The Higher Education Megathread

Corazon de Leon

Congrats!

7256930752

Cheers Cora.

Well done mate!

Karl wrote:I'll make a mental note to never hire from Canada.

Is it true that for British universities you basically just have one or two big assignments and then exams? We have lots of smaller assignments and I think that probably gives a better measure of what you know

PostRe: The Higher Education Megathread by **That** » Tue Jun 16, 2015 11:30 pm

At most British Universities you'll have a set of exams and coursework submissions once per semester (those in your second and third year count).

At Oxford and Cambridge it's once per year.

Depends on the course too. If I did straight Philosophy I wouldn't have had an exam since first year, no matter what my module choices were. If I did straight Politics I'd have had more than one a year since first year, no matter what my module choices were. I had a lot of flexibility with it, but if I'd kept on doing Law, it would have been purely exams (that you're graded on - practice essays through the year etc). And that's all at the same university!

PostRe: The Higher Education Megathread by **Moggy** » Wed Jun 17, 2015 7:50 am

Rightey wrote:
Karl wrote:I'll make a mental note to never hire from Canada.

Is it true that for British universities you basically just have one or two big assignments and then exams? We have lots of smaller assignments and I think that probably gives a better measure of what you know

I am with the Open University and tend to do one module a year. Modules are worth between 30 to 60 points and are divided up into stage 1, 2 or 3 (each stage representing a year of university).

To get through each stage you need to get 120 points (i.e. 120 at stage one, 120 at stage two and 120 at stage three).

A 60 point module will usually have 5 or 6 TMAs (Tutor Marked Assessments), 1 or 2 iCMA (computer marked assessments) and either an exam or an end of module assessment. To pass a module you need to get at least 40% on the exam/EMA as well as an average of 40% over the TMAs/iCMAs.

To take my current level 3 modules as an example, I have taken two seperate 30 point level 3 modules and have scored around about 75% across the TMAs on both modules. But they had exams at the end which means if I scored less than 40% on the exams, I fail the modules.

My final score for the modules (based on the 1st, 2:1, 2:2, 3rd grades) will basically come down to the lower of the scores for the TMAs and exams, so getting 75% on the TMAs will be meaningless if I score 40% on the exams as I would then only be looking at getting a 3rd.

It's complex but makes sense when you are doing it! I have no idea how different a UK brick uni is.

Corazon de Leon

My undergraduate course got rid of exams the year after I got my BA(Hons). I genuinely think I'd have been pushing a first if id gone to uni under those circumstances. :lol:

I was suprised by the way OU grading works its actually pretty harsh. As moggy says you can do really well in the coursework but do a gooseberry fool exam and your strawberry floated

PostRe: The Higher Education Megathread by **Moggy** » Thu Jun 18, 2015 7:44 am

Wiggy G32 wrote:I was suprised by the way OU grading works its actually pretty harsh. As moggy says you can do really well in the coursework but do a gooseberry fool exam and your strawberry floated

Yep, it is horrible. On one of the Level 2 modules that I did a couple of years ago, I scored 83% across the TMAs. I barely passed the exam and so ended up with a Grade 3 (a 2:2 in degree terms). 8 months of work getting a high mark means strawberry float all when you are crap for the 3 hour exam.

PostRe: The Higher Education Megathread by **Qikz** » Thu Jun 18, 2015 10:40 am

Moggy wrote:
Wiggy G32 wrote:I was suprised by the way OU grading works its actually pretty harsh. As moggy says you can do really well in the coursework but do a gooseberry fool exam and your strawberry floated

Yep, it is horrible. On one of the Level 2 modules that I did a couple of years ago, I scored 83% across the TMAs. I barely passed the exam and so ended up with a Grade 3 (a 2:2 in degree terms). 8 months of work getting a high mark means strawberry float all when you are crap for the 3 hour exam.

Try this for size. I got 95%+ in my three TMAs for one module and got 50% in my exam due to the exam being so difficult.

Qikz wrote:
Moggy wrote:
Wiggy G32 wrote:I was suprised by the way OU grading works its actually pretty harsh. As moggy says you can do really well in the coursework but do a gooseberry fool exam and your strawberry floated

Yep, it is horrible. On one of the Level 2 modules that I did a couple of years ago, I scored 83% across the TMAs. I barely passed the exam and so ended up with a Grade 3 (a 2:2 in degree terms). 8 months of work getting a high mark means strawberry float all when you are crap for the 3 hour exam.

Try this for size. I got 95%+ in my three TMAs for one module and got 50% in my exam due to the exam being so difficult.

Ouch!

Corazon de Leon

Speaking of harsh exam results. My brother is in third year of medical school, and has averaged solid A passes right the way through the year - he was invited to participate in a prize viva for the top five percent of students in the year in January. A mix up with his coursework got him an F mark last month but this was picked up on and changed to an A, which was right.

He's now been given a D for the end of year practical exam(which is probably wrong but we'll see) which brings his average for the year down, and according to him means he won't be able to graduate with distinction even though he's averaged A grades until now and will probably continue to average A grades until he finishes in a couple of years. Harsh as strawberry float.

I've seen how hard he works at it - basically taught his girlfriend the course and she passed the same exam, doing the same as him, with high marks - and I feel shitty for him right now because I know how much the distinction means to him and he must be devastated right now.

PostRe: The Higher Education Megathread by **That** » Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:13 pm

Obviously a mistake, surely? One would hope if he moans enough they'll look at it.

I had a piece of coursework that was mis-marked (but in a 'the examiner is an idiot' sense, rather than a 'clerical error' sense) but I didn't care enough about the module to do anything about it. :slol:

I have my first meeting with my supervisor tomorrow, what do.

I was just thinking of bringing a resume and some of my work to show, but he sent me a Request for Proposal from an organization and all I did was come up with a few very quick ideas :shifty:

Just got my final grades. 2:1 overall with a first in my dissertation! Happy camper.

PostRe: The Higher Education Megathread by **Moggy** » Fri Jun 19, 2015 5:36 pm

Wrathy wrote:Just got my final grades. 2:1 overall with a first in my dissertation! Happy camper.

Well done!

Officially joining the results club :mrgreen:

Corazon de Leon

Great news guys!

Corazon de Leon wrote:Speaking of harsh exam results. My brother is in third year of medical school, and has averaged solid A passes right the way through the year - he was invited to participate in a prize viva for the top five percent of students in the year in January. A mix up with his coursework got him an F mark last month but this was picked up on and changed to an A, which was right.

He's now been given a D for the end of year practical exam(which is probably wrong but we'll see) which brings his average for the year down, and according to him means he won't be able to graduate with distinction even though he's averaged A grades until now and will probably continue to average A grades until he finishes in a couple of years. Harsh as strawberry float.

I've seen how hard he works at it - basically taught his girlfriend the course and she passed the same exam, doing the same as him, with high marks - and I feel shitty for him right now because I know how much the distinction means to him and he must be devastated right now.

In AS Level History I got my Russian Revolution mark checked as I didn't do anywhere near as well as I thought I did. I went up 18 marks because the strawberry floating examiner read the question wrong and fecked up all his marked papers :fp:

The Higher Education Megathread

Who is online

Affiliates