Dissertation marking assistance
Discussion
Not sure which forum to out this in, so here it is.
My daughter has completed her dissertation and the grade is separated into two parts. She gets 85% for the written part and 15% for an oral presentation = 100%.
She has received a mark for the written of 54%, but nothing for the oral yet. We jave no idea how to calculate the potential final mark. Is the 54%, 54% of 85%, or is it 54%? Then will whatever mark she gets on the oral presentation be added to this? So a possible max of 69%?
She seems to think it may be the former, not the latter, but that doesnt make any sense to me.
Anyone have any input?
Thanks.
My daughter has completed her dissertation and the grade is separated into two parts. She gets 85% for the written part and 15% for an oral presentation = 100%.
She has received a mark for the written of 54%, but nothing for the oral yet. We jave no idea how to calculate the potential final mark. Is the 54%, 54% of 85%, or is it 54%? Then will whatever mark she gets on the oral presentation be added to this? So a possible max of 69%?
She seems to think it may be the former, not the latter, but that doesnt make any sense to me.
Anyone have any input?
Thanks.
QuickQuack said:
For bachelor's degrees and post grad qualifications, it would normally be the former, i.e., she has received 54% of the 85%, so she has accumulated 45.9% of the total so far.
That's what she seems to think. That system doesnt make any sense to me, though. Why not just day 45.9%. Anyway, we must deal with it, if that is what it is...Being a parent huh...
Road2Ruin said:
QuickQuack said:
For bachelor's degrees and post grad qualifications, it would normally be the former, i.e., she has received 54% of the 85%, so she has accumulated 45.9% of the total so far.
That's what she seems to think. That system doesnt make any sense to me, though. Why not just day 45.9%. Anyway, we must deal with it, if that is what it is...Being a parent huh...
Being a parent is hard, sorry! Two of ours are done with university, additional and higher degrees, one still starting her GCSEs!
QuickQuack said:
It's because you mark each component out of 100%, which is the easiest way of marking any single exam, essay, dissertation, viva voce etc., then you weight the final score based on the contribution of each component. Doing a weighted calculation is easier than marking a component out of 15, 85 or any other random number.
Being a parent is hard, sorry! Two of ours are done with university, additional and higher degrees, one still starting her GCSEs!
I get that, thanks, but why not just say...it's 45.9% of your total mark. It seems unnecessarily complicated. Being a parent is hard, sorry! Two of ours are done with university, additional and higher degrees, one still starting her GCSEs!
She has a few other assignments still to be marked, so fingers crossed. Last year she was bordering a first. The end of this year, who knows.
Road2Ruin said:
I get that, thanks, but why not just say...it's 45.9% of your total mark. It seems unnecessarily complicated.
She has a few other assignments still to be marked, so fingers crossed. Last year she was bordering a first. The end of this year, who knows.
I think it's just to keep the component parts distinct, and possibly even show what the student needs to aim for in order to achieve X per cent overall, in this case 24.1% from the 15% viva.She has a few other assignments still to be marked, so fingers crossed. Last year she was bordering a first. The end of this year, who knows.
Fingers crossed she gets the First or they bump the classification up if close enough.
Universities are inconsistent with assessments, discretion and accountability, IME. I did a joint-honours degree and in my first year, our grades for the main course were 100% exam-based, which was hugely unfair, whereas the single-honours students had 80% exam and 20% coursework (which I think is better than the 85/15 split for your daughter's dissertation).
That changed by my final year: single- and joint-honours students did coursework, but they shifted the goalposts and said that that year they weren't going to exercise discretion to bump classifications up.
Ergo, one 'favourite' student I knew the previous year was bumped up something like 5% to a First, whereas in the year I graduated, someone really brighy on around 68/69.something% was not and had to make do with a 2:1.
Meanwhile, no discretion was there (apparently) to bump students like me up to a 2:1 despite being within the catchment zone in previous years, so I graduated with a Desmond (2:2).
Bill said:
Road2Ruin said:
I get that, thanks, but why not just say...it's 45.9% of your total mark. It seems unnecessarily complicated.
This makes less sense. How do you know how well you've done? It gives you no clue about your grade Sometimes these can make or break a degree classification, and even help students work out what marks they need to average or achieve across other modules, or borrow from previous years, in order to achieve a final grade for the degree.
It requires maths, and to an extent it potentially entails tactical choices of elective modules.
jeremyc said:
Am I the only one concerned that someone is (hopefully) about to graduate with a degree and can't work this out? 
It depends entirely on how the university have chosen to divvy up the scoring, and if this is public information for the students or not.I had something similar for my degree (written % + oral % = final %) but my friend on a different course at the same uni was completely different.
Back in my day it was common knowledge that at least one of the lecturers simply weighed the submissions(*) and gave a mark based on that. Perhaps a set of scales are in order?
(*)Perhaps brown envelopes were expected, I couldn't possibly comment, but as he was Egyptian and we had 6 Iraqis on the course, pre GW1, I may not be as far off the mark as I think I am
(*)Perhaps brown envelopes were expected, I couldn't possibly comment, but as he was Egyptian and we had 6 Iraqis on the course, pre GW1, I may not be as far off the mark as I think I am
CaptainScarlet1967 said:
Meanwhile, no discretion was there (apparently) to bump students like me up to a 2:1 despite being within the catchment zone in previous years, so I graduated with a Desmond (2:2).
My final percentage was a 2:2. However, I was awarded a 2:1.Ive always been very pleased about that.
snuffy said:
My final percentage was a 2:2. However, I was awarded a 2:1.
Ive always been very pleased about that.
That was in the old days. There is no discretion nowadays unless there are evidenced extenuating circumstances. Otherwise it’s just about number crunching and rule following (arse covering in case of an appeal). Ive always been very pleased about that.
I much preferred when we had some discretion based on the overall perceived performance of the individual and how they would represent the university going forward. But in those days you got to know each of the students overall several years and that doesn’t happen now.
OP - your daughter is most likely to achieve a 2:2 award for her dissertation (50%-60%) unless she performs exceptionally well in her oral exam. The overall award for her degree will obviously be dependent on her performance in other modules but is unlikely to achieve a first given the likely dissertation result.
Phil. said:
That was in the old days. There is no discretion nowadays unless there are evidenced extenuating circumstances. Otherwise it s just about number crunching and rule following (arse covering in case of an appeal).
I much preferred when we had some discretion based on the overall perceived performance of the individual and how they would represent the university going forward. But in those days you got to know each of the students overall several years and that doesn t happen now.
OP - your daughter is most likely to achieve a 2:2 award for her dissertation (50%-60%) unless she performs exceptionally well in her oral exam. The overall award for her degree will obviously be dependent on her performance in other modules but is unlikely to achieve a first given the likely dissertation result.
Thanks, Phil, that is what I think we are looking at. I much preferred when we had some discretion based on the overall perceived performance of the individual and how they would represent the university going forward. But in those days you got to know each of the students overall several years and that doesn t happen now.
OP - your daughter is most likely to achieve a 2:2 award for her dissertation (50%-60%) unless she performs exceptionally well in her oral exam. The overall award for her degree will obviously be dependent on her performance in other modules but is unlikely to achieve a first given the likely dissertation result.
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