On the relative difficulty of subjects

wesclark

Hi,

I'm SS Politics. Many of my classmates feel that other BESS subjects, particularly Business, are marked far easier. For example, most people in a certain Business test seemed to get 85% or so- which is unheard of in Politics.
And on a more micro-level, some subjects within politics seem to be marked harder than others.

So, my question is, is it a case of "hard luck, you chose difficult subjects", or is there provision made to level off the cumulative results of different subjects at the end of the year?

Podge_irl

wesclark wrote: »

So, my question is, is it a case of "hard luck, you chose difficult subjects"

More or less. Courses are taught, set and graded by lecturers, who will all have their own opinion on what level the exams and courses should be at. Talk to anybody and they'll always have the view that there are easy and difficult courses within their degree programme - be that because the material is considered easy, the exam is predictable or the exam is marked easily.

europerson

wesclark wrote: »

is there provision made to level off the cumulative results of different subjects at the end of the year?

I imagine that, in the case of the courses you mention, there will be a significant hoo-ha at the Court of Examiners meeting during the summer, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Time Magazine

europerson wrote: »

I imagine that, in the case of the courses you mention, there will be a significant hoo-ha at the Court of Examiners meeting during the summer, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

I wouldn't have such faith in the system.

wesclark

Ibid wrote: »

I wouldn't have such faith in the system.

It's a fairly big problem if the system is falsely suggesting that, for example, business students are 14% smarter than economists. If there is a "court of examiners" I'd say that is their primary concern.

I imagine there will be some uproar if half the class of one course get firsts - I would guess that they mark off some form of a bell curve and until this is roughly reached then the results won't be accepted.

wesclark

Deleted User wrote: »

I imagine there will be some uproar if half the class of one course get firsts - I would guess that they mark off some form of a bell curve and until this is roughly reached then the results won't be accepted.

I have similar faith. But as for "uproar", the system isn't transparent so we won't know beyond anecdotal evidence if one course or another has been particularly unkindly marked

Eh.. when the results are out, if there are an inordinate number of firsts we will know!

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

I imagine there will be some uproar if half the class of one course get firsts - I would guess that they mark off some form of a bell curve and until this is roughly reached then the results won't be accepted.

That's life... (that's liiiiiiife) and as funny as it may be...

Myth

Myth wrote: »

That's life... (that's liiiiiiife) and as funny as it may be...

Employment has made you cold.......