Do entry grades reflect work level?

Hello, my friends and i are always trying to work out what entry grades actually reflect, obviously a more popular/better university will ask for better grades and also a over subscribed course (ie. psychology) will also normally reflect higher entry grades. However do grades reflect the difficultly of the course at all? I know that all degrees have to be at a certain standard and difficultly in order to have worth and credibility but was wondering if difficultly is at all reflected by grades.

I.e for psychology at Birmingham - AAB
and at Aston - BBB

Will there be a difference in the difficultly of material covered? Do they tailor courses to suit the level of people that are accepted!?

Reply 1

Sazarina88

I'm not really sure - I don't think the difficulty of the material covered would differ hugely, it depends on what modules are taught as some topics are generally harder than others. A university asking for higher entry grades may expect more from their students in terms of private study so want students that have shown that they can work to achieve high grades.

Also, I think it partly reflects the work ethic of the students you'll be around. For example:

If you're aiming to get AAA but apply to places that want BBC or BCC, you're likely to be around a lot of students that got BBC or BCC, so they might not share the same work ethic as you. Does that make any sense at all?

Basically, if you want to be around peers that share a similar work ethic, choose universities with entry grades that you can realistically get. I got AAAB but went to a university that only needed something like BB for my subject and I found that hardly anyone shared my work ethic - those that did were labelled as freaks for not going out at least three times a week and getting so drunk that they couldn't remember much the morning after.

Reply 2

Jillie Boe

Yeah, I don't actually know either. Probably not.

I knew I'd never got AAA in my A level's so didn't apply for places like Manchester/Birmingham.

My degree's credited so I don't really care tbh.

Reply 3

NSW

i think it's popularity (ie. the ratio of applicants to places on a course) that determines the entry grades, not how difficult it is. although i suppose entry grades also depends on the quality of people applying there in the first place, there might be loads of DDD applicants, but they couldnt have high entry requirements because those DDD applicants wouldnt apply.

I dont think it's related to difficulty, although a university which has straight A students is likely to have higher expectations than a DDD uni.

I dont think any of that made sence, nevermind :rolleyes:

Do they tailor courses to suit the level of people that are accepted!?

Hmm, i suppose they must do to a certain extent otherwise no one would get enough support, and everyone would fail.

Reply 4

monkeybrain

Yes I was told at my school that the higher grades don't always depict the better course or uni, it depends on popularity, if you look at league tables, places like Aston are higher than some of the more popular unis, but ask for lower grades, as they don't have the same reputation. Go where you feel comfortable

Reply 5

Helicopter

I'm at Birmingham (requires AAB). The work is pretty demanding at times and if I'd have only been able to get a C at A level then I doubt I'd have been able to cope here.

Reply 6

dooby

Ditto!!! Got AAB at A Level and finding 1st year Psych at Bham pretty demanding in some areas.

Reply 7

Lolly-88

I think to some extent the entry requirements do reflect the work level. For some universities that have high entry equirements AAB+ they usually are more science orientatated than some courses that have lower entry requirements...they seem to have more social psychology modules.

Reply 8

8owman

I go to Durham uni and got in with three A's, and I wouldn't say that higher entrance requirements equates to higher difficutly course. I can only speak as a first year student, but the workload is fine, a lot less than I had at A-level actually. Most of our exams are multiple choice (although this is only for the first year), and you can pass most of them with your eyes closed. Going from what my friends from other uni's have said, I would say that entrance requirements reflect how much the lecturers assume you know prior to taking part in the course. So, in Durham for example, our stats lecturer may assume that we understand certain statistical concepts etc., whereas in other universites with lower entrance requirements, they may not.