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First uni assignment/essay grade?

What was your grade/percentage? How hard did you work on it? Were you happy or disappointed? What feedback did you take away from it that was handy for the future assignments?

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First group result was 58%, but my first individual assignment I got 75%. I was delighted with it since that counts as an A and it showed I knew what I was doing! Guess it just showed that it pays to read the guidelines and to follow them :smile:
65%, very disappointed. Worked fairly hard, and the feedback I got back was useless.
Original post by Mr.Econometrics
65%, very disappointed. Worked fairly hard, and the feedback I got back was useless.


65% is a 2:1 isn't it? Most people would say that's a decent grade - especially for a first assignment. Did you have a 1st in mind while you were working on it? If so, I can understand how you would have been disappointed.

I've got my first assignment grade due soon. I am hoping to get over 70% and would be disappointed with anything less. I wonder if I'm being too ambitious though and setting myself up for a fall 😅
Original post by peedie pixie
First group result was 58%, but my first individual assignment I got 75%. I was delighted with it since that counts as an A and it showed I knew what I was doing! Guess it just showed that it pays to read the guidelines and to follow them :smile:


Well done! That's an amazing first grade. Did your teacher have any useful constructive feedback for you?
Well I'm joint honours; my first grade for an English Literature essay was a 52, which I accepted as pretty good because I didn't work very hard on it and left most of it until near the last minute (a habit I'm trying to change). Then I got a 62 on a drama essay I spent 3 days on and was over the moon with. Except now I just want to drop out of uni so it all feels a tad pointless.
Original post by RainbowKiwi
65% is a 2:1 isn't it? Most people would say that's a decent grade - especially for a first assignment. Did you have a 1st in mind while you were working on it? If so, I can understand how you would have been disappointed.

I've got my first assignment grade due soon. I am hoping to get over 70% and would be disappointed with anything less. I wonder if I'm being too ambitious though and setting myself up for a fall 😅


To be honest I did the subject (Economics) at A-Level so I think I expected to get nothing less than 70%+, and this may have made me slightly complacent.

And haha, more power to you! Aim high.
Original post by EllieC130
Well I'm joint honours; my first grade for an English Literature essay was a 52, which I accepted as pretty good because I didn't work very hard on it and left most of it until near the last minute (a habit I'm trying to change). Then I got a 62 on a drama essay I spent 3 days on and was over the moon with. Except now I just want to drop out of uni so it all feels a tad pointless.


Why do you want to drop out, if you don't mind me asking? :smile: It sounds like you improved your work standard as time went on - definitely a trait I can aspire to :smile:
Original post by Mr.Econometrics
To be honest I did the subject (Economics) at A-Level so I think I expected to get nothing less than 70%+, and this may have made me slightly complacent.

And haha, more power to you! Aim high.


Ah, I see :smile: I think I can keep in mind your experience then and try to stop myself from being complacent too
Original post by RainbowKiwi
Why do you want to drop out, if you don't mind me asking? :smile: It sounds like you improved your work standard as time went on - definitely a trait I can aspire to :smile:

I feel very out of place at uni. And its not exactly an improvement. I just happened to get lucky I'd used the right sources. I feel kind of alone here. Plus I'm not to everyone else's standards and it really makes me question what the point is in me being here.
Original post by RainbowKiwi
Well done! That's an amazing first grade. Did your teacher have any useful constructive feedback for you?


I can't really remember to be honest haha! My uni is decent for giving feedback on assignments but it doesn't tend to be constructive.. it's more like a list of comments.

In my first assignment for second year I got 97% (still delighted with this!:biggrin:) and the feedback was just stuff about how the number of references was great and that an executive summary was a nice touch but could be longer. "could be longer" is about the height of constructive :tongue:
70% I was quite happy because I was basically forced to be the leader but it was a good end result so can't complain.
Original post by EllieC130
I feel very out of place at uni. And its not exactly an improvement. I just happened to get lucky I'd used the right sources. I feel kind of alone here. Plus I'm not to everyone else's standards and it really makes me question what the point is in me being here.


Sorry to hear you feel that way :console: Maybe it will get better with time? Have you tried joining societies, I've heard they're a great way to meet like-minded people.
Original post by peedie pixie
I can't really remember to be honest haha! My uni is decent for giving feedback on assignments but it doesn't tend to be constructive.. it's more like a list of comments.

In my first assignment for second year I got 97% (still delighted with this!:biggrin:) and the feedback was just stuff about how the number of references was great and that an executive summary was a nice touch but could be longer. "could be longer" is about the height of constructive :tongue:


Bravo on 97%!!! :thumbsup: That's definitely something to be ecstatic about :smile: May I ask, how many words that assignment was and how many references you used for it? I would love any tips you can give me so I can learn to apply those skills myself :h:
Original post by MissLalaxx
70% I was quite happy because I was basically forced to be the leader but it was a good end result so can't complain.


You must have been elated when you received 70%, all your hard work as the leader paid off :clap2: I'm assuming it was group work? I am dreading being in the position of working in a group where not everyone is pulling their weight. I'm the type of person that hates confrontations so I will probably put up with it lol.
Original post by RainbowKiwi
You must have been elated when you received 70%, all your hard work as the leader paid off :clap2: I'm assuming it was group work? I am dreading being in the position of working in a group where not everyone is pulling their weight. I'm the type of person that hates confrontations so I will probably put up with it lol.

I was so happy considering I kind of messed up there was a malfunction with one of the slides. Yeah it was group work. I know it's stressful I was getting stick from one person for going home to get my braces off. At that time I wasn't the leader but the leader decided to wait for me to come back which meant we had a week to actually make a presentation and practice. She didn't want to do it anymore so I had to. Yeah I know what you mean about confronting people. A particular person didn't turn
up for practice and I was furious. You just have to put your foot down. Be stern but also democratic.:smile:
Original post by RainbowKiwi
Sorry to hear you feel that way :console: Maybe it will get better with time? Have you tried joining societies, I've heard they're a great way to meet like-minded people.


Planning to. But even then I'm starting to feel like there's no point being here if I'm not smart enough.
Original post by RainbowKiwi
Bravo on 97%!!! :thumbsup: That's definitely something to be ecstatic about :smile: May I ask, how many words that assignment was and how many references you used for it? I would love any tips you can give me so I can learn to apply those skills myself :h:


It was 4000 words (with a 10% allowance either side, so 3600-4400). I think I had about 5 pages of references, though those were all done Harvard referencing style & took up about 3 lines each with a line in between each reference :smile: edit - counted and there were 32 references!

That lecturer told us to have at least 6 references, of which some were academic journals. I searched my uni databases for those and just used an awful lot of online newspaper articles and websites specifically related to my degree. Statistics are always good if you can find them, even if you have to twist them to suit your argument :smile:


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(edited 9 years ago)
The first assignment I got was an essay, got 73% on it which I was pretty happy with considering I felt like I struggled, but going back over it I understand why I got a higher mark than peers.
Original post by EllieC130
I feel very out of place at uni. And its not exactly an improvement. I just happened to get lucky I'd used the right sources. I feel kind of alone here. Plus I'm not to everyone else's standards and it really makes me question what the point is in me being here.


I can understand where you are coming from, I feel like that a lot. And to be honest I think a lot of people do but just don't come out and say it. I often feel like I'm drowning and I don't know what I'm doing but I often still get a reasonable mark or higher, it just takes time. You'll start getting used to what is expected of you at university and things will become easier and more routine.

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