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Degree classification.

Please can someone remind me what the mark divides between classes are - tried to find it on the internet but can't seem to.

Cheers

Reply 1

OldMan

randomer

Please can someone remind me what the mark divides between classes are - tried to find it on the internet but can't seem to.
Cheers

On a particular paper it is pass 40%, 2.2 50%, 2.1 60%, 1 70% I believe (that is certainly true for some subjects, not entirely sure that it is universally true.

Overall class is not however based on an average score; you need to check the examiners' conventions for the particular honourd school. You could average 80% but still get a 2.2 (or probably worse) if you mess up a couple of papers.

Reply 2

house badger

7

Well greater than 70 is usually a first, greater than 60 a 2:1 and it continues down in groups of ten. Those would be the marks that your tutors give essays and that individual questions are marked on in exams.

Final degree classification is usually more complicated and varies by subject. A first typically involves getting a certain number of papers graded as a first, a certain number as 2:1s or better, no more than x 2:2s and no 3rds/fails. You'd have to look in the examination regulations for each subject to find the precise breakdown for each classification. I think some discretion can be applied in borderline cases too.

Reply 3

OldMan

randomer

Please can someone remind me what the mark divides between classes are - tried to find it on the internet but can't seem to.
Cheers

Fot an individual paper it is
pass 30%, 3 40%, 2.2 50%, 2.1 60%, 1 70% I believe. (Certainly true for some subjects, not entirely certain it is universal.

Overall class is not however based on an average; you might average 80% but get a 2.2 (or worse) if you mess up a couple of papers. You need to check the Examiners' conventions for the particular Honours School.

Reply 4

F1 fanatic

16

OldMan

Fot an individual paper it is
pass 30%, 3 40%, 2.2 50%, 2.1 60%, 1 70% I believe. (Certainly true for some subjects, not entirely certain it is universal.

Overall class is not however based on an average; you might average 80% but get a 2.2 (or worse) if you mess up a couple of papers. You need to check the Examiners' conventions for the particular Honours School.

I thought you had to get 40% to pass. I thought it was either a 3rd or you fail. Is there anything lower than a 3rd thats still a pass?

Reply 5

fatboy06

1

Isn't there a grade called 'Pass' below a 3rd? Which is essentially a fail...

Reply 6

Drogue

19

You can be awarded a pass degree (a degree without honours) if you get below 40% by special dispensation.

I know for PPE, E&M and I think quite a few others it's done that for a certain grade on a paper, it's 40, 50, 60, 70 (3rd, 2:2, 2:1, 1st respectibely) as grade boundaries. However for you're overall classification you need to get at least two papers in that particularly grade or higher, and have an average mark that is:

40-48: 3rd
49-57: 2:2
58-66: 2:1
67+: 1st

So if you get an average of 68, but have two papers above 70, then you're awarded a first.

There is another rule though that if you get 3 papers marked above 74, you automatically get a first by "minority excellence", provided the other 5 papers are a 2:2 or better. However nobody's yet to get 3 papers over 74 and not have an average above 67 yet. The rule is there so that people who are *really* amazing at management, for example, can get a first, even if they're not particularly good at economics.

Reply 7

Nutter

16

Thanks for filling me in Drogue - that was a good read.

Reply 8

randomer

OP

Thanks all!
:smile:

Reply 9

Hoofbeat

14

I know in some subjects, eg. Physics, rather than you having to gain a certain mark to be awarded a 2.1 etcl, you just have to be in the top percentage of the year....I believe the top 60% in the year are awarded 2.1's on higher in Physics. This is to take into account varying difficulties of the papers each year.

Reply 10

thomasjtl

9

i was under the impression that they only award a certain number of firsts (for each subject) each year- is this no longer the case?

Reply 11

OldMan

yelwalkietalkie

Wouldn't that be a bit stupid? That would disadvantage anyone going to Oxbridge because evidently it would be much much harder statistically to gain a first than somewhere else if that was the system. I'm sure Oxbridge must have more % firsts than most other institutions in the country given their selection procedure. Saying that, I hope someone more in the know can confirm this is wrong, otherwise I'm screwed.

Well the External Examiner for Law last year (Prof. Mitchell of KCL) seems to think it is hader to get a first at Oxford then elsewhere. The following are quotes from his report

The academic standards demonstrated by the students were excellent. The percentage of 1st class degrees awarded was in line with comparable degree courses, and the percentage of 2:1 degrees awarded was significantly higher....
Personally I believe that a generous use of marks above 70% would be appropriate, given how difficult it is under the Oxford system of achieving a 1st class degree overall...
In my opinion the Board took an exceptionally rigorous view of the circumstances in which a candidate achieving fewer than five 1st class marks out of nine (or more accurately, eight and a half) should be awarded a 1st class degree. I respect the determination which members of the Board displayed in holding a firm line at this boundary: under the Oxford system a 1st really does mean a 1st. However, I believe that some relaxation of these standards could be permitted.

Reply 12

F1 fanatic

16

yelwalkietalkie

Wouldn't that be a bit stupid? That would disadvantage anyone going to Oxbridge because evidently it would be much much harder statistically to gain a first than somewhere else if that was the system. I'm sure Oxbridge must have more % firsts than most other institutions in the country given their selection procedure. Saying that, I hope someone more in the know can confirm this is wrong, otherwise I'm screwed.

Uni's set their own exams.. so yes it is indeed harder to get a first at Ox than it is at other uni's. Thats why this is Oxford and not some other Uni... it has to count for something. Coincidentally, this is why a lot of arts students can buy themselves a "masters" as the degree is harder than at other unis.

At the end of the day everyone knows it is harder, and a 2-1 at Ox would be viewed in a better light than a 2-1 at a poor university.

Reply 13

eleri

5

It's definitely harder to get a first here - the work's harder all the way through, and the exams are harder. But I think there's still a higher percentage of people getting firsts here than other places as well - we do get the most exceptional students in the country. I think there was something like 34 firsts in my college last year, out of maybe 120 people or so.

Reply 14

oldspc

If you get a 3rd in a paper you can still be awarded a 1st overall if there are sufficient 1sts amongst the rest of your papers. It's one of the circumstances where you'd be called for a viva (if they still exist). It used to be called 'purging the gamma'.

Reply 15

bluefuture

5

The great thing about Oxford is that it really does not matter what class degree you get! There is an old saying, 'to have succeded at Oxford, you must of obtained at least one of three things, a first, a blue or a wife'. Does anybody really care what degree Tony Blair got, or anybody else? To have merely got into oxford you have already proved yourself a member of the academic elite. A 1st or 2i will merely confirm this again.

Reply 16

eleri

5

bluefuture

The great thing about Oxford is that it really does not matter what class degree you get! There is an old saying, 'to have succeded at Oxford, you must of obtained at least one of three things, a first, a blue or a wife'. Does anybody really care what degree Tony Blair got, or anybody else? To have merely got into oxford you have already proved yourself a member of the academic elite. A 1st or 2i will merely confirm this again.

I wish that were true, but when you start applying for jobs and they all want graduates with a 2:1 or above, it kind of does matter. And so few people here get 2:2s or 3rd that it would be hard not to feel like a failure if you missed out on a 2:1.

Reply 17

Elles

17

ditto eleri.
for post grad opportunities & funding etc too, although the official blurbs normally just say "upper seconds or above" it seems your class of degree does matter a smidgen.