I completed a Master's dissertation, which I thought was very good, however I received a mark of 55% for it which is very disappointing. It was marked by two people, noe of them gave it 50%, one of them gave it 60%. To me, I find a 10% difference quite shocking, as on the feedback page, the first marker said the second marker was very harsh on me (the guy who was harsh turned out to be my dissertation supervisor, who actually never supervised me and was on leave for most of the year).
There is no review procedure available at my Uni, other than a complaints procedure, which I have initiated. As regards to the 10% difference, my Uni claims that "This underlines how thoughtfully each marker assessed the dissertation." Do you guys agree with that? My supervisor who isn't english told me he couldn't understand any of my english and told me he wasn't familiar with the topic of my dissertation (he gave me the lowest mark). It's funny he doesn't understand my english because in all my other essays I got high merits and distinctions- as a native English speaker I find it hard to believe how I can suddenly be going from a distinction writing level to a mid pass level?
I only just found out my Uni submitted by dissertation for external mark approval to another uni, and I was told the name of that person. Turns out I was liaising with that person for a few months and gave that same person my dissertation. Whilst he approved the initial mark from UCL (55%), he said that paper was of a 65% standard- he obviously didn't bother to read it first time round and didn't want to contradict UCL. I've also given it for review to a US lawyer who teaches at a prestigious uni in London, and he gave the paper 67%.
I can only think my dissertation is worth at least a merit, but not a pass, but what can I do???