How difficult is it to get above 70%?

melancholly

cupid_stunt wrote: »

With MCQs it was similar, I got 96% of the answers right in one, but that meant is was deemed to easy so everyones marks went down and I ended up with a much lower mark (so did everyone else so they weren't happy with me!)

it happens at a level too - this isn't just something in a degree. i did one a level maths module and left answers blank, but my mark ended up as 100%. you can get moved up or down - it's all about how well or badly you do relative to other people and with examiners who have usually being marking for long enough to know whether you would have done well or badly against students from previous years (exam marking is usually only done by academic staff who ran the lectures rather then postgrads).

pinkshoes

If you're looking at it from an employers point of view, many companies would much rather have a student with a 2:1 that's spent time doing other activities too, than someone with a 1st who did nothing but study.

It's not about what grade you get, it's about how you can distinguish yourself above the other candidates, and what makes you more employable than someone else i.e. leadership skills, motivational skills, public speaking ability etc...

A company can't discriminate what university an applicant comes from, but I've noticed that alot of graduate jobs now require a minimum amount of UCAS points, as well as a degree.

I just missed a 2:1 in engineering from a 'top' university, but thankfully I had alot of relevant work experience and other skills which I gained at university and in my gap year, so the company I work for overlooked my 2:2, and gave me the job over other students with much higher grades.

I graduated in 2004, and my degree classification is pretty much irrelevant now, because all a company cares about is what experience I have!

Impet_Limpet

pinkshoes wrote: »

If you're looking at it from an employers point of view, many companies would much rather have a student with a 2:1 that's spent time doing other activities too, than someone with a 1st who did nothing but study.

It's not about what grade you get, it's about how you can distinguish yourself above the other candidates, and what makes you more employable than someone else i.e. leadership skills, motivational skills, public speaking ability etc...

exactly :-) university is about personal development as well as education :cool:

cupid_s

pinkshoes wrote: »

If you're looking at it from an employers point of view, many companies would much rather have a student with a 2:1 that's spent time doing other activities too, than someone with a 1st who did nothing but study.

But they'd also rather have someone with a 1st who spent a lot of time doing other activites than someone with a 2:1 who spent the same amount of time doing other activities.

Just because someone gets a 1st does not mean their whole life was Uni and they never did anything else.

pinkshoes

Just because someone gets a 1st does not mean their whole life was Uni and they never did anything else.

My brother got a distinguished 1st (82% I think) at a 'top' university, but played very hard too (sports, played in a band, various societies). I was referring to the variety of student that JUST studies and does nothing else. There were a few of them on my course - academically very bright, but not good at mixing with people, therefore would only really be suited to a job that didn't require much social interaction!

If you had 2 people with equal work experience, equal interpersonal skills, and the only thing that wasn't equal was their degree class, then yes they'd probably take the student with the best degree grade, but my point being that there are many other factors that come above and before the degree classification, so therefore you shouldn't put too much emphasis on getting a 1st if it means sacrificing personal development in other areas.

If a student gets a 1st AND has lived a very full and varied student life, then good for them, but often this is a lower percentage.

lellie

melancholly wrote: »

you're very unlucky there - a lot of unis will only give certain marks - 62, 65, 68 then 72, 78, 85 is a mark scheme at a couple of unis that i've done marking at (why the firsts don't go up in the same way is a beyond me - but it means one really good mark can pull up your average).

I think on my course at manchester it is very similar to this - I get 62s, and 68s all the time - had 1 72.. My average is 66.5.. probably due to lots of 68s and the occasional 62! hehe. If you look at the class marks on a list they're virtually all 58, 62, 65 and 68.. you might have one person that gets 66 or 67 instead but usually there seems to be set marks.

reehsetin

pinkshoes wrote: »

If you're looking at it from an employers point of view, many companies would much rather have a student with a 2:1 that's spent time doing other activities too, than someone with a 1st who did nothing but study.

thats what im hopeing for, i work 4 full days a week as well as my degree and love working more than i could ever like uni, so praying its going to compensate for a lower mark in a subject i hate

reehsetin

melancholly wrote: »

you're very unlucky there - a lot of unis will only give certain marks - 62, 65, 68 then 72, 78, 85 is a mark scheme at a couple of unis that i've done marking at (why the firsts don't go up in the same way is a beyond me - but it means one really good mark can pull up your average). going from 70 down to 69 really is tough! what is probably means is that when moderated, the second marker decided it was good but just not quite enough for a first...........

yeap what i thought its just seeing it like that is irritating

melancholly wrote: »

the idea of moderation is to make sure that one marker isn't too generous or too harsh..... but they really shouldn't have left the original mark crossed out! it'd definitely go see a tutor about it and ask for specific feedback on what made your essay so borderline.

will be, especially seeing as they have lost one of my essays

elisebutt65

studentphil wrote: »

So basically a first is just about being good at English?

See - this is what really pees me off about your posts!!!!

I have an average of 74 at the mo - just waiting on my dissertation results and finals in June. The reason I get that is not because I'm good at English - although granted there is a different method to writing academic papers, than everyday writing, but because you have to be able to synthesize the ideas, theories and models that you have researched. Then don't just quote them!! Criticsize them, agree with them - say why you do or don't agree with them. Find other authors that agree with your viewpoint.

You have to really get into your arguments, not just quote authors or figures left, right and centre. I'm hoping to really score with my dissertation as I've had a wonderful time with it finding out about the effects of the Internet on tourism and have hopefully brought some insights into it that will help in the future when I carry on with my Masters.

I don't think our college 'caps' the grades but I do know that they expect certain percentages to get the different grades of degrees, but then certain percentages will always register at different levels of IQ or EQ etc, etc.

Bamber19

One thing that annoyed me (and still does) about my uni is that there was no communication of the importance of certain subjects or how your degree classification is worked out. For example the very first modules we done on my course were very important and made up 3/7 of the entry requirements for the related diploma if you chose to go on and study this. To me that is something that should have been brought to the attention of students, instead most of us found out at the end of 1st year and it's no secret that many people just aimed to pass first year to get in to 2nd year as opposed to trying to get good marks. I was somewhere inbetween, paid attention etc and worked hard on essays but i didn't really do anything for the exams so didn't do as good as i could have, still got an ok mark though. Secondly most of us were unaware that our classification for honours was based on dissertation, 4th year results and the top 50% of 3rd year results. Again there's nothing in the module or course handbooks about this and it wasn't brought to our attention by staff. Just lucky a few people knew how it worked and spread the word.