# Resit "uncapped"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 19, 2023, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resit-uncapped/987235 "2023-07-19T01:41:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resit-uncapped/987235/1 "2023-07-19T01:41:07Z")
What does the following expression mean in the United Kingdom? > Candidates are permitted to resit the final examination uncapped for all subject modules. Specifically, what does _uncapped_ mean here? Sorry, but I kind of need the answer pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resit-uncapped/987235/2 "2023-07-19T01:49:13Z")
Aha! I changed my search parameters and I think I have it. _Uncapped_ means you take the examination again and you get what you get, even if you ace the examination. _Capped_ means you take the examination again and you get what you get _up to a certain maximum score_, even if your score actually exceeded that cap. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resit-uncapped/987235/3 "2023-07-19T01:51:19Z")
It seems “uncapped” is good news: it means you will get the full grade for the exam, as if you were taking it for the first time. “Capped” would mean that your grade can never exceed a certain fraction of the maximum grade. From [this page](https://www.oxbridgeessays.com/blog/everything-need-know-exam-resits/): > [@](#): > > Otherwise, your resit mark will probably be “capped” (usually at a bare pass mark of 40 or 50, depending on the programme of study and the marking scale used by the university). > > “A ‘capped’ mark means that even if you kick your > resit’s ass and score 80%, your recorded mark > for the module will unfortunately be much lower.” Edit: Ninja’d, which probably means I can’t earn more than 50% on this answer. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resit-uncapped/987235/4 "2023-07-19T01:53:50Z")
Nah. I’m scoring you 110%. The extra credit is for reinforcing my interpretation of what I found. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resit-uncapped/987235/5 "2023-07-19T02:02:35Z")
What determines capped vs uncapped? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resit-uncapped/987235/6 "2023-07-19T02:56:20Z")
Evidently the determiner is school or organization policy. The test concerned is from some outfit in the United Kingdom and our school is in Beijing, so it’s too early to call the folks in London for clarification. The folks in London also want to permit the students to resit the examinations as often as they wish; however, that sounds untenable given time constraints for getting accepted to overseas universities, obtaining visas, and other things involved with going abroad to study. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resit-uncapped/987235/7 "2023-07-19T03:03:07Z")
> [@md-2000](#): > > What determines capped vs uncapped? It is going to vary. Back when I was in the game we allowed uncapped results for students that were resitting for what you might call genuine reasons. Illness, compassionate grounds and the like. Students could also be offered a resit if they had only just failed. This was on the basis that that students should get a shot at redemption. They would usually have their mark capped at a simple pass. The modern world of industrial level cheating and rorting of the system has made a lot of this difficult to manage in a fair manner. But that is a different question. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resit-uncapped/987235/8 "2023-07-20T00:55:42Z")
I was stumbling over the question. Took me a while to réalise « resit » wasn’t pronounced similar to « resist ». Once I mentally stuck a hyphen in there I was better off: « re-sit ». ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2023, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resit-uncapped/987235/9 "2023-07-21T14:12:19Z")
I was wondering what “rezzit” meant, and the context wasn’t helping at first. 🤷‍♂️