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How much do grades drop each uni year?

Throughout most of my later highschool years, and early college ones, the teachers kept on reminding us of the added difficulty of the exams we were going through, and told us to expect a drop in our grades.

So from GCSE to AS, I think there was "on average" a 1 grade drop, then AS to A2 there was another drop in the grade there too. Of course, that's purely statistical and really didn't affect me too much. I was fairly constant.

I'm just wondering if there is a relationship in grades between A2 level and a Bachelor's degree, and also between the years of a degree.

So, if I finish this first year with a 2:1, is it likely that I will carry on to finish with a 2:1, or is it more likely that I would end up with something like a 2:2 or Pass?

They also reckon that doing a sandwich year will increase your degree by one grade.

How much does the difficulty increase between the first and second and third years anyway? Some people have said that the workload drops massively, and others say that it gets progressively worse.

My course: Mechanical Engineering BEng Hons. 3 years + sandwich year. Each year is worth 120 points and the degree is a grand total of 360. For some reason, a few adults seemed curious that it was split that way... So maybe the way the work is divided up makes a difference?

Cheers

Reply 1

username306617

Well my average went up 2% from first to second year.
I haven't found there's been a big jump in difficulty like in school. It's a lot more manageable.
In actual fact there's been some reshuffling of the modules on our course so in second year we did some classes that had previously been 3rd year classes.

I think if you're getting a good 2.1 in first year and continue working just as hard you will maintain that 2.1.
If you scraped your 2.1 in first year and don't keep up with the content there is obviously a chance you will fall down to a 2.2.

Reply 2

llacerta

We've always been told that students (in our department, anyway) tend get their best marks in their final year. I've also been told that for us, the second year is the most difficult, and from my experiences so far this does seem to be the case.

I guess my point is that it really does depend on your course and university, though there may well be some universal trends.

Reply 3

InsaneFandom

I've heard that across the whole year the average grade usually rises rom first to second year... but they then added that that's mainly down to people who weren't performing dropping out, switching subjects or having to resit the year :p:

Reply 4

ForgettingWhatsername

Mine have actually been going up each year.

Reply 5

SillyEddy

Interesting result!

I suppose for quite a few people, they first year is all for parties, and the second year is cracking on with the work! That said, I'm working quite hard in the first year. It wasn't cheap before, but university is too expensive not to give it your all!

For those whose results varied, was that because the work was more/less difficult, or purely your attitude towards the work?

Reply 6

Shelly_x

My average went down 4% in second year. I'd say that there is a lot more expected of you as you progress and the marking gets harsher.

Reply 7

Slumpy

I didn't see any real increase in difficulty in school exams, then a massive jump, then all years of uni were approximately the same. I got 1% lower in my 2nd year exams than 1st and 3rd year because I spent exam term playing tennis.

Reply 8

Origami Bullets

I asked my tutor about whether grades between years in uni tend to go up or down; apparently it varies person to person and there isn't really a general trend.

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