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The % of coursework in a degree and the class of degree achieved- is it related?

Hi, I was just browsing the Pharmacy course on unistats.direct.gov.uk and suddenly started to wonder if there is a relationship between the amount of coursework in a degree with the number of students who achieve a 2:1 or better.

Do you think that having a somewhat large overall percentage for coursework (say 40%) in a degree gives a slight advantage for doing better in the course and getting a 2:1 or better?

I would be interested in reading opinions from students of all degree courses, not just Pharmacy :smile:

Reply 1

desdemonata

It really depends if you're good at essays. For me, it's an advantage, because I have a lot of practice with essays and commentaries, but for others, the essays are the worst part of the course and they dread getting them back.

Reply 2

Miss Smiley

Original post by desdemonata

I see. I never thought about coursework that way :colondollar:

Reply 3

Dragonfly07

For me coursework is always a disadvantage, mainly because it isn't concrete and no lecturer will just slap 100% on your assignments. Exams are more likely to have concrete marking schemes where your answer is either right or wrong, so you always get the marks you deserve (unless it's an essay question).

Reply 4

desdemonata

Original post by Miss Smiley

I see. I never thought about coursework that way :colondollar:

Haha, that's probably because you're one of the lucky ones who's good at them :smile:

You could also look at it another way. Some people are really nervous during exams, and it stops them from doing as well as they could. So for them essays being a larger % would be better. I think it does come down to the individual when you determine how hard a course will be.

Reply 5

Miss Smiley

Original post by Dragonfly07

That's interesting. Do lecturers know whose work they are marking? If so, I wonder if their feelings about individual students would subconsciously influence their marking.

Reply 6

Miss Smiley

Original post by desdemonata

Haha, that's probably because you're one of the lucky ones who's good at them :smile:

Potentially yes :smile:

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That sounds like a really good logical explanation.

Reply 7

Skriblerier

Original post by Miss Smiley

That's interesting. Do lecturers know whose work they are marking? If so, I wonder if their feelings about individual students would subconsciously influence their marking.

All marking at my university course is supposed to be anonymous.

Also, I do better in coursework than exams - for instance, i got 68% on an essay worth 30% of the final grade. Dropped down to 62 overall, which means that my essay saved my 2:1 in that module.

Reply 8

Miss Smiley

Original post by Skriblerier

That's good to hear. I was sort of thinking that maybe one would have to get into the good books of lecturers if that wasn't the case so that they subconsciously give 1 or 2 extra marks :tongue:

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I guess coursework can be advantageous then. Well Done for doing well btw :smile:

Reply 9

Dragonfly07

Original post by Miss Smiley

That's interesting. Do lecturers know whose work they are marking? If so, I wonder if their feelings about individual students would subconsciously influence their marking.

All marking is supposed to be anonymous, so we have a cover sheet where we need to fill in our full details that the lecturers don't see when they mark the papers. They do get to see our name on the cover page though, especially with group courseworks, and also we're required to put our student ID on every page and lecturers can know whose student ID it is (they can look it up online).

Reply 10

Skriblerier

Original post by Miss Smiley

That's good to hear. I was sort of thinking that maybe one would have to get into the good books of lecturers if that wasn't the case so that they subconsciously give 1 or 2 extra marks :tongue:

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I guess coursework can be advantageous then. Well Done for doing well btw :smile:

Yes, we have a cover sheet we have to fill out with names and student numbers, but the department fold it over to hide the name and the number and secure it with tape before hading it to the tutors. So it's not secure exactly but at least they don't see our names/student number unless they deliberately look.

It does help getting into the 'good books' of your tutors anyway though, esp. if you have other forms of assessments such as presentations etc, but it really shouldn't matter, you should be assessed by your work.

Thanks! And I wish you luck in your studies :smile: