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Getting a First....

Helenia

As an example; their marking system includes giving you an "alpha" if you complete more than 75% of a question (I think you get a beta if you complete 50%) and you have to get a certain number of alphas to get each grade. In first year, my friend's bf got 18 alphas out of a possibly 54 (I think) - which was enough for a first, it's THAT hard! There was a guy in his year who got ALL 54 :eek:

Is the first year alpha worth less than a 3rd year alpha? I assume it must be (since the change this year), because the senior wrangler this year got 33 alphas, and this was the highest post war first Cambridge have seen in Mathematics - the guy in question is a machine!

I have a feeling that 3 of the "old style alphas" is the same as one 3rd year "new style alpha". But I'm not entirely sure what the relation would be between 3rd year alphas and 1st year alphas. The questions in 3rd year are longer than those in 1st year. Hmph - it's all far too confusing!

Reply 41

homoterror

Do you know who got the best firsts in part 1 Maths in the exams just gone?

Reply 42

Wrangler

2

homoterror

Do you know who got the best firsts in part 1 Maths in the exams just gone?

No idea I'm afraid.

Reply 43

Helenia

20

Wrangler

Is the first year alpha worth less than a 3rd year alpha? I assume it must be (since the change this year), because the senior wrangler this year got 33 alphas, and this was the highest post war first Cambridge have seen in Mathematics - the guy in question is a machine!

I have a feeling that 3 of the "old style alphas" is the same as one 3rd year "new style alpha". But I'm not entirely sure what the relation would be between 3rd year alphas and 1st year alphas. The questions in 3rd year are longer than those in 1st year. Hmph - it's all far too confusing!

Probably the highest first in Part II, I'd guess. To be honest I have no bloody clue about the system, this was just an anecdote he told me.

Reply 44

Wrangler

2

Helenia

Probably the highest first in Part II, I'd guess.

I'm lost - who, what, how? :redface:

Reply 45

Helenia

20

Wrangler

I'm lost - who, what, how? :redface:

Part II = third year exams. First year = IA. Entirely possible the number of marks and the best results etc are different between the two.

Reply 46

Wrangler

2

Helenia

Part II = third year exams. First year = IA.

I know what Part IA and Part II etc are, I'm a 4th year Mathmo at Cambridge. :smile:

I didn't understand the meaning of the bit I quoted. It's most definitely the case that the marking is slightly different in the 3rd year, to that of the 1st and 2nd year - I'm just not sure of the exact details. Since the questions are considerably longer in Part II exams, I would expect quite a difference in the credit awarded for an alpha.

Not sure what the exact borderlines were this year, but around 12 alphas and 3 betas got you a 1st in the 3rd year. And as I said, the senior wrangler (top guy in year) got 33 alphas, which was the highest post war first the University has seen in Mathematics. Comparing this to the 54 you mentioned, is an indication that the alphas awarded in 1A and 1B are worth considerably less.

Phew - glad that's sorted! :redface:

Reply 47

Isaiah Berlin

4

Don't worry about. I didn't get a first (IIRC, it was in about 1931) and I was arguably the most successful British scholar in my field of the 20th century. I was so fooking good they even named the capital of Germany after my surname, and there's even a book in the Bible (maybe even two, I forget) which they renamed after my first name.

I rock.

Reply 48

sam19

homoterror

Do you know who got the best firsts in part 1 Maths in the exams just gone?

Chris Eagle

Who was Senior Wrangler?

Reply 49

Wrangler

2

sam19

Who was Senior Wrangler?

Tim Austin.

Reply 50

Helenia

20

Wrangler

I know what Part IA and Part II etc are, I'm a 4th year Mathmo at Cambridge. :smile:

I didn't understand the meaning of the bit I quoted. It's most definitely the case that the marking is slightly different in the 3rd year, to that of the 1st and 2nd year - I'm just not sure of the exact details. Since the questions are considerably longer in Part II exams, I would expect quite a difference in the credit awarded for an alpha.

Not sure what the exact borderlines were this year, but around 12 alphas and 3 betas got you a 1st in the 3rd year. And as I said, the senior wrangler (top guy in year) got 33 alphas, which was the highest post war first the University has seen in Mathematics. Comparing this to the 54 you mentioned, is an indication that the alphas awarded in 1A and 1B are worth considerably less.

Phew - glad that's sorted! :redface:

Well, assuming that the guy was telling the truth and it's not just urban legend, I guess maybe it is easier to get one in part IA - and I think that it would be the same guy we're talking about (just finished 3rd year). All this is hearsay though, so you probably know better than I do!

Reply 51

Narcissus

How well did this Paul Jefferies do, does anyone know?

Reply 52

meepmeep

Paul got a very good first (think it was a top 5). Only a 2:1 for me though (although only a couple of marks off a first, well "ish").

For maths, in Part 1A, you take four 3 hour papers which are split into two sections and cover two of the modules you have studied per paper - section A is 4 easier questions worth 10 marks each (2 from each topic). Section B (in the first year) is 8 questions, four from each topic, from which you pick 3 questions from one and 2 from another and each question is out of 20. (I think in part 1B you choose 6 questions but there are far more topics to a paper).

By the old system, if you got 8, 9 or 10 you got an alpha from the section A questions and if you got 5 or 6 you got a beta (I'm not sure whether the 7 was an alpha or beta). I think the section B questions were 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 or 20 for a double alpha and 10 to 14 for a double beta (but I might be wrong).

In the new system, it's 7, 8, 9 or 10 to get a beta on the first questions and 15-20 to get an alpha or 10-14 for a beta on section B questions.

Last year you got a raw score out of 540 and an alpha and beta mark. From that, they calculate your "weighted" score by using a formula like
weighted score = raw score + 2 x beta count + 6 x alpha count (if alpha count is less than 10)
=raw score + 2 x beta count + 10 x alpha count - 36 (if alpha count is 10 or more)

or something close to that. If your score was near a grade boundary though, they look at each case individually, and if you're slightly below the boundary but have a high alpha count, then they'll look on you favourably, but if you have few alphas and lots of betas then it will disavantage you.

So yeah, it's not really that simple and it changes from year to year anyway, but that's the gist of it. For what it's worth, most of the other subjects that I know of seem to be a bit more sane with their marking and just rank order you by your score then give the top x% firsts and so on.

Reply 53

Narcissus

Do you know who else came close or at the top? :biggrin:

Reply 54

meepmeep

Narcissus

Do you know who else came close or at the top? :biggrin:

Alex Shannon and David Fiddler both did very well as well I think and so did Mr Xu (I've forgotten his first name... :redface:

) from Trinity. It's difficult to find out though because they list the names for each grade in alphabetical order, not score order like they used to.

Reply 55

minimo

15

some lucky lil mathmo might have Paul Jeffreys as their AC lol

Reply 56

minimo

15

Did any Trinners get top firsts for Economics?? I remember that there were a number of scary top 5s year before last. :eek:

Reply 57

meepmeep

minimo

Did any Trinners get top firsts for Economics?? I remember that there were a number of scary top 5s year before last. :eek:

I don't know any economists too well and can't find any stats for it, but there is a breakdown of the number of people who got each grade uni wide by subject, gender and year for last year's results here

Reply 58

sam19

minimo

Did any Trinners get top firsts for Economics?? I remember that there were a number of scary top 5s year before last. :eek:

Year before last, Trinity economists came 1st, 3rd and 5th (and several more in the top 20).

This year, there were no Trinity first year economists in the top 5. :frown:

Reply 59

minimo

15

Were there lots of normal firsts?

Getting a First....

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