Progression from Year 4 to Year 5 is dependent upon:

• Achieving a Satisfactory grade or above for both Year 4 Clinical Competency Assessments, either at the first attempt or at the re-sit opportunity.
• Achieving an overall grade of Satisfactory across the Year 4 Clinical Placement Blocks, which includes satisfactory completion of the specified Year 4 work-placed based assessments (UPSAs, Prescribing and Medicine Safety).
• Satisfactory completion of the Elective placement.
• Achieving a Low Pass grade or above in at least one of the two Year 4 Progress Tests.
• Not achieving two consecutive cumulative grades of Unsatisfactory in the Progress Test.
• Meeting specified attendance requirements.

Please note that progression from Year 4 to Year 5 will also be dependent on satisfactory attendance and conduct. You will not be allowed to progress should there be serious concerns over your attendance or professional conduct.

The following rules of progression apply:

1. Students should meet all progression criteria for each year of the Programme within the same academic year. This includes years in which they are required to re-sit individual components due to unsatisfactory performance, unsatisfactory attendance or other circumstances, (with or without mitigation).                                                 _
2. A student should not normally progress to the next academic year of the Programme until all progression criteria for their current year of study are met.                                                                                _
3. Students who have mitigating circumstances accepted for an assessment will have that attempt declared null and void. They will re-sit that assessment at the same attempt as their mitigated attempt at the next available opportunity.                                                      _
4. Students who achieve a grade of Unsatisfactory in the CCA will have an opportunity to re-sit at second attempt for a capped mark of Satisfactory at a specified time on the Programme. Students who achieve a grade of Unsatisfactory at second attempt in their CCA will be excluded from the Programme.              _
5. Clinical Placement Blocks must be Satisfactory by the end of Year 4. For further details please see Year 4 Learning in Clinical Placements and the diagram that appears at the end of this page.  _
   5a. Students who fail one Clinical Placement Block will be required to remediate this by completing objectives agreed by the CEC and Programme Year Leads in the subsequent Block. If a student fails Block 8, they will instead be required to complete a local elective placement.                                                                                          _  
   5b. If a student fails two Clinical Placement Blocks then they will be required to do a mandated local elective with objectives agreed by the CEC and Programme Year Leads.                                         _ 
   5c. If a student has not completed all UPSAs and Prescribing skills by Block 8 they will be required to do a mandated local elective to complete the remaining skills.                                                                                _ 
   5d. If a student fails their Elective they will be required to resit this as a local Elective in the summer break.                                                   _
   5e. If a student does not meet any of the remediation requirements detailed in 5a. – 5d.,  they will not have successfully completed Clinical Placement Blocks and will have to repeat the year. If however, the student was already repeating the year with placements at second attempt, then they would be excluded.           Please Note:
   – If there is no mitigation for the Unsatisfactory outcome in Clinical Placements Blocks, they will repeat Year 4 in its entirety, including all assessments, placements and their PPD portfolio. Placements will be taken as second attempt. Other assessments conditions will be as per Point 9.
   – If mitigation has been successfully applied for the Unsatisfactory outcome in Clinical Placements Blocks, they will repeat Year 4 in its entirety, including all assessments, placements and their PPD portfolio. Placements will be taken as a further first attempt. Other assessments conditions will be as per Point 9.                                                                                                                                 _ 
   5f. If a student fails three Clinical Placement Blocks then they will be discontinued and required to repeat Year 4 in its entirety, including all assessments, placements and their PPD portfolio. In the absence of accepted mitigation, placements will be taken at second attempt. Other assessment’s conditions will be as per Point 9. Students in this situation, along with any other students with attendance or engagement concerns, may also be referred on to the Concerns Review Panel.
   _
6. Students who have not achieved a Low Pass grade or above in at least one of the two Year 4 Progress Tests will have to repeat the year, carrying forward their cumulative Progress Test grade.            _
   6a. Students who have failed both Year 4 Progress Tests (without mitigation) will be required to repeat the year and carry forward a cumulative grade of Unsatisfactory.                                                              _
   6b. If mitigation is accepted for one or both failed/non-attended Year 4 Progress Tests, then students will repeat the year and carry forward their previous cumulative grade for the Progress Test.
   NOTE: If a student in this situation had been due to sit a CCA in the resit period, they would no longer be eligible to do so given the requirement to repeat the year and they would carry the attempt status of that assessment into the repeat year.
7. Students who have two consecutive individual Unsatisfactory grades in the Progress Test (i.e. U+U), or who have grades of LP+U in two consecutive Progress Tests will be warned that this equates to a cumulative grade of Unsatisfactory and a further grade of Unsatisfactory in the next Progress Test will result in exclusion (see Rule 8).                                                                                                  _
8. Students who have two consecutive cumulative grades of Unsatisfactory in the Progress Test (including in a repeat year) will be excluded from the Programme.                                                              _
9. Students who are repeating a year of study (for whatever reason) are required to retake the entire year and complete all assessments, including those they had passed previously.
   Please note for additional progression rules for students required to repeat a year of study:     
   _
   • 9a. Students who are repeating a year following acceptance of mitigating circumstances for an Unsatisfactory assessment(s) will sit all required assessments at either first or second attempt as appropriate. Assessments that were previously passed at the most recent sitting will be taken as a further first attempt, whereas assessments that were previously failed at the most recent sitting will be taken as a second attempt capped to Satisfactory. The specific assessment conditions will be confirmed in writing by the SMS Assessment Office.
   • 9b. Students who are repeating a year for other reasons, including: Following interruption, suspension, because their studies were discontinued due to a failure to comply with specified attendance requirements, or an outcome under the Faculty Fitness to Practise Procedure, will be referred to the MBChB Student Progression Committee (SPC) who will decide whether the required assessments should be taken at first or second attempt.The SPC Committee will pay attention to the reason(s) for the referral to FTP when determining the return conditions.
   • 9c. If a student’s studies are discontinued because of a failure to comply with specified attendance requirements, the Student Progression Committee (SPC) will consider the reasons given for non-attendance when deciding whether assessments should be taken at first or second attempt in the repeat year.
   • 9d. If however, a student is already repeating a year because of a failure to comply with specified attendance requirements, or following a return from interruption, then a failure to meet the attendance requirements in their repeat year (in the absence of accepted mitigating circumstances) will result in exclusion from the Programme.
   • 9e. Students who are repeating a year of study and who fail any assessment component being taken at a second attempt will be excluded from the Programme. (Note: in Years 1-4, a single grade of Unsatisfactory in a Progress Test does not constitute a fail)          _  _
10. Students who (i) have taken two or more years, consecutively, out of the Programme or (ii) have not satisfactorily completed all required elements of an academic year of study within the previous two academic years, for reasons of suspension, interruption, health, conduct or poor attendance, will be referred to the Student Progression Committee (SPC). The conditions for return will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Students will normally return to their last year of study on the Programme. In certain circumstances, the Student Progression Committee (SPC) may decide that the student needs to return to an earlier year of the Programme in order to ensure their knowledge and skills are at the required level to progress.

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