Failed a Course? Retakes, Grade Improvement and Academic Warnings

What score fails a course? What an F on your transcript means

MOET's general regulation (Circular 08/2021/TT-BGDĐT) scores a course on the 10-point scale and converts it to a letter: A 8.5–10, B 7.0–8.4, C 5.5–6.9, D 4.0–5.4 and F below 4.0. An F equals 0 on the 4-point scale, earns no credits and must be retaken if the course is compulsory. Schools may add A+, B+, C+, D+ and may set a stricter passing line than the circular — so "what score fails" has to be checked against your own school's rules.

The failing line differs across the five schools we compared. HCMUTE (Decision 1727/QĐ-ĐHSPKT, applying from the 2021 intake) keeps F below 4.0, and a D from 4.0 to 4.9 still counts toward credits at 1.0 on the 4-point scale. UEH is stricter: only D+ (5.0) and above count as a pass; a D from 4.0 to 4.9 still converts to 1.0 but is classed as a fail, and below that there are F+ (3.0 to below 4.0, worth 0.5) and F (below 3.0). TDTU uses the 10-point scale as its primary scale; a course under 5.0 is not accumulated and must be retaken according to the school's regulation and student handbook, and graduation requires a cumulative average of at least 5.00. HCMUT does not publish its F threshold on any public page we could reach, but My BK states that graduation courses (project, thesis) count as PASSED only from C, i.e. 5.5, upward. EIU's grading rules sit in the student handbook and the AAO portal — we could not verify the exact threshold.

Besides a low score, there are a few ways to "fail" that catch freshmen off guard. Skipping an exam without a valid reason gives a 0 (HCMUTE); unpaid tuition bars you from every exam that semester and records an F (TDTU); and at HCMUT a single component score of 0 bars you from the final exam. The final exam usually carries at least 50% of the course grade (HCMUTE, TDTU), so read the weighting in the syllabus in week one.

Re-sit or retake? How re-sitting and retaking differ

A re-sit (retaking only the final exam without re-attending the course) practically does not exist at the schools we checked. HCMUTE's regulation says it outright: one end-of-course exam per semester, no re-sit exam. TDTU lets each student sit once per registered course; the make-up exam is only for those who deferred with a valid reason, except English and basic IT, where students register for a re-test themselves. So failing a course means retaking it from scratch — attending, redoing the coursework and sitting the exam again; there is no last-chance exam to scrape a pass (what students call thi vớt).

Do not let failed courses pile up until the final year. UEH's Training Office notes that registering to clear or improve a course in semester 7, in class with the next cohort, usually misses the December graduation round and only makes the first round of the following year. If you fail in semester 1, the sensible goal is to retake it in semester 2 or the summer of the same year.

Once you have failed a course, handle it in this order:

• Step 1 — Re-marking Check the transcript and file a re-marking request within the deadline (HCMUTE accepts requests for 7 days after grades are published and returns results within 5 days).
• Step 2 — Identify the course type A compulsory course must be retaken as is (or a replacement if it is no longer offered); an elective can be retaken or swapped for another elective in the same group — Circular 08, HCMUTE and TDTU all allow this.
• Step 3 — Register in the next round Put it into your study plan and register in the next registration round: a main semester, the summer term (TDTU caps summer at 18 credits and the audit term at 9), HCMUTE's supplementary registration round or extra term (if offered — in 2025-26 classes run in đợt 1/đợt 2 blocks inside the main semester), or UEH's mid-year term.
• Step 4 — Check prerequisites Failing a prerequisite blocks registration for the courses after it — check the prerequisite chain before planning.

Failing a prerequisite delays the whole chain behind it. When planning retakes, prioritise prerequisites; electives can be swapped for another course so you are not waiting for a class to open.

On YourCampus: On your school's board in YourCampus, older students often ask each other which retake classes open which term and which still have seats — worth a look before registration opens. App user guide

Retaking vs grade improvement: what differs, and is the highest score kept?

Retaking (học lại) is mandatory for a failed course; grade improvement (học cải thiện) is voluntarily registering again for a course you already passed (same course code) to get a higher score. Both require registering for a class, attending and paying tuition like a new course; the differences lie in who may register and in how the school records the score afterwards. UEH allows improvement only for courses already scored 5.0 or higher, HCMUT requires registering under the same course code as before, while HCMUTE and TDTU allow improvement on any accumulated course.

Is the highest score kept for an improvement course? At the four schools we could verify, yes: HCMUT, UEH (from cohort 47), HCMUTE and TDTU all record the highest of your attempts as the official score for an improvement course, so you need not fear "retaking and ending up lower". For a failed course that is retaken, each school does it its own way: HCMUTE records the last attempt, UEH takes the highest for cohort 47 onward but the last attempt for earlier cohorts, and TDTU takes the highest. TDTU also states that improvement scores are not used for merit scholarships or awards.

Should you improve a D? Do the maths first. A D is worth only 1.0 on the 4-point scale (HCMUTE, UEH), so a 3-credit D drags your GPA down noticeably; if you are near a classification boundary, improving makes sense. But you pay tuition again, you use up a slot in the per-semester credit cap (HCMUTE allows at most 28 credits), and at UEH a D is already a fail, so it is a retake, not an improvement. One point the rules leave unclear, so ask the Training Office directly: whether improvement credits count toward the 5% "courses that had to be retaken" rule used to downgrade the degree classification — HCMUTE's and TDTU's regulations mention only courses that had to be retaken.

• Improve when Many credits, a D or C, you are a few hundredths short of the fair/good boundary, and a class opens in a light semester.
• Skip when 1–2 credit courses, you still owe compulsory courses, or your goal is a TDTU scholarship (improvement scores do not count).
• Ask first Which score shows on the transcript, whether improvement counts toward the 5% downgrade rule, and whether attempts are capped.

Do you pay to retake a failed course? How retake tuition is calculated

Yes. In the regulations and fee schedules we could check (UEH, TDTU, HCMUTE), both a retake and an improvement are new course registrations charged per credit exactly like the first time — there is no cheaper separate "retake fee"; for HCMUT and EIU we could not find a separate retake fee schedule. TDTU's 2025 handbook gives the formula: course fee = [(theory credits × theory credit rate) + (practice credits × practice credit rate)] × teaching-format coefficient × out-of-hours coefficient. At UEH, cohort 51 entering in 2025-26 pays 1.1 to 1.3 million VND per credit on the standard programme, with practice courses at 1.2× and fully English-taught courses at 1.4× — so retaking a 3-credit course costs roughly 3.3 to 3.9 million VND (an estimate from the per-credit rate, before coefficients).

The only way to avoid paying twice is to withdraw on time instead of failing. Deadlines and costs differ by school (see table): HCMUTE charges nothing if you withdraw during the registration-adjustment window, after which there is one more withdrawal point and you still pay for the withdrawn course; TDTU gives no refund and marks the course R; EIU cancels free in week 1, and in week 2 you withdraw with a W and pay 30% of that course's fee. Miss the deadline and stop attending, and you are treated as having abandoned the course with a 0 (HCMUTE) — money lost and one more failed course.

Unpaid tuition is worse than one failed course: TDTU bars you from every exam that semester and records an F, and EIU blocks the final exam and next-term registration if fees are not paid by the week-5 deadline. If money is tight, apply for a tuition payment extension before the deadline.

What is an academic warning? Warning conditions at HCMUT, UEH, HCMUTE, TDTU and EIU

An academic warning (regulations call it cảnh báo học tập or cảnh báo kết quả học tập) is the end-of-semester academic-standing step for students whose results are too low: the school notifies you — usually your parents too — so you rebuild your study plan, and continued violation leads to dismissal. Circular 08/2021 sets the common floor: a warning when failed credits in the semester exceed 50% of the registered load or total owed credits since enrolment exceed 24; when the semester GPA is below 0.8 in the first semester or below 1.0 afterwards; or when the cumulative GPA is below 1.2 (year 1), 1.4 (year 2), 1.6 (year 3) or 1.8 (later years), on the 4-point scale.

Each school applies this differently, even in the scale used. UEH and HCMUTE use exactly the Circular 08 thresholds on the 4-point scale. HCMUT judges on the 10-point scale (per the school's academic-standing notice, as quoted by Dân trí on 26 October 2024): a warning when the cumulative average is below 4.0 (3.0 for the very first semester) or fewer than 10 credits are accumulated in the semester; if the next semester is clean you are automatically removed from the list, and two consecutive violations mean a level-two warning. TDTU also uses the 10-point scale but sets the bar on the semester average: below 2.00 in the first semester, below 2.50 afterwards or below 3.00 in two consecutive semesters, or passing fewer than 50% of the minimum credit load; students who have not met the English requirement and do not register for English are warned too. EIU's rules (the campus is in Binh Duong New City, administratively part of HCMC since July 2025) are in the student handbook and we could not verify the thresholds.

This is not rare. According to Dân trí on 25 October 2024, HCMUTE's Training Office list had 88 students dismissed, nearly 1,000 on academic warning and over 900 on probation, from the 2021, 2022 and 2023 cohorts, because their average in two consecutive semesters of 2023-24 was below 1.0 or their credits fell short. At UEH, each semester the Training Office publicly posts a "provisional list of students subject to academic action" on daotao.ueh.edu.vn before decisions are issued — check for your name and respond by the deadline if something is wrong. HCMUTE notifies via the training portal, student email and a letter to parents; HCMUT requires students on warning to meet their academic adviser before course registration.

Do two consecutive warnings mean dismissal? Can a dismissed student come back?

It depends on the school. Circular 08 lets each school set its own limit on warnings, but not beyond 2 consecutive warnings — meaning a student must be dismissed by the 3rd consecutive warning at the latest; a school may be stricter, not more lenient. TDTU is the strictest: 2 consecutive academic warnings mean dismissal. UEH dismisses when warnings exceed 2 consecutive (i.e. at the 3rd in a row) or reach 3 over the whole programme; HCMUT and HCMUTE likewise dismiss after 3 consecutive warnings, exactly the Circular 08 ceiling. Beyond warnings, you are also dismissed for exceeding the maximum study time (HCMUTE: 8 years for a 4-year bachelor, 9 for architecture; TDTU adds 6 semesters to a 4-year programme per its regulation), for not registering in 2 consecutive semesters (HCMUTE) or being absent for 2 consecutive main semesters without a reason (UEH), and for discipline serious enough to warrant dismissal — such as a second offence of exam impersonation at HCMUTE.

TDTU's academic-action process runs each semester: the school sends the warning to the student and parents, the faculty and academic adviser counsel them; a student warned once whose next semester does not improve goes on probation; a dismissal decision is sent to the family address within one month of issue. HCMUTE convenes a dismissal review council at the end of each semester, notifies via the training portal and email, and the Admissions and Student Affairs Office sends a letter to parents, the locality or the sponsoring organisation.

Can a dismissed student study again? There are exits, all conditional. HCMUT lets students dismissed for poor results apply for re-admission if they meet the minimum cumulative average and credit count, filing through their faculty on the schedule the faculty announces. HCMUTE issues a certificate of accumulated courses, preserves and recognises results for 2 years, and a full-time student who has run out of time may be considered for transfer to the work-study mode if still within that mode's maximum. TDTU states that a student under dismissal review cannot request voluntary withdrawal, and anyone who left and wants to return must sit the entrance admission like any other candidate — old results are only considered for recognition against current learning outcomes.

The first warning is the moment to fix things: meet your academic adviser, cut your registered credits to the minimum, retake failed courses the very next semester. At TDTU, a second consecutive warning already means dismissal.

Can you graduate with an outstanding course? Does failing lower your degree classification?

Can you graduate with a course still owed? No, if it is compulsory or your elective group is short of credits. HCMUTE's graduation conditions include accumulating all courses and credits in the programme, a cumulative average at least "average", completing national defence and physical education, meeting the language standard set out in the learning-outcome notice for your cohort, with review 4 times a year. TDTU requires completing the whole programme, a cumulative average of at least 5.00, the national-defence certificate, meeting learning outcomes and no tuition debt. With one course still owed you are not put on the review list, and if it is a prerequisite the whole chain behind it stays blocked.

Does failing lower your degree? Only if you graduate with "good" or "excellent". Circular 08 and the HCMUTE and TDTU regulations all say the classification of excellent and good graduates drops one level if the courses that had to be retaken exceed 5% of the programme's total credits, or if the student was disciplined at the reprimand level or above; "fair" and below are not downgraded however many retakes. For a 120-credit bachelor programme (HCMUTE's minimum), 5% is 6 credits — failing two 3-credit courses reaches the line, so retakes really affect the classification only for those aiming at a good degree.

An F on the transcript does not vanish: the full transcript records attempts as the school prescribes, but the cumulative average counts only passed courses (HCMUTE), so once you pass the retake the old F no longer pulls your GPA down. On timing, if your maximum study time runs out and you lack only national defence, physical education or the language/IT standard, HCMUTE lets you complete them within 3 years of leaving and be reviewed for graduation; owed major courses, however, must be cleared before the maximum time runs out.

On YourCampus: Before registering a retake, read your school's course reviews on YourCampus — older students often note how each class grades coursework and weights the final exam, which helps you pick a class that suits how you study. App user guide