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Why do Oxford mark like this?

I am a second year law student at Oxford and I find the way they mark kind of weird. I have never met someone who has ever scored less than 60 or more than 72 on an assignment, whereas at other unis it seems to be that some people will score 40 and others will score 85. Here, almost every single person I know is consistently scoring around the mid 60s, with the exception of some very gifted students who still only score in the very low 70s.

Is it just that everyone here is working at a very similar level so the range of scores is much narrower? or is it deliberate on the part of the tutors to restrict the scores they are giving out to that small range? I have a feeling it might be deliberate because I have submitted some truly atrocious assignments which never score below 60 and my absolute best work still only scores around 68 even though comparing the two pieces of work I would say there is a much more than 8 mark gap between them.

What is the reason for tutors doing this? it seems counterproductive for them to receive an assignment that should score in the low 50s and be unwilling to give it anything less than exactly 60.

Reply 1

random_matt

Seems normal for most universities I would guess. My assignments were usually graded 74 and one other was graded 68. Perhaps your work was better than you thought or maybe you just seem to think you do not deserve good grades for whatever reason.

Reply 2

Username123ab

Original post by random_matt

If it was just me who was scoring within that range I'd say you were right but I have never met anyone here who has ever scored outside the 60-72 range, which definitely isn't normal at other unis

Reply 3

The_Lonely_Goatherd

It might be a subject-specific thing or your particular cohort being strong. I def scored essay and exam marks between 41-80 at Ox (for music, matriculation year 2007). Either way I wouldn't worry about it too much: if your tutors think you're doing good, then that's great :biggrin: