Resitting or compensating a failed examination: does it affect subsequent results?

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics.

	μ	σ	N
GPA(B1)	6.84	0.68	3042
GPA(B2)	6.64	0.68	1791
Comp	0.88	0.92	3042
#Attempts	14.22	3.08	3042
Gender	0.71	0.45	3042
IntProg	0.25	0.43	3042
Age (at start programme)	18.96	1.38	3042
Grade
Microeconomics (B1)	6.39	1.12	3042
Applied Microeconomics (B2)	6.31	1.11	2506
Accounting (B1)	6.47	1.03	3042
Intermediate Accounting (B2)	6.37	1.19	2487
Statistics I (B1)	6.97	1.26	3042
Statistics II (B2)	6.93	1.44	2933

Note: Data are for students that have completed their first bachelor year.

Figure 1. GPA(B2) by number of attempts and compensations in B1, all students.

Figure 2. GPA(B2) by number of attempts and compensations in B1, students with GPA(B1) ≤ 6.5.

Figure 3. Research discontinuity design.

Table 2. Regression model for GPA(B2).

	Coefficient	Standard error	Coefficient	Standard error
Intercept	8.220	(0.202)***	1.592	(0.228)***
#Attempts(B1)	−0.058	(0.005)***	−0.012	(0.004)***
#Comps(B1)	−0.304	(0.015)***	0.010	(0.014)
GPA(B1)			0.799	(0.021)***
IntProg	0.171	(0.208)	0.214	(0.153)
Gender	−0.053	(0.031)	−0.029	(0.022)
Age	0.022	(0.011)**	0.008	(0.008)
Adjusted R^2	0.311		0.631
N	1696		1696

Note: Data are for students that have completed their first and second bachelor year: significance levels are indicated as *p < .10; **p < .05; ***p < .01.

Table 3. Panel regressions for second-year courses.

	Excluding student fixed effects				Including student fixed effects
	Coefficient	Standard error	Coefficient	Standard error	Coefficient	Standard error	Coefficient	Standard error
Intercept	−4.616	(0.230)***	−4.632	(0.231)***	−0.162	(0.043)***	−0.150	(0.043)***
#Attempts	−0.026	(0.014)*	−0.018	(0.015)	0.028	(0.016)*	0.029	(0.016)*
Comp	0.035	(0.032)	0.096	(0.067)	0.033	(0.038)	0.040	(0.038)
#Attempts*Comp			−0.034	(0.033)			−0.083	(0.033)**
Grade	0.080	(0.019)***	0.080	(0.019)***	0.051	(0.022)**	0.051	(0.022)**
GPA(B1)	0.723	(0.020)***	0.724	(0.020)***	0.003	(0.001)***	0.001	(0.001)
IntProg	0.032	(0.025)	0.031	(0.025)	−0.003	(0.001)***	−0.004	(0.001)***
Gender	−0.054	(0.023)**	−0.054	(0.023)**	−0.001	(0.001)**	−0.001	(0.001)*
Age	−0.013	(0.008)	−0.013	(0.008)	0.007	(0.002)***	0.007	(0.002)***
Course fixed effects
Microeconomics	0.014		0.013		0.009		0.008
Accounting	−0.003		−0.003		−0.011		−0.011
Statistics	−0.010		−0.010		0.002		0.003
Adjusted R^2	0.316		0.316		0.001		0.002
N	7742		7742		6927		6927

Note: Data are for students that have completed their first bachelor year; significance levels are indicated as *p < .10; **p < .05; ***p < .01.

White cross section standard errors are calculated.

Table 4. Local linear regressions for second-year courses (narrow window of 4.3–4.6 around threshold).

	Microeconomics			Accounting			Statistics
Intercept	−0.293**	−6.385***	−7.737***	−0.115	−3.868***	−5.062**	−0.033	−6.682***	−6.379**
	(0.115)	(1.190)	(1.818)	(0.106)	(1.220)	(2.202)	(0.173)	(2.032)	(2.648)
Resit	0.232	0.083	0.166	0.549	0.363	0.400	0.686	0.348	−0.064
	(0.239)	(0.216)	(0.220)	(0.593)	(0.558)	(0.576)	(0.453)	(0.407)	(0.420)
Grade	1.622	1.531	1.554*	0.303	0.392	0.413	−0.022	−0.612	−1.253
	(1.029)	(0.925)	(0.925)	(0.956)	(0.896)	(0.952)	(1.549)	(1.357)	(1.398)
GPA(otherB1)		0.910***	0.867***		0.557***	0.672***		1.009***	0.837**
		(0.177)	(0.181)		(0.181)	(0.214)		(0.307)	(0.311)
IntProg			−0.111			−0.217			−0.125
			(0.189)			(0.229)			(0.341)
Gender			−0.295			0.122			−0.763**
			(0.182)			(0.244)			(0.325)
Age			0.093			0.021			−0.061
			(0.068)			(0.069)			(0.068)
Adj R^2	0.005	0.196	0.205	−0.017	0.107	0.079	0.027	0.266	0.347
N	110	110	110	64	64	64	33	33	33

Note: Data are for students that have completed their first bachelor year; significance levels are indicated as *p < .10; **p < .05; ***p < .01.

Table 5. Local linear regressions for second-year courses (wide window of 4.2–4.7 around threshold).

	Microeconomics			Accounting			Statistics
Intercept	−0.325***	−4.715***	−5.790***	−0.231***	−4.325***	−1.964	0.016	−6.810***	−6.581***
	(0.088)	(0.957)	(1.528)	(0.087)	(1.063)	(1.545)	(0.109)	(1.602)	(2.189)
Resit	0.059	−0.040	−0.024	0.349	0.157	0.087	0.908^**	0.480	0.239
	(0.178)	(0.169)	(0.170)	(0.357)	(0.340)	(0.339)	(0.352)	(0.316)	(0.327)
Grade	0.349	0.134	0.092	0.174	0.228	−0.018	1.161	1.072	1.009
	(0.494)	(0.469)	(0.467)	(0.478)	(0.450)	(0.472)	(0.845)	(0.719)	(0.725)
GPA(otherB1)		0.656***	0.631***		0.610***	0.554***		1.023***	0.916***
		(0.143)	(0.146)		(0.158)	(0.172)		(0.239)	(0.252)
IntProg			−0.059			−0.035			0.004
			(0.158)			(0.171)			(0.256)
Gender			−0.276*			0.092			−0.505
			(0.150)			(0.178)			(0.248)**
Age			0.071			−0.010			0.033
			(0.052)			(0.043)			(0.052)
Adj R^2	−0.009	0.100	0.112	−0.010	0.106	0.126	0.090	0.342	0.375
N	168	168	168	111	111	111	48	48	48

Note: Data are for students that have completed their first bachelor year; significance levels are indicated as *p < .10; **p < .05; ***p < .01.

Table 6. Local linear regressions for a panel of courses.

	Narrow window [4.3–4.6]			Wide window [4.2–4.7]
Intercept	−0.206***	−5.530***	−6.795***	−0.241***	−4.907***	−4.320***
	(0.072)	(0.794)	(1.205)	(0.058)	(0.649)	(0.961)
Resit	0.277	0.123	0.182	0.208	0.074	0.074
	(0.185)	(0.169)	(0.169)	(0.140)	(0.132)	(0.133)
Grade	0.860	0.785	0.980	0.353	0.279	0.306
	(0.651)	(0.590)	(0.589)	(0.321)	(0.298)	(0.300)
GPA(otherB1)		0.796***	0.789***		0.697***	0.653***
		(0.118)	(0.124)		(0.097)	(0.102)
IntProg			−0.123			−0.004
			0.129			(0.105)
Gender			−(0.255)**			−0.217**
			0.126			(0.102)
Age			(0.075)*			−0.007
			0.039			(0.028)
Fixed Effects
Microeconomics	−0.066	−0.076	−0.068	−0.037	−0.048	−0.049
Accounting	0.074	0.046	0.063	0.004	−0.001	0.008
Statistics	0.075	0.165	0.106	0.121	0.169	0.155
Adj R^2	0.007	0.185	0.207	0.000	0.137	0.141
N	207	207	207	327	327	327

Note:

Data are for students that have completed their first bachelor year; significance levels are indicated as *p < .10; **p < .05; ***p < .01.