You are required to complete all assessments within a course and must first receive an overall course level fail mark before being allowed to resit an assessment. 

General Course, GO LSE and incoming UG Erasmus students have to opt-in to take reassessments. 

If you have failed a course, including having been absent (or deferred an assessment) then you will need to confirm that you wish to take that assessment again. 

After the Academic Year (opting in for assessments in IRDAP)

The Dean of the General Course and Global Mobility will email you shortly after provisional results have been published. You need to respond to this email, by the deadline stated, stating whether you wish to opt in to any reassessments in IRDAP. 

If we do not hear from you we will assume that you do not wish to take any reassessments during IRDAP and your record will be closed. Once closed your record cannot be re-opened.

After IRDAP (opting in for assessments the next academic year)

If after IRDAP you have failed a course (or deferred an assessment) then you can choose to be reassessed the following year, but need to confirm this. The Dean of the General Course and Global Mobility will email you shortly after IRDAP results have been published. You need to respond to this email, by the deadline stated, stating whether you wish to opt in to any reassessments the following year. 

If we do not hear from you we will assume that you do not wish to take any reassessments during the following academic year and your record will be closed. Once closed your record cannot be re-opened.

To find out more please contact the Dean of the General Course and Global Mobility.  

Using Compensation

The postgraduate classification schemes allows, in certain circumstances, for failed courses to be 'compensated' by a mark of at least 60% in another course or courses to the value of 1.0 unit, or by a sufficient aggregate. You can therefore opt out of resitting assessments in a failed course if you could potentially compensate this by another course yet to be completed. 

You are not permitted to opt out of a resit that follows a bad fail mark or an absence. You also cannot opt out of a resit for a course that is marked as critical to assessment in your programme's local rules. 

For example, if you failed (but not bad failed) AB400 but had deferred assessments in AB401 you may choose not to resit the assessments in AB400 because you are confident that the mark in AB401 will compensate the fail in AB400. 

You can find out the specific compensation rules for your programme by checking section 3 of the relevant classification scheme in the LSE Calendar. 

Once you have opted out of a resit because you hope to use the compensation rules you will not be permitted to take that assessment in the future. This means that there is often risk involved in opting out and you should think carefully about your options. 

 If you decide to opt out of resitting failed assessment the mark obtained previously (e.g. the fail mark) will be banked and used to calculate the new overall course mark once the deferred assessment has been taken. If the new overall course mark results in an overall fail mark, and you are not otherwise eligible for an award, you will be permitted to resit the failed assessment, provided you have attempts remaining, even if you opted out.

Important

If you do not submit, actively opt out (where possible) or defer the assessment, you will receive a 0-Absent mark for that assessment which may impact your final classification and/or your eligibility to be awarded a degree.  

If you decide to opt out of an assessment you must request this at least 24 hours in advance of your assessment. For centrally scheduled exams this means 24 hours before the exam is due to start. For other assessments this means 24 hours before the deadline for submission.

General Course, GO LSE and incoming Erasmus

The deadline for to opt-in will be clearly laid out in the email you receive from the Dean of the General Course and Global Mobility. If you do not reply by this deadline your record will be closed and cannot be re-opened.

Taught postgraduate students should speak to their Academic Mentor or other support staff within your home department. We always recommend that you seek advice before choosing to opt out of a resit assessment. It can be complicated and there is always a risk involved with opting out of resits. The advice will very much vary depending on your specific circumstances. Remember, once you have opted out of a resit you will not normally be permitted to take it in the future. This means that once you have opted out, you cannot normally take that resit again, even if your circumstances change. 

General Course and GO LSE students should consult the Dean of the General Course and Global Mobility if they are unsure whether they should opt-in to a reassessment. Remember that if you do not opt-in by the deadline your record will be closed and cannot be re-opened. 

Postgraduate Students

Before you do anything make sure that you have sought advice about whether opting out is the right thing to do in your specific circumstances. There are risks involved and these vary depending on each student's circumstances.  

• If you would like to inform us you are opting out of a resit please contact the Student Records Team using the SSC Enquiry Form. You should select Exams and other assessments and then Opting our of Resits. Follow the advice on screen about how to complete each of the fields. When we received your query we will remove the assessment from your record and write back to you to confirm. 

Please remember:

• Postgraduate students cannot opt out of resitting bad fails or courses critical to assessment.
• Once you have opted out of a resit you will not normally be permitted to take it in the future. This means that once you have opted out, you cannot normally take that resit again even if your circumstances change or your change your mind. This means that there is often substantial risk involved in opting out and you should think carefully about your options. 
• If you do not submit the assessment, actively opt out or defer the assessment, you will receive an absent mark for that assessment which may impact your final classification and/or your eligibility to be awarded a degree.