Starred First?

wtf is a starred first? Something I should be impressed by and possibly send chocolates/regards for, or something more to roll my eyes at? My retard sister apparently just got one!

Reply 1

The West Wing

18

Original post by samba

wtf is a starred first? Something I should be impressed by and possibly send chocolates/regards for, or something more to roll my eyes at? My retard sister apparently just got one!

It means you've gotten an exceptional mark. In Law they get awarded once every 5-10 years.

Reply 2

Dumb Economist

13

Original post by samba

wtf is a starred first? Something I should be impressed by and possibly send chocolates/regards for, or something more to roll my eyes at? My retard sister apparently just got one!

You stay flat on floor facing down mate..... :tongue:

when you see you sis ...

Reply 3

DJkG.1

17

80%+ I believe is a first with distinction. Your name on the class list has a * by it - hence 'starred first'.

To get it overall in a year, the usual conventions apply. So 80%+ in all or all but one paper, or an aggregate mark totalling over 80%.

It is extremely rare. I've never heard of one in law (my subject) and I don't think it's hardly any more common in any other subject, though I have heard of a few here and there in history, English and compsci. I think the last one in law was many years ago.

Which subject does your sis do?

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 4

samba

OP

6

Original post by Dumb Economist

You stay flat on floor facing down mate..... :tongue:

when you see you sis ...

ya. bro just finished his medicine degree too. I feel like a complete failure in life; all i do is play forex at home on the computer. ego is bruised :P

Original post by DJkG.1

80%+ I believe is a first with distinction. Your name on the class list has a * by it - hence 'starred first'.

To get it overall in a year, the usual conventions apply. So 80%+ in all or all but one paper, or an aggregate mark totalling over 80%.

It is extremely rare. I've never heard of one in law (my subject) and I don't think it's hardly any more common in any other subject, though I have heard of a few here and there in history, English and compsci. I think the last one in law was many years ago.

Which subject does your sis do?

Was for her overall degree I believe. History. Apparently the first one in 5 years at katz. You probably can all work out who I am now :/

Reply 5

DJkG.1

17

Original post by samba

ya. bro just finished his medicine degree too. I feel like a complete failure in life; all i do is play forex at home on the computer. ego is bruised :P

I play forex. :erm:

Was for her overall degree I believe. History. Apparently the first one in 5 years at katz. You probably can all work out who I am now :/

Well we could find out who your sis is, yeh. :p:

But well done to her - that's some achievement getting a starred first in 3rd year.

(edited 12 years ago)

Congrats

Original post by DJkG.1

I play forex. :erm:

Well we could find out who your sis is, yeh. :p:

But well done to her - that's some achievement getting a starred first in 3rd year.

ahh that's cool - started using a practice forex account today for the first time, but had major information overload! How did you guys learn about it? Can you suggest any good books/tutorials?

Reply 8

sundogs

2

Wowzer.
Good for her!

Reply 9

andy892

Original post by DJkG.1

80%+ I believe is a first with distinction. Your name on the class list has a * by it - hence 'starred first'.

To get it overall in a year, the usual conventions apply. So 80%+ in all or all but one paper, or an aggregate mark totalling over 80%.

It is extremely rare. I've never heard of one in law (my subject) and I don't think it's hardly any more common in any other subject, though I have heard of a few here and there in history, English and compsci. I think the last one in law was many years ago.

Which subject does your sis do?

More common in Geography. Two to three people get them per year (in all parts of the Tripos).

Reply 10

TheUnbeliever

16

Original post by DJkG.1

To get it overall in a year, the usual conventions apply. So 80%+ in all or all but one paper, or an aggregate mark totalling over 80%.

Marking and classing conventions vary wildly between subjects. Computer science does grading on a curve, with some fairly substantial tweaks to normalize marks in first year (where compsci, natsci maths, and other natsci subjects all have very different distributions of marks) and then track the cohort to account for the possibility that students may leave from both extremes. Maths has a preposterously complex system. :p:

Reply 11

Supermerp

2

Original post by TheUnbeliever

Marking and classing conventions vary wildly between subjects. Computer science does grading on a curve, with some fairly substantial tweaks to normalize marks in first year (where compsci, natsci maths, and other natsci subjects all have very different distributions of marks) and then track the cohort to account for the possibility that students may leave from both extremes. Maths has a preposterously complex system. :p:

None of those subjects have starred firsts (afaik. Physics certainly doesn't) though, so it doesn't matter :smile:

Reply 12

gethsemane342

11

Original post by DJkG.1

80%+ I believe is a first with distinction. Your name on the class list has a * by it - hence 'starred first'.

To get it overall in a year, the usual conventions apply. So 80%+ in all or all but one paper, or an aggregate mark totalling over 80%.

It is extremely rare. I've never heard of one in law (my subject) and I don't think it's hardly any more common in any other subject, though I have heard of a few here and there in history, English and compsci. I think the last one in law was many years ago.

Which subject does your sis do?

One of the consti supervisors had a double starred first when he was here. Also, I hear a fellow of Caius had marks in the mid 90s when he was a student... But I haven't heard of anyone in law getting it for about 5 years now.

Reply 13

EWS

I didn't think it was possible to get over 85!

Reply 14

nuodai

17

Original post by TheUnbeliever

Maths has a preposterously complex system. :p:

It's simple really! A beta for an 8/10 short question or a 10/20 long question, an alpha for a 15/20 long question; betas are worth 5 extra marks, alphas are worth 15 extra marks (if you have <8) or 30 extra marks (if you have

\ge

8) with 120 subtracted off the total for continuity if you have

\ge

8 alphas

[Oh wait, did I say 'simple'?] And then examiners are 'recommended' to give a certain %age of 1sts, 2:1s, 2:2s and 3rd/belows (which they tend to stick to fairly rigidly), rather than the bell-curve system used in NST and CompSci.

Reply 15

Zhen Lin

12

Original post by EWS

I didn't think it was possible to get over 85!

Sure it is. It's more common in some triposes than others. In the Mathematical Tripos, for example, being 5th in the year automatically means your "normalised" percentage is 95%, even if the guy who came 1st had twice as many marks as you.

I've just realised that a distinction in Part III is essentially a starred first, since a merit is considered to be a pass at the level of first-class honours. (A simple pass, on the other hand, is a 2:1!) But if we look at it that way, then we'd probably have more starred firsts than all the other triposes combined.

Reply 16

Supergrunch

10

Original post by DJkG.1

80%+ I believe is a first with distinction. Your name on the class list has a * by it - hence 'starred first'.

To get it overall in a year, the usual conventions apply. So 80%+ in all or all but one paper, or an aggregate mark totalling over 80%.

It is extremely rare. I've never heard of one in law (my subject) and I don't think it's hardly any more common in any other subject, though I have heard of a few here and there in history, English and compsci. I think the last one in law was many years ago.

Which subject does your sis do?

I think it's a bit more complex than this - as I understand in linguistics at least, you need to have 80 or above in at least one exam, and 70 or above in all the others. And they're not uncommon, with two last year and only 8 (I think) candidates. But I may be wrong, and other subjects probably have other conventions, as well as (as is clear) wildly differing frequencies of starred firsts.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 17

stripy_and_nice

Original post by DJkG.1

I play forex. :erm:

Successfully?

Original post by DJkG.1

But well done to her - that's some achievement getting a starred first in 3rd year.

It's certainly an excellent achievement. No "retard" there! :smile:

Is it possible to get a starred 1st in any other year than the third? I didn't think it was.

Here's why. I've wondered why they don't give starred 1sts in maths, and met the idea that for Part II 1sts 100% of the highest possible merit mark may map to a scaled percentage of 100%, and the I/II.i boundary to 70%. If so, the highest 1st would usually get a scaled percentage of less than 75%, because nobody ever gets anywhere near the highest possible merit mark in Part II, as has always been true in the maths Tripos. So maybe nobody has ever got a scaled percentage of 80%+ (even in one exam paper!) and if someone did, they'd get a starred 1st? That's all speculation, and mapping is done differently in Part IA, where the person who came fifth gets their mark mapped to 95%. But if it's true, it would explain why nobody has got a starred 1st in maths, and would also suggest that starred 1sts aren't available in the first year.

But do people get starred firsts in non-final years in other subjects? If so, that would debunk the theory! :confused:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 18

Zhen Lin

12

Original post by stripy_and_nice

Is it possible to get a starred 1st in any other year than the third? I didn't think it was.

The simple answer is that it isn't available in the Mathematical Tripos at all, other than in the sense of a "distinction" in Part III. In all other cases where it is available, it is explicitly mentioned in the ordinances using phrasing like "In the class-list a mark of distinction may be attached to the name of any candidate whose work in the examination shows special merit."

Here's why. I've wondered why they don't give starred 1sts in maths, and met the idea that for Part II 1sts 100% of the highest possible merit mark may map to a scaled percentage of 100%, and the I/II.i boundary to 70%.

Doubtful. The highest possible merit mark in Part II is

77 \times (20 + 30) + 24 \times (10 + 5) - 120 = 4090

, and I don't think anyone ever gets more than 2000. (Though, in 2005, apparently someone got 40 alphas.)

But do people get starred firsts in non-final years in other subjects? If so, that would debunk the theory! :confused:

Yes, it is possible. Just look at the class lists. One guy in my college got a starred first in Part IB of the Music Tripos last year, for example.

Reply 19

smilepea

You certainly can get them in all parts of most triposes but that doesn't mean people do.

In Ia maths total merit marks of over 90% aren't unheard of at all, and I know of someone who got over 90 in history part I (from what I can tell he was exceptional.) Also marks over 90 in practical aspects of music are fairly common (that is to say they happen in most parts most years).

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