Degree classification: why are the marking scales so different for each university?
I go to a university where a first class degree is a performance average of over 85% and an upper-second class degree is over 70%. My average grade so far is 80%. But my friend has just finished her degree in another university and her average was 62% and she has been awarded an upper-second class degree. A first class degree at her university is over 70%.
Why are the marking scales so different? It hardly seems fair that a person with an average of 84% gets awarded an upper-second class degree at one university and at another university a student gets a first class degree for 70%.
I like my university and wouldn't want to change, but even if I did, I didn't pass my A-levels so I can't change to her university since they require higher A-level grades.
Answers:
All degree programmes are moderated by the programme boards which consist of senior members of staff and external moderators. To get degree awardeing powers, a university must go through a lengthy process which involves external moderators.
I suspect that you might find the answer you need if you look at the marking criteria. You may find that to get 70% in her uni, she needs to perform as well as you do to get 85%.
Many universities are trying to tackle the fact that there are only 10 marks (60-69%) that will allow you to get a 2.1 but 30 (70-100%) that will allow you a 1st class. Maybe your uni is adressing this by changing the marking criteria.
I am fairly sure (although without knowing what uni you are at I can't be 100% positive) that you are being marked fairly, as you say it would be unfair if you had to perform 15% better to get a 1st than you would have to elsewhere.
If you are still unsure, take it up with your programme conveynor, or another appropriate person at your uni.
I am sure that they would not look at your a-level grades now that you have begun uni and would instead look at your performace and if you prove your grades to them to be in the 80% range then I am sure they would consider taking you.
Aside from that issue, I find that hard to believe that things can be so different! At my uni we are the same as your friend's uni - an upper-second class degree is awarded for 60-69% and 70% is classed as a first. Have you queried this with your University? out of interest, what Uni are you at?
Sounds like Open University to me. 85%+ for a first. I think Oxford and Cambridge are the same, everywhere else it is much lower.
It all depends on how hard they mark your work. At some universities, getting over 85% is nigh on impossible, at others people may regularly get scores of 100%.
The important thing is to make sure that roughly the same proportion of people at each university are awarded each type of degree. Say the top 20% of candidates are awarded a first, for some universities the cut off percentage will be higher or lower, depending on how they mark their students' work.
There's also the possibility that some places will award a higher percentage of firsts because they feel that the overall academic standard of their students is so much higher than other universities that they have more students who deserve to get firsts.
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Why are the marking scales so different? It hardly seems fair that a person with an average of 84% gets awarded an upper-second class degree at one university and at another university a student gets a first class degree for 70%.
I like my university and wouldn't want to change, but even if I did, I didn't pass my A-levels so I can't change to her university since they require higher A-level grades.
Answers:
All degree programmes are moderated by the programme boards which consist of senior members of staff and external moderators. To get degree awardeing powers, a university must go through a lengthy process which involves external moderators.
I suspect that you might find the answer you need if you look at the marking criteria. You may find that to get 70% in her uni, she needs to perform as well as you do to get 85%.
Many universities are trying to tackle the fact that there are only 10 marks (60-69%) that will allow you to get a 2.1 but 30 (70-100%) that will allow you a 1st class. Maybe your uni is adressing this by changing the marking criteria.
I am fairly sure (although without knowing what uni you are at I can't be 100% positive) that you are being marked fairly, as you say it would be unfair if you had to perform 15% better to get a 1st than you would have to elsewhere.
If you are still unsure, take it up with your programme conveynor, or another appropriate person at your uni.
I am sure that they would not look at your a-level grades now that you have begun uni and would instead look at your performace and if you prove your grades to them to be in the 80% range then I am sure they would consider taking you.
Aside from that issue, I find that hard to believe that things can be so different! At my uni we are the same as your friend's uni - an upper-second class degree is awarded for 60-69% and 70% is classed as a first. Have you queried this with your University? out of interest, what Uni are you at?
Sounds like Open University to me. 85%+ for a first. I think Oxford and Cambridge are the same, everywhere else it is much lower.
It all depends on how hard they mark your work. At some universities, getting over 85% is nigh on impossible, at others people may regularly get scores of 100%.
The important thing is to make sure that roughly the same proportion of people at each university are awarded each type of degree. Say the top 20% of candidates are awarded a first, for some universities the cut off percentage will be higher or lower, depending on how they mark their students' work.
There's also the possibility that some places will award a higher percentage of firsts because they feel that the overall academic standard of their students is so much higher than other universities that they have more students who deserve to get firsts.
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