Borderline Query

Hi,
My second year was awful in every possible way, with family stress, academic stress, and a lot of crises just piling on and on.

Now, I’m walking into my final year with a 50.6% average.

I do a BSc Economics and Finance degree, and was wondering: how does the borderline work?

I did research and it says anything above 14.5 credits (equivalent to 58%) is a 2:1, and anything between 14.1-14.4 (i.e. 57-57.9%) is a 2:1 if you get a 2:1 in your final year.

Does this mean that I only need a 63.4% in my final year to get a 2:1? This seems too good to be true. Can someone confirm?? Is this how it works at Lancaster University?

Reply 1

ejejej

@DataVenia if you could help please :smile:

)

Reply 2

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

Original post

by ejejej

Hi,
My second year was awful in every possible way, with family stress, academic stress, and a lot of crises just piling on and on.
Now, I’m walking into my final year with a 50.6% average.
I do a BSc Economics and Finance degree, and was wondering: how does the borderline work?
I did research and it says anything above 14.5 credits (equivalent to 58%) is a 2:1, and anything between 14.1-14.4 (i.e. 57-57.9%) is a 2:1 if you get a 2:1 in your final year.
Does this mean that I only need a 63.4% in my final year to get a 2:1? This seems too good to be true. Can someone confirm?? Is this how it works at Lancaster University?

Hi @ejejej

I'm sorry your second year was such a difficult time for you. I hope life has settled down a little for you now. The Undergraduate Assessment Regulations 25-26 (which is where I'm assuming you looked) states the following:

UG 5.6. Where the mean overall aggregation score falls within one of the ‘borderline’ ranges defined below:
17.1 to 17.4 either first or upper second class honours
14.1 to 14.4 either upper or lower second class honours
11.1 to 11.4 either lower second or third class honours
8.1 to 8.9 either pass degree or fail
the examining bodies will apply the following rubric for deciding the degree class to be recommended.
(a) For all students, where a student falls into a borderline then the higher award should be given where:
(i) half or more of the credits from Part II are in the higher class; or
(ii) the final year average is in the higher class.

I'm not an expert on the assessment regulations, but based on the above information your maths does seem to check out to me - although I'd also check any department specific handbooks in case there's particular requirements for your degree. I'd recommend reaching out to your academic tutor to chat about your struggles in the past year and your goals for your final year and they should be able to advise you to direct you to the best person.

Hopefully this next year will be less stressful for you and you'll be able to work towards achieving your goal - good luck!

I'll also tag @DataVenia here as I can see you've tried to tag them both here and in an older Lancaster thread.

Rebecca (Lancaster Student Ambassador)

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 3

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post

by ejejej

Apologies for the late reply - I've not been on TSR for the last few days for various reasons.

The first point to make is that Lancaster's Manual of Academic Regulations and Procedures (MARP) can be found here. The current version is MARP 2025-26 (applicable from October 2025) and, as Introduction to MARP makes clear, "the regulations and procedures contained in it apply to all students currently registered with the University, or with a collaborative teaching partner (CTP) where the programme of study leads to an award of the University." I mention this as some universities do this differently, with the regulations in force when your started the course being those which apply throughout.

Of particular relevance to your question is Undergraduate Assessment Regulations, which @Lancaster Student Ambassador has quoted from above. In order to answer your question, we first need to understand which years contribute to your overall degree classification, and with what weightings (many university use a 30:70 or 40:60 split between Year 2 and Year 3, for example.)

UG 2.1 makes it clear that Year 1 (also known as Level 4 or Part I) has no impact on your overall degree classification, but that Year 2 (also known as Level 5) and beyond do.

"Level 4 learning is collectively referred to as Part I and is qualificatory, i.e. successful completion is required for progression to further study but obtained credit does not contribute to final classification of awards. Learning levels 5, 6 and, as appropriate, 7 are collectively referred to as Part II and comprise all credit upon which final classification of awards is determined."

However, the regulations don't make it clear what the weightings are between the different years within Part 2, with 2.3 simply saying:

"A commensurate arrangement shall apply to students undertaking programmes of study that are divided into Part IIA and Part IIB. This shall not preclude the attribution of a differential assessment weighting between modules studied and assessed in the second year and those studied and assessed in the final year. The arrangement for each programme of study shall be published in the Courses Handbook, available online for staff and current students." (my emphasis)

Unfortunately, those course handbooks are only accessible to Lancaster staff and students - which I am not. Have you checked the course handbook for BSc Economics and Finance? Does it say that Years 2 and 3 are weighted equally?

If it does, then I agree with your maths. If you achieved 63.4% in Year 3, then your average would be 57% (an aggregation score of 14.100, according to Appendix 2). That would hit the bottom end of the "borderline" range for "either upper or lower second class honours" (14.1 to 14.4) and, as your 63.4% for Year 3 would be an upper second, would mean that the higher classification (the upper second) would be awarded. :biggrin: