My grades are crap

Hi guys,

I’m in my third year of English at uni and I got crap in my first and second years due to mental health issues.

I got a 2.2 in first year and my grades for second year were 72.3, 54.7, 67.8, 65.7, 65.3, 63.8, 51.3 and 40.0. These are my marks for 8 modules I did that were 15 credits each. I’m so disappointed in myself because I could have done better.

For my third year which counts as 60% of my uni grade, how can I get a 2.1? The first years counts at 10%, second was 30%. What’s the average I need to be getting in my assignments to earn a 2.1 at the end? I also already have flopped my first assignment for third year which counted at 25% of the modules as I got 47. Could I kindly get some advice please 🙏🏼

Your second year average is 60.1. Without your first year score it's impossible to be exact, but heuristically I would say that around 61-62 in third year would give you a 2.1.

My marks for first year were 70.0, 57.2, 46.8, 51.0, 50.8, 67.4, 45.8.

Just 7 modules? Was one double weighted?

Yep, one of the modules I did was credited at 30 😭

Which one?

It was one on foundations of language. Back in semester A of first year and I flopped it. Getting a 46.8

Ok, so you have a year one average of 54.475 and a year two average of 60.1125. (Note that this level of accuracy might be wiped out by rounding, but it will be close.)

That means that for final year you need to average 60.8646 for a 60 overall, ie just barely scrape a 2.1 this year and you'll be fine. Given that you're obviously capable of getting such marks - and significantly higher - this is well within your reach. You just need to avoid having too many disasters!

Thank you so much honestly, this has given me such a boost of confidence. Currently I did stumble already on the first hurdle, by getting 47 on an assignment worth 25% of one of the modules. I will however try to get better on the other assignment worth 75% to boost my grade for the overall module.

What’s the average I should be getting in assignments to make sure I hit a 2.1?

Thank you so much honestly, this has given me such a boost of confidence. Currently I did stumble already on the first hurdle, by getting 47 on an assignment worth 25% of one of the modules. I will however try to get better on the other assignment worth 75% to boost my grade for the overall module.

What’s the average I should be getting in assignments to make sure I hit a 2.1?

Anywhere in the 60s is fine. And if you get below that with improved marks elsewhere.

You also need to work out where these blips are coming from. Late submissions? Not understanding the question?

If you want to play around with percentages and what you need/what you want to aim for try using this grade calculator, it helped me a ton during uni as I knew exactly what I needed for each assignment 🙂

GradeCalc | the university grade calculator!

I think it’s definitely because of not understanding the content half of the time. Even though I’m in third year, the jump from A levels to uni is still something I struggle with. And due to the constant change of lecturers, I find it hard to get help from somebody who does not know my learning style or me in general. I know my university offers a lot of support but it’s the type of support that is so different compared to the support I gained from my teachers in college. I guess it’s just how things work and I need to get the jist of it 👍🏽

That leads to questions such as... What is your learning style? What makes it difficult to support? What did your college teachers do differently?

I’m quite slow in general, like it takes me a while to fully grasp the content 😭 I’m also so used to exams and revising and stuff like that but since I do English, it’s all assignments and coursework we never have exams so I feel like that’s why I probably don’t get as well of a grade since my learning style was always revising but perhaps I could apply this method in some way to assignments.

I’ve also made another blip, got my feedback for an assignment worth 40% for one of my modules and scored 57. I guess a 2.2 is going to be my situation 🤦🏽*♀️

So, in your head, what's the difference between an essay written in a three hour exam and an essay written in three weeks?

When given a coursework assignment, how do you approach it?

In my head when it comes to an exam, it’s not an open book situation so I will have to make the effort of memorising and revising etc. ingraining the content but an essay written in three week in my head I feel that I can substantiate that whenever as I can use recourses around me to gain answers. My approach to assignments of particularly essay based ones, is to write a brief plan and then go in and complete the sections for it. Sometimes I’ve been able to get really good on my essays and sometimes I score the average 2.2 on them.

So you probably have an advantage in exams because you are good at memorising what you need?

Your approach to coursework seems decent. From the feedback, what's the difference between your 2.2s and the 2.1s/firsts?