Appeals and Resits

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The medical school have a long and rather complicated resit and appeal process, best explained using the medical school regulations instead of us trying to paraphrase. It's not as scary as it may sound, as recently the medical school have allowed students to retake a year for academic reasons without having to go before a panel. The full detail is found here - https://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/medicine/regulations.

​Every year has resits - normally these are in the summer for Phase 1. You normally only have to re-do the part of the year you failed, for example if you failed a written paper and passed the OSCE then you only have to resit the written papers. 

If you do need to resit a year or end up in the appeals process, you’re not alone. The medical school and LUSUMA aim to help with their academic support services, and LUSUMA also have mentoring available through the QualiBuddy scheme. The Welfare team are here to help with the pastoral side of the process. Of course if you do need help, feel free to speak to us instead of going off this webpage alone. 

​If you feel like you want someone to talk to from an external body, the Medical Defense Union has an appeals line on 0800 716 646.

In addition to the information found on the university regulations website, we also have a document put together by Dr Daniel Sokel. He is a barrister with a background in medical ethics, who has represented a number of Leicester medics over the years and has put together a document to help with appeals proceedings in medical school. It can be found below, and should be downloadable for reading whenever you like. 

medsoc_daniel_sokol_leicester.docx
File Size:	17 kb
File Type:	docx

Download File

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Below we have a couple of accounts from people who have been through this process, to hopefully make it a little bit less daunting. Be aware that information in them may be outdated and not reflect current policies - despite this, they may still provide some comfort. 

“I failed ESA3 and had to sit the qualifier in 2008. That year wasn’t a good year for me. I was involved with a lot of societies and had taken on too much work.

Towards the end of the academic year, both my remaining great-grandparents died within a month of each other, after long periods of ill health. Then, after 5 years together, my partner and I split up. The qualifier could not have come at a worse time. I tried to revise but couldn’t concentrate. I wasn’t confident when I sat it. I thought that maybe I’d just about scrape through. It turned out that I didn’t.

It was all very real and scary when I got my letter to say that I would be attending an Academic Progress Committee meeting. I was nervous anyway but it was scary sitting outside the room and waiting to go into the meeting. I was terrified when I sat in front of Professor Petersen and Dr. Cashmore. There were other people there that I don’t even remember! We talked about what had been happening that year and how I’d felt about it. They wanted to know if I’d tried to sort things out or looked for support from friends, family, university services etc. At one point, I was asked if I’d felt “depressed” that year. I was trying not to cry.

The committee wanted to know what I would do differently if I got to resit the year. They wanted to know that I could see where I had gone wrong, change things and be successful, given the chance.
I had no idea what to think after the meeting. They gave me no indication of whether or not I could resit. After a few weeks of waiting, I got another letter. I was so relieved when I opened it and it said I could resit the second year!
I had had a bad year and it had affected my studies. I stopped working within some of the committees I was involved to reduce my workload. I saw a counsellor at the university welfare service to talk through things. It was a good thing, as well as a bad, because it made me realise where I was going wrong, when to recognise things weren’t going according to plan, and what to do about addressing those issues so I could avoid getting into trouble. I sat the second year again and haven’t failed an exam since.”

​"I was really nervous about repeating a year. I thought it would be difficult to balance my new year and my old year and not living in halls with everyone can be a really big worry. However, everyone was really accepting and my new year were very grateful for the extra knowledge and experience. I tend to spend most of the time with my housemates (so my old year), and sometimes it is difficult because of the different timetables but everyone is still free in the evening. It also just means I know even more people now, however I didn’t feel the need to go out as much as I had already had my Fresher’s year and mainly I wanted to concentrate on work. Also, I wasn’t expected to know everything and there is always more to learn, in some ways repeating a year gives you an advantage over the new Freshers as you already know some of the information. It was also nicer being in my own house instead of halls, as there were no fire alarms and it's much easier to decorate so it feels more like home."

“I failed both ESA 1 and ESA 2 in 2012. I had been ill for a lot of the year suffering from depression. Although I kept trying to work, I hadn’t managed to start my treatment yet, so was unable to concentrate fully on my work.


Although still being very ill, I carried on working very hard for the qualifier. This was a very stressful time but I had been close to passing ESA 2 and my OSCE score was good, so I believed with these combined I would be able to scrape a pass. However, on results day I was devastated to find out that I had failed. I was in complete shock, and instantly emailed my tutor. I also received multiple emails from the Medical school about appealing if you believed you had mitigating circumstances.


After speaking to my tutor, we both believed that I had a chance of an appeal as I had been unwell for the majority of the year. I had also spoken to someone in the Pastoral Care offered at the Medical School. The first task was to write an appeal. There was a word limit of 1000 words to say why you were appealing. The instructions were very clear and you had to ensure that you answered the three criteria for the appeal: is your motivation for medicine still strong, are there factors that might have explained poor performance during the year, is there evidence that these circumstance have gone away or will be nullified so you performance will reach an acceptable standard in a repeat year. A helpful letter is sent out by Dr. Hales giving you all of the information you need for this appeal letter.


You have the choice to attend a Sub-Group meeting with two members of the Academic Progress Committee. Only go if you feel you have anything to add to the appeal letter you wrote. You can also can take someone in with you, I would suggest one of the people from the medical school either your tutor (who knows you well) or someone from Pastoral Care. As my tutor was away on holiday I took someone from Pastoral Care. I was completely terrified, there Dr. Mongan and Professor Cashmore from the committee and a secretary recording the meeting. I was mainly asked how I could ensure that I would be well enough next year, and why I hadn’t been treated this year.  


Unfortunately when I received an email from the University, they rejected my appeal saying they were unsatisfied with the information provided so had decided to terminate my course. I had one more chance with an appeal at the University, here I made sure I had letters from my Doctor’s at home and from University, a letter from my tutor, more information about my appeal (there was no longer a word limit). There was a few days before I had to submit this appeal. I also contacted the main University about the appeal, as that is where the appeal was going. I was both relieved and excited that the University said i could continue on my course, and am very grateful for everyone who helped me.


My first year had been very difficult and being unwell had affect my studies. When I returned I was being treated both with medication and counselling. Although, going through the appeal was distressing, I have become stronger from it and this year I passed all the exams without having to sit the qualifier, and I hope that this continues.”

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