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Backlog Planner — Which Subjects to Clear First

The promotion calculator tells you that you are short by four credits. This tells you which backlogs to clear to close that gap with the fewest exams.

This is arithmetic, not advice. It answers one narrow question — the fewest subjects that close your credit gap — and it deliberately ignores which ones you are most likely to actually clear. A four-credit subject you have already failed twice may be a worse bet than two smaller ones you understand.

Why the order matters

Detention is decided on credits, not on the number of subjects you failed. That means two students with four backlogs each can be in completely different positions — one carrying four one-credit labs, the other four four-credit theory subjects.

It also means the obvious strategy is often wrong. Clearing the two subjects you feel most confident about is satisfying, but if they carry three credits between them and you needed four, you have spent a supplementary session and are still detained.

Sorting by credits first is a small piece of arithmetic that decides a year.

How to use it

  1. Run the promotion calculator to get the credits you are short by.
  2. List every backlog subject with the credits it carries — they are printed on your marks memo and in your course structure.
  3. The planner returns the smallest set that closes the gap.

Where the arithmetic ends and judgement begins

This answers exactly one question: the fewest subjects that close your credit gap. It does not know which subjects you are actually likely to clear, and that is the other half of the decision.

A four-credit subject you have already failed twice may be a worse bet than two smaller ones you genuinely understand. The planner will always point you at the big one, because that is the only thing arithmetic can see. Weigh it against what you know about yourself.

One more practical point: register for more than the minimum where you can. Clearing exactly enough leaves no margin, and a supplementary result that does not go your way puts you back where you started with a semester gone.