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90% in Exams

Is it possible to acheive 90% in exams? How hard does one have to work? Do you know of anyone who's achives 90%? Discuss.

Reply 1

unfinished sympathy

15

of course it's possible, there are people on here who received full marks!

Reply 2

nikk

15

I got 91% in a biochemistry exam this year. So yes, it is possible. :smile:

Reply 3

SuperhansFavouriteAlsatian

I would imagine it's "easier" for technical subjects, such as maths, comp sci etc, given that in a lot of it you'll either be right or wrong. My friend graduated Cambridge with a first in Maths and said he rarely had to write any extended sentences, let alone Essays - so if you know what you're doing, full marks would be entirely poissible - something that would be almost impossible for history or fine art or something.

Reply 4

gooseymcgoose

11

well for maths@cambridge they don't give you a percentage as such, your mark is in terms of alphas, questions answered etc.

in other technical subjects which use the percentage graded system - they don't usually mark out of 100 but 80

Reply 5

Biffy Clyro

12

Just realised I was talking about A levels on a Uni subforum... :eek3:

Reply 6

HighlyEvolved

1

i think they're taking about uni exams

Reply 7

nikk

15

DanGrover

I would imagine it's "easier" for technical subjects, such as maths, comp sci etc, given that in a lot of it you'll either be right or wrong. My friend graduated Cambridge with a first in Maths and said he rarely had to write any extended sentences, let alone Essays - so if you know what you're doing, full marks would be entirely poissible - something that would be almost impossible for history or fine art or something.

I'm not sure if you would include biology as a technical subject. Thinking about it, you were probably referring to maths-heavy subjects but just in case, I would point out that Biology exams (at least at my university) take the form of long-answer questions that have to be written as an essay with diagrams. Many people have the mistaken belief that the sciences are all about "right or wrong" answers, whereas this isn't actually the case (at least in my experience).

Reply 8

Arminius

14

Well theres a huge drop between a-level and uni. 70% at a-level is a low B (or is it a c!) whereas at uni my top mark so far has been 70% and i think to get 80% and 90% the work required is kinda exponential.

Reply 9

Busta

1

As stated before you can get 100% in technical/science exams. However, it is pretty much impossible to get 100% in an arts exams, they don't tend to give beyond 85% generally.

Reply 10

Profesh

20

Busta

As stated before you can get 100% in technical/science exams. However, it is pretty much impossible to get 100% in an arts exams, they don't tend to give beyond 85% generally.

That said, nor do they tend to award lower than 40%.

Reply 11

danni_bella

17

Busta

As stated before you can get 100% in technical/science exams. However, it is pretty much impossible to get 100% in an arts exams, they don't tend to give beyond 85% generally.

I've noticed that lately :p:

Anyway my ex BF (we're still friends) once got 98% on a chemistry exam, which I was pretty impressed about! I was glad I was in his class :smile:

But yeah apart from that it's really hard to get anything past 90%, unless it's like a small quiz or something.

Reply 12

Tarts_n_Vicars

13

I got 85 in a History final where I ran out of time and gave bullet points for my last essay.

Quite possibly mismarked I'd say lol

Reply 13

SuperhansFavouriteAlsatian

nikk

I'm not sure if you would include biology as a technical subject. Thinking about it, you were probably referring to maths-heavy subjects but just in case, I would point out that Biology exams (at least at my university) take the form of long-answer questions that have to be written as an essay with diagrams. Many people have the mistaken belief that the sciences are all about "right or wrong" answers, whereas this isn't actually the case (at least in my experience).

Yeah, I thought as much, which is why I didn't add it in there. I guess Biology is in Limbo between the two, somewhat, as they can't ALL be extended answers, right?

Reply 14

nikk

15

DanGrover

Yeah, I thought as much, which is why I didn't add it in there. I guess Biology is in Limbo between the two, somewhat, as they can't ALL be extended answers, right?

Yes you are right in that there are many areas of biology that do contain fairly high levels of mathematics (computational simulations and modelling, some aspects of genetics). To be honest, the most maths I have come across is that in a chemistry-context during practicals, and then in statistics when analysing your data. Apart from a few other bits in things like population genetics, I have, in the main, had a lucky escape! :p:

But the point I wanted to make is that science isn't as 'cut and dry' as many non-scientists seem to think. A particularly important skill in biology is to be able to evaluate data from a number of (often conflicting) sources and to put together a reasonable hypothesis that would most likely explain all the data. You can't simply memorise this and that fact and then rewrite it in the exam. Particularly when fact A may conflict with fact B, and hence requires you to use your biological knowledge to put together an arguement as to how the data should fit into a bigger picture. In this sense, I believe it might be a bit like history and other arts subjects, where you have to evaluate various sources of information, judge their accuracy and relevance, and then form an arguement. So getting 100% in science is not just a case of writing out a page of facts that you memorised from a textbook (especially since a lot of the things you are writing about towards the end of your degree isn't even published in textbooks lol) :smile:

Reply 15

always + forever

1

i got 89% in a philosophy exam at uni - not quite 90, but if I can do it..........

Reply 16

tigger1430

7

Yeah and I got an 85% in philosophy - so nearlly like Mylla

Reply 17

X

I scored over 90% in a few of my papers at the end of my first year and there were a few people who beat me overall that scored above 90% in most of them, so it is possible. For the science/arts debate I do engineering at Oxford and a lot of the questions are either right or wrong, even most of the explanations can be easily categorised as right or wrong too.

Reply 18

Fluffy

15

My highest exam mark this year was 95%. I also (somehow) manage to pull 99.1% on an essay!

Reply 19

NViasko

90 % is an excellent mark.

90% in Exams

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