Re: OT: hello again (was: Test, please ignore)

Jessica Husén wrote:

> Is it possible to say "re-exam"? Or would that
> be totally wrong? In my (Swedish) ears it sounds
> ok, but it's probably not. :)
Well, there's definitely a word "re-examine", isn't there? But it
would be unusual usage.

It's also true that when I was at school, if a very large proportion
of students failed a given test (not an exam, just a test), then a
particular physics/mathematics teacher used to put the class through
a second, equivalent, test, and this was called a "re-test".

"Supplementary exam" is the official term used in all Australian
universities that I'm aware of.

I just googled for "supplementary examination", and judging from
the first page (1-10 of 11,300 results) it appears to be a primarily
Australian terminology (seven out of the ten results displayed are
Australian) but not unknown elsewhere (e.g. the ninth result listed
is from Canada).

To expand on my previous point, the result of a supplementary exam
doesn't exactly replace the result of the previous exam, because,
whereas one's grades can normally be anything from "Fail" to "High
Distinction", if you fail a topic the usual way but pass it through
the supplementary exam, then your grade can *only* be NGP, which
stands for "Non Graded Pass". This doesn't relate to anything you've
said, though; only to Nik.

Adrian.