How are third and pass degrees regarded these days?

elisebutt65

studentphil wrote:

I did email one lecturer to ask, but I got no answer as to what he thought was up with it, so is it worth emailing and asking again?

Don't bother with emailing - most of my lecturers are inundated with them and can't be !!!!d - the best way is phone them up and make an appointment to see them in person, or just pop in when you know they are free.

You can change the way you write - get the help from your study support - You do have one there don't you?? I take all my assignments down there before I hand them in and someone goes through them and checks for grammar etc. It's what your tuition fee goes towards so utilise it!

Or make an appointment to see one of the tutors on duty there and take in one of your past assignments and get them to talk through what was wrong with it. Quite often the tutors there are nothing to do with the course you're on and are quit impartial.

talksalot81

studentphil wrote:

I am going to spend less time on the tutorial work this year and just work on the essay topics far more I hope that will help. I will be mighty proud if I end up with a 2.2 even if all the rest of world think it is a waste of time.

Now you say that but then you say...

studentphil wrote:

I see that, I am not really sure if I can talk to my tutors as they are so critical about my work I find little positive in my mind to about them to even go speak to them.

So on one hand you are displeased that people might judge you on your work yet on the other hand you are judging your lecturers on theirs.

If you cant see it to try beyond what first impressions tell you, why should you expect others to do it for you?

talksalot81

elisebutt65 wrote:

I take all my assignments down there before I hand them in and someone goes through them and checks for grammar etc.

Wow... that actually is a bad idea because it encourages people to be lazy. Grammar is bad enough without letting people slip further!

anewman

You will also find some work gets marked differently in different modules. I wrote an essay in the third year using subheadings for one module and got 78%, did the same in another module using subheadings and was criticised for it, and I guess my mark was reduced accordingly.

The other thing that annoyed me once is you have to put a word count on work. I matched the maximum word count precisely once, and my work was criticised as having an innaccurate word count (and so I guess my mark for that work was reduced too). I should have complained and asked him to personally count every single word, but I didn't bother.

It may be useful to look back at last years work for similar modules and see how you can improve based on the comments given.

studentphil

elisebutt65 wrote:

Don't bother with emailing - most of my lecturers are inundated with them and can't be !!!!d - the best way is phone them up and make an appointment to see them in person, or just pop in when you know they are free.

You can change the way you write - get the help from your study support - You do have one there don't you?? I take all my assignments down there before I hand them in and someone goes through them and checks for grammar etc. It's what your tuition fee goes towards so utilise it!

Or make an appointment to see one of the tutors on duty there and take in one of your past assignments and get them to talk through what was wrong with it. Quite often the tutors there are nothing to do with the course you're on and are quit impartial.

This is feed back from last years exams so I have no script or anything so I have to email as going in would be no help as they could not tell me there and then.

studentphil

talksalot81 wrote:

Now you say that but then you say...



So on one hand you are displeased that people might judge you on your work yet on the other hand you are judging your lecturers on theirs.

If you cant see it to try beyond what first impressions tell you, why should you expect others to do it for you?

I do not know any of my lecturers and that is the sad set up of my school that no one knows any of the lecturers. I am just pointing out that they do not hardly say a single positive thing about my work and instead just rip it apart. It hardly makes you feel nice things about them, does it?

Snow_Angel

Descartes wrote:

If you got a third from Cambridge it would be better than a first from one of the average universities.

Who told you that - your Uni professors? An employer? I'm afraid I have to agree with the 2 previous replies to your post.
Also, I for one wouldn't choose to employ someone who thinks they're special just because they went to a particular university. Again, it depends what job you're planning to do and which company you're hoping to work for. I don't think you'd stand a chance with a third in some very competitive fields compared to someone with a first or even a 2:1 form any other uni. And lets face it - the majority of fields for graduates are now becoming competitive because so many people are gaining university degrees - the goal posts are definitely changing.

melancholly

studentphil wrote:

This is feed back from last years exams so I have no script or anything so I have to email as going in would be no help as they could not tell me there and then.

ok - so write something - anything, an essay for revision purposes - make it about 1000 words and then ask them to go through it and give you comments. often staff can't give feedback on work that is going to be formally marked because it gives one student more of an advantage than others. but they should be able to spend 10 mins writing comments on a bit of paper. that would probably be the most productive thing for you.

i do marking and i end up writing very brief comments that may come across as rude. i have to do 30 odd in a week (which is quite a low workload compared to other people) and reading the same stuff is painfully boring. so comments may just be written in short hand because of time issues. you don't have the time and/or energy to put everything in a delicate wordy manner! also, they are meant to mark the work and not necessarily give hints to improve.

every time someone suggests a way for you to tackle the problem, you seem to have an excuse as to why that won't work and most of the time you haven't tried it. they may not be perfect solutions, but you should give them a go and then judge their success, not the other way around.

at the end of my second year, i didn't know any lecturers either - your third year is the chance to get some attention!

i think some tough love is needed - either do something, or don't complain - and i don't mean that to sound too harsh, but i think you need a rocket put under you or you won't go and do anything!!

studentphil

melancholly wrote:

ok - so write something - anything, an essay for revision purposes - make it about 1000 words and then ask them to go through it and give you comments. often staff can't give feedback on work that is going to be formally marked because it gives one student more of an advantage than others. but they should be able to spend 10 mins writing comments on a bit of paper. that would probably be the most productive thing for you.

i do marking and i end up writing very brief comments that may come across as rude. i have to do 30 odd in a week (which is quite a low workload compared to other people) and reading the same stuff is painfully boring. so comments may just be written in short hand because of time issues. you don't have the time and/or energy to put everything in a delicate wordy manner! also, they are meant to mark the work and not necessarily give hints to improve.

every time someone suggests a way for you to tackle the problem, you seem to have an excuse as to why that won't work and most of the time you haven't tried it. they may not be perfect solutions, but you should give them a go and then judge their success, not the other way around.

at the end of my second year, i didn't know any lecturers either - your third year is the chance to get some attention!

i think some tough love is needed - either do something, or don't complain - and i don't mean that to sound too harsh, but i think you need a rocket put under you or you won't go and do anything!!

I have asked for feedback on my exams and I am going to try and move my effort from the tutorial work to the essay to see if that will make a difference, so that is two really positive steps I am taking.
I must say really students waste their time if markers do not have time to give decent feedback and comments on essays as the whole benefit of writing the things is vastly reduced.

talksalot81

I do have to agree that it is wrong that you dont get more feedback. I cant be bothered reading back to see what exactly you are doing, but I am guessing my area (sciences) is somewhat different. Mostly there is a right and a wrong answer for assignments so everyone should know the answer by the time they have been to all the classes. It isnt easy to spot all the errors in assignments so they wont all be pointed out (I have spent hours going over just one assignment trying to spot where I went wrong!).

As for them not wanting to know you... well there are several ways of looking at that! I have never ever had trouble but I am the sort of person who is always asking questions so lecturers got to know me. However, if the questions are the same thing time after time because people dont pay attention or read what they should, then it wouldnt surprise me if staff were not so excited!

One more note on your last reply to me... dont expect people to make you 'feel nice'. The government might be trying to convince us otherwise in education, but in real life you CAN fail! There is no point someone !!!!! footing about just to make you feel good. It is much more important to be clear about negative aspects (after all you need to fix them... you neednt do anything about the positive aspects!).