Understanding credits and UCAS tariffs

So I would like some understanding on these criteria for the Zoology course I have applied for this September at Plymouth University. I am currently doing an Access to HE course in Science at City College Plymouth in order to progress.
The Bsc Zoology course requires 33 credits from an Access course all at least at Merit level. 12 in Biology and 21 in a second science subject or/and 104-128 UCAS tariff points (Contextual offers whatever that means.)Biology has 15 credits in total with one module having 6 credits. Everything else is 3 credits per module.In terms of second science subjects, Maths only has 9 credits in all as does Physics while Chemistry has 12. Unless that means it can be a mixture of all of the sciences. 21 in a second science subject is impossible if it means just a single science as there is not enough in each one. So would like some help understanding this and a route to get onto my Zoology course. Thanks.

Reply 1

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

21

Original post by tregan219

So I would like some understanding on these criteria for the Zoology course I have applied for this September at Plymouth University. I am currently doing an Access to HE course in Science at City College Plymouth in order to progress.
The Bsc Zoology course requires 33 credits from an Access course all at least at Merit level. 12 in Biology and 21 in a second science subject or/and 104-128 UCAS tariff points (Contextual offers whatever that means.)Biology has 15 credits in total with one module having 6 credits. Everything else is 3 credits per module.In terms of second science subjects, Maths only has 9 credits in all as does Physics while Chemistry has 12. Unless that means it can be a mixture of all of the sciences. 21 in a second science subject is impossible if it means just a single science as there is not enough in each one. So would like some help understanding this and a route to get onto my Zoology course. Thanks.

As you say "Contextual offers whatever that means", I'll briefly describe what a contextual offer is. Universities are aware that some candidates are disadvantages by various factor beyond their control. For example, they may be attending a poorly-performing school, or they may live in an area which is disadvantaged economically, or they may have grown up in care etc. In order to make allowances for the context in which they were educated, they'll often lower their entry requirements for such individuals. Each university has different criteria, so you may be a contextual applicant at one university but not at another. Have received an offer from Plymouth yet? If so, you'll be able to establish whether or not you met their criteria based upon the conditions of the offer. If not, you can check whether you are eligible for a contextual offer at https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/study/entry-requirements/contextual-offers.

OK, onto the Access to HE part of your question. Access to HE Diplomas are comprised of 60 credits, in multiples of 3, although only 45 credits are actually graded. You have to at least get a pass in these 45 graded credits to gain the Access to HE Diploma. They ask for "33 credits in science-based units at merit including a minimum of 12 credits in biology units and 21 credits in a second science subject." You've described your Access to HE diploma as containing the following possible credits:
• Biology: 15 credits
• Maths: 9 credits
• Physics: 9 credits
• Chemistry: 12 credits

When they say "21 credits in a second science subject" they don't mean that these 21 credits all have to be in the same science subject. As you say, that would be impossible for your Access to HE diploma. Instead that mean any science but non-Biology subject. If you look at https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/bsc-zoology you'll see that they define science subjects as Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Geography, Geology, Environmental Science or Environmental Studies, Applied Science, Marine Science, and Psychology. So any of your other credits would count - even the Maths ones.

So, for your particular Access to HE Diploma their requirement can be simplified to, "33 credits at merit including a minimum of 12 credits at merit in biology units." (The Biology credits must be at merit as they say the 12 biology units are included in the 33 credits at merit, so they must clearly be at merit too.) But remember that to gain the Access to HE Diploma, you need 45 credits in total anyway.