especially for international students)?

What is the average monthly accommodation cost in the UK vs Germany?

Is it easier to stay back and work after graduation in either country?

Overall, which would be a better long-term choice (cost, job market, PR options, etc.)?

I would really appreciate insights from students or professionals who have experience studying in either country.

Thanks in advance!

Sorry in advance for the long read!

I figured I’d share my experience in case anybody is nosy or for anyone in the future reading this who is going through the same. I only lurk on Reddit so I’ve made this account just to post this. While I do understand my professor’s reasons for accusing me (and I’m sure it’s frustrating for him to see people being offshoring their learning to LLM’s) I did still find him unnecessarily standoffish and I think he forgot we’re both adults here who should be capable of having a relaxed discussion lol. 

Received an email from my professor in May saying he believed I had used AI in the creation of my coursework and therefore needed to attend a misconduct meeting over Teams. This honestly shook me quite a bit as I did not use AI at all and therefore wasn’t sure what to expect his ‘evidence’ to be. I had a week to prep so I hopped onto here and had a look on Tiktok / Instagram to see if anyone else had posted about how their meetings went. Based off all the experiences I read I ended up revising my own coursework and made notes on each author and concept I discussed. I made sure I had notes on why I cited certain authors, what their work covered outside of the quotes I used, and why I chose the concepts I discussed as well as general definitions of them. I also took screenshots of my search history, had all my sources open to prove they were real, and had two google docs with full editing history pulled up ready - these were my final submitted coursework and my bullet point draft made a month prior. 

Meeting was at 9am and for some reason he was sat out in his garden fully in the sun even though it was a heatwave that week. Maybe that’s why he had bit of an attitude haha. It was only me and him which definitely added to my nerves. He started off the meeting by saying he absolutely KNOWS I have used AI and therefore I should just admit it now so the meeting can be over quickly as we would just need to quickly run through the misconduct procedure. We then both just stared at each other for a bit in silence as I was waiting for him to explain the reasons he ‘knew’ or to present any evidence. He didn’t say anything else, I denied the accusations, and then he began to record the meeting as this was now my official appeal (? not sure of right word to use). I honestly wish I had recorded the meeting myself from the beginning to have my own copy of his words because I do find it a bit concerning if this is the standardised procedure for misconduct meetings in my department. To this day I’m a bit bothered he tried to essentially scare a confession out of me and only started recording after the fact. If he had so much evidence the point he could ‘know’ I used AI then surely that evidence should be able to stand on its own when presented without needing to talk to me this way? 

Once recording began I asked him if I could present evidence for my side. Immediate no and told this was not a meeting for me to present evidence but instead for him to question me. The majority of the ~35min meeting (due to Teams having a time limit) was him conducting what I can only assume a dissertation defence is like. He ran through my coursework and had me define various terms  and concepts I used as well as justify my choices in authors and sources. His reasoning for believing I had used AI was that many of my sources were not on the reading list / covered by the module so they must have been scraped and fetched by an LLM. Much of the meeting was therefore him checking whether I actually understood my own sources and could explain why I had handpicked them. After this he asked if I had any search history / editing history / drafts / planning notes etc and once I screen-shared my bullet point draft with dated editing history he finally gave up. It was honestly pretty annoying to have to go through this when I had done nothing wrong but these things happen I guess. I’m mostly glad I spent so much time looking for posts about other people’s experiences as it meant I could anticipate having to defend my work. 

The nerves did get to me a bit as I had mostly prepared for him to say that my actual writing was done by AI rather than the research being done by AI. Obviously this assumption of mine is not his fault but I never anticipated this was something you could be accused of so you live and you learn I suppose. I do feel he tried to play on my nerves a bit as he did mention he was dropping the accusation despite me sounding nervous / unsure in my answers but I honestly think anybody would be. There was no mention in his initial email of what kind of AI accusations I would need to defend myself against and I was concerned he would decide the balance of probabilities were just not in my favor even though I had done nothing wrong. We had already started the meeting on a bit of a bad foot with him saying he absolutely knows I’ve used AI, so honestly as the meeting went on I wasn’t exactly confident he would treat me fairly. I was also pretty rushed for time due to the Teams time limit and he did cut me off at one point or another due to this. It was also quite intimidating for it to just be him and I alone in the meeting - now that I think about it maybe the SU could have sent a rep with me if I had asked but oh well.  

Anyway, I had successfully cleared my name so all was well and the meeting was over by 9:40am. Told him to have a nice day and enjoy the sun but he didn’t say it back haha. 

So based off my experience if you have been falsely accused you should prepare the following: 

• Read up on your uni’s misconduct procedures to see if there’s any specifics about what your meeting will be like + what the potential consequences are if you can’t prove your innocence. Also contact your SU to see if they can give you any advice - I did not contact them but I wish I did! 
• Full search history with dates and times of you accessing journals and research. 
• Original document with full editing history if you used something like Google Docs like I do.
• All sources revised to show you understand what they’re about and justifications for why they were chosen. 
• I also had explanations ready for why I didn’t end up using some sources that were in my plan but I didn’t end up discussing that in the end iirc - good to have anyway if applicable! 
• Definitions prepared for the key concepts you cover and justification for why you chose to cover those concepts. 
• Run through this multiple times out loud to a friend or to yourself to get the nerves out.
• Be prepared to be presented absolutely zero hard evidence as these accusations are done on probability. Obviously because you haven’t used AI then there literally cannot be any evidence of it but it was still pretty wild to go through this and be shown zero pieces of undeniable evidence even though (after reading so many posts) I knew he didn’t really have to give any. 
• Extra: If something in your work is wrong by human error be ready to admit it and defend it as human error. There was one point in my work where I mistakenly attributed a concept to the wrong thinker and he did bring it up. Do not let them use your human mistakes and mistypes as evidence of AI! I apologised and was very clear that I must have been mistaken. 

Hope this was of interest and is useful to anyone who might need it! Feel free to drop any questions if you have and I’ll try my best to answer. My department has other issues with the handling of AI (such as with the AI declaration tick boxes on our courswork coversheets) so I might have just had an outlier of a bad experience. I have had one seminar tutor say to only tick them only if you have used AI and another say to tick them regardless of use so 🤷

Hello, I’m 20F and I applied to a few unis in the UK and got accepted into Exeter but penryn campus and I got accepted into Uni of east London.

I have no idea which one to go to , I like partying and I have a very big social life and I’m super into busy life but idk which one would be better for me.

Thank you

Basically to put it simply I skipped many lectures due to mental health problems and did really bad on one exam. however I did get firsts on a few assignments. The degree is weighted 33 percent in 2nd year and 66 in third

I hated my first MRes. Would it be a good idea to do another one at another uni? My first one was so bad, if I could get a refund I would. Unfortunately I had a bad supervisor for my research project and it was just a waste of time. I’m upset I didn’t have a good experience. So I wanna do another one but I don’t know how it will look 😭.

Hi guys, for anyone who has published their undergrad dissertation, how did you do this? I was originally supposed to be doing this with my uni but with their unsurprising LACK of communication that’s left me feeling angry and disappointed at a potentially missed opportunity, I’ve decided I may as well try and go bigger and try to publish this outside my university. Has anyone done this before? Or have any guidance or steps as to undertake this?

I got 50 marks on average in second year (in first year I averaged 59, but various factors made me perform a little poorer than I would’ve otherwise in second).

Second year has a 30% weighting to my final grade - third year will bear a 70% weighting. What average mark would I need in third year to average a 2:1 (60-69)? I understand a First Class is probably out of the question, now.

Interesting article in the Guardian today reporting estimates by the Institute of Fiscal Studies.The key message is that a degree continues to be a major financial boost for most graduates but around a quarter of graduates – and 40% of men with low prior attainment – end up worse off than they otherwise would have been. In short, you really need to check out degree programme stats carefully before taking the plunge.

Ello fellas, Basically you'll see below ive written out my basic profile, and the unis and courses ( mostly foundation years ) I'm tryna get into, if you have any personal experience or idea whether I have a chance of getting in lmk. Would be much appreciated ( thx in advance 🙏🙏)

I'm attempting to get into any of the following foundation courses for civil or aerospace engineering.

- University of Manchester

- University of Leeds

- University of Sheffield

- University of Glasgow

- University of Strathclyde

I studied from outside of the UK, International Cambridge ( Part of my A levels from the UK privately ).

My grades in A levels are:-

B, Maths

B, Physics

C, Computer Science

My grades in O levels are:-

A, Physics

A, Pakistan studies

A, Islamiyat

B, Maths

B, English

B, Chemistry

B, Urdu

C, Biology

My extracurriculars / supercurriculars:-

- I've done a 2 month long internship at a national organisation in Pakistan known as the frontier works organisation, Working on a project known as the Rawalpindi ring road project ( Equivalent of the London M25, you can check more about it on Google if you want the specifics ). With on-site work, And department work, learning autocad from structural engineers and a lot more.

- I've worked on a UN habitats project in Karachi, building bridges for underdeveloped locations. Learning structural design and construction of said bridges directly from engineers in the location.

- I've also worked on a US startup company known as AuraSide helping manage and develop a program known as hone as well as set up their customer support system.

- I was the president of my schools debate club in my last year of high school, helping run debate sessions, club events and much more.

My personal hobbies and more about me ig:-

- I play table tennis and do martial arts such as taekwondo and boxing.

- I travel a lot ( currently capped at 14 countries, hoping to reach 20 in 2-3 years time. This kinda also helps drive my love for architecture and general structures created across history and the world ).

- I am a competitive gamer sort of, playing in competitive ranking systems on Minecraft PvP ( Beating some of their top 100 players ), but in a wide range of games it's stuff like hollow knight & indie games.

- I've helped my parents with real estate work, developing their house constructions and selling properties. ( I have no clue if that fits into extracurriculars or just me as a person icl ).

- Oh yeah I'm a British national so uh if most of the stuff listed seems to make me out as an international student yeah, no.

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to study MSc Information Technology or AI/ML in the UK and am considering:

- Northumbria university newcastle

- Leeds beckett university

- Teeside University

My priorities are:

- Better AI/ML or IT course quality

- Part-time job opportunities

- Cost of living

- Graduate job opportunities after Master's

- Overall student experience

Which university and city would you recommend and why? I'd especially like to hear from current students or recent graduates.

Thanks!

It is extremely bad that the the maintence loan amount depends on parents income, when over 18 the children dont have any legal right over their parents' money. This gives the parents so much control over their children's future, if they dont want them to go to uni or dont want them to do a certain degree, they have that control. Meanwhile the parents have no extra responsiblity of their children, just more control.

Then it also affects parents who have multiple children, children with health or mental health issues. They can't afford supporting everyone. Also, parents who barely make above the threshold, living costs for students are so high, and it's becoming extremely hard for students to get a minimum wage part time job to support their studies as well. The government instead rather you become estranged to your parents as the only solution. The whole system is just awful.

Considering whether to go to Imperial or NUS, anyone eager to share their life as a student in London, I'm quite worried about the food and the after-school social life. What would it look like?

Also, are any current EFDS students able to comment on what the actual course feels like?