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Percentages for grades.. they seem low at Uni?

Although I only started Uni a few weeks a go, this 40% for a pass, 60% for a 2:1 seems to be quite odd. Is it relatively easy to get these percentages? I used to get 70-90% average in my work at Sixth Form, I understand Uni is harder, but do people just not to get more than 70 percent on average? The grade thresholds seem to be quite low.

Reply 1

Kreuzuerk

3

Work it out. Either yes, the grade boundaries are low and everyone gets a 1st or rather, it's much harder to get 70% than at school.

Reply 2

abbii

11

its to distinquish between the different abilities, if you think about it 40% was a pass at a-level (i think) and 80% was an A, its the same at uni 40% for a pass and 80% for a first, the only degree's worth anything are firsts or 2.1 so thats the same as A-C at A-level, so its pretty much eqivilent, except that most people will have A-Cs so it will be harder

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 3

Kreuzuerk

3

ffs 80% is not an A at a-level, well unless it's coincidental

Reply 4

alex_hk90

19

FTstudies

Although I only started Uni a few weeks a go, this 40% for a pass, 60% for a 2:1 seems to be quite odd. Is it relatively easy to get these percentages? I used to get 70-90% average in my work at Sixth Form, I understand Uni is harder, but do people just not to get more than 70 percent on average? The grade thresholds seem to be quite low.

I reckon the conversion from A-level would go something like this (for Arts subjects):
(A-level% to Uni%)
100% to 79% (near-impossible)
97% to 75% (feasible)
92% to 70% (1st)
75% to 60% (2.i)
60% to 50% (2.2)
With obvious variation from course and uni.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 5

/dev/null

14

Yeah well, not all of us can be perfect.

Reply 6

abbii

11

Kreuzuerk

ffs 80% is not an A at a-level, well unless it's coincidental

well its divided by proportion of the marks, but exam boards aim for 80% A, 70%B, ect. thats what it said on the thing edexcell send out for maths it might vary for other subjects/boards i guess (i know AQA is unreliable with consistant grade boundaries) but i was told it was fairly standard

Reply 7

RightSaidJames

16

70%+ is a definite achievement in uni, 80%+ generally means that you're a genius or that you put a lot of effort in. And while it's not exactly hard to get 40%, you can't get one by sitting around on your arse and making it up, you still have to try.

Reply 8

Kreuzuerk

3

abbii

well its divided by proportion of the marks, but exam boards aim for 80% A, 70%B, ect. thats what it said on the thing edexcell send out for maths it might vary for other subjects/boards i guess (i know AQA is unreliable with consistant grade boundaries) but i was told it was fairly standard

a raw score in an exam and the ums score pertaining to said raw score are different (aside for small occurrences of coincidences)

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 9

andrew1990

My average at uni was 82%, and it was an absolute ******** of effort I can assure you.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 10

neiljeff123

14

abbii

its to distinquish between the different abilities, if you think about it 40% was a pass at a-level (i think) and 80% was an A, its the same at uni 40% for a pass and 80% for a first, the only degree's worth anything are firsts or 2.1 so thats the same as A-C at A-level, so its pretty much eqivilent, except that most people will have A-Cs so it will be harder

im sorry but ive never heard as much rubbish in my life.
out of 250 students on my course the highest mark was 73. and theres people who got 95+ in all of their alevels

Reply 11

F1Addict

12

I look at it like this: Take the graph of y=e^x. Its exponentially increasing. (for those who don't know: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=y+%3D+e^x)
GSCEs have an x value of about 2. AS Levels: 3. A2 Levels: 4. Uni: 6. The real world: 5 - infinity.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 12

Jackster1234

I'm really sick of people posting stupid threads.

No, OP, degree exams are exactly the same difficulty as A level, if not easier, In fact unless you dont sit the exams at all you leave with a first.

Reply 13

I'm_Unsafe.

13

Basically, for humanities subjects at uni, you have to show a good deal of originality and flair plus intelligent, sustained thoughts of your own to get a really good mark. While you've now got the A* grade at A Level which is supposed to aid the whole 'independent ideas' thing, it's just not the same in the grand scheme of things. You can't just go to the lectures and read the core texts. That will get you a third at best.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 14

thepinkpowerranger

13

It's to allow you all that time to drink but still come out with a degree...

Reply 15

alex_hk90

19

I'm_Unsafe.

Basically, for humanities subjects at uni, you have to show a good deal of originality and flair plus intelligent, sustained thoughts of your own to get a really good mark. While you've now got the A* grade at A Level which is supposed to aid the whole 'independent ideas' thing, it's just not the same in the grand scheme of things. You can't just go to the lectures and read the core texts. That will get you a third at best.

That's going a bit far - from what I've seen that can get you at least a 2.2, maybe a 2.1 (as long as you attend supervisions/classes/equivalent).

Reply 16

Kerny

14

FTstudies

Although I only started Uni a few weeks a go, this 40% for a pass, 60% for a 2:1 seems to be quite odd. Is it relatively easy to get these percentages? I used to get 70-90% average in my work at Sixth Form, I understand Uni is harder, but do people just not to get more than 70 percent on average? The grade thresholds seem to be quite low.

Have some common sense. Percentages are no way an indicator of how hard/easy something is, you cannot tell at all how marks are scaled just by looking at them and making assumptions.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 17

abbii

11

neiljeff123

im sorry but ive never heard as much rubbish in my life.
out of 250 students on my course the highest mark was 73. and theres people who got 95+ in all of their alevels

im not saying that the difficulty / easy of getting the grade is in any way eqivilent, you need aprox 80%(of UMS) to get an A and you need 80% of marks to get a first (at my uni anyway), clearly not everyone with an A will get a first and the % arn't any measure of difficulty or anything else, but i was only comparing the %

Reply 18

Physics Enemy

19

FTstudies

Although I only started Uni a few weeks a go, this 40% for a pass, 60% for a 2:1 seems to be quite odd. Is it relatively easy to get these percentages? I used to get 70-90% average in my work at Sixth Form, I understand Uni is harder, but do people just not to get more than 70 percent on average? The grade thresholds seem to be quite low.

On average 60% of students get a 2.1 or above. In some unis/courses it's considerably higher than this. So it's not meant to be a challenging benchmark. It's basically a certificate in being middle class enough to attend uni, pay the fees, drink and then go to the graduation party.