How does a university exam system work?

Diana21x

Im hoping to start a course in UCC this September. At my secondary school We were never really informed how exactly exams "work" in college/university's
Do you have to get a certain percentage to "pass" an exam like the leaving cert? And do you only have to "pass" your exams to get into the next year off college or do you have to excel in the exam?
I know this question sounds stupid! any infor greatly appreciated!

ballsymchugh

when i was there 9 years ago, pass mark was 50%. you started off on 50% and if your exam was shyte, then you got under it, and if it was good, then you got over it. pretty hard to fail miserably, but hard to excel too.
high marks are only really counted in your final degree exams, depending on your course. didn't make much difference in what i did.

Diana21x

ballsymchugh wrote: »

when i was there 9 years ago, pass mark was 50%. you started off on 50% and if your exam was shyte, then you got under it, and if it was good, then you got over it. pretty hard to fail miserably, but hard to excel too.
high marks are only really counted in your final degree exams, depending on your course. didn't make much difference in what i did.

Great thanks! Ive heard people going on about 2.1 and 1.1 whats that all about with regards to exams? thanks

ballsymchugh

1.1 is over 70%.
2.1 is over 65%
2.2 is over 60%

am just thinking about what i already said, while exams in previous years won't really matter too much, some may be counted as a certain percentage of final year. but that may only be 2% or so. a course may have the marks spread over different things.
in the degree exams for us, 25% went on the final written paper, 25% on continuous assessment, and 50% on oral exams at the end of final year.

starlit

I think the grading system has changed slightly the last nine years.

1:1 = 70%-100%
2:1 = 60%-69%
2:2 = 50%-59%

Pass or a third class honours is 40%-49%

maglite

It is based on What the "Marks and Standards" say.


Pass and Progression
Standard (programme
level):
To pass First Year and progress to Second Year, a candidate must:

1. (i) obtain an overall aggregate pass of 40% (i.e. 480/1200 marks) across all modules
2. (ii) obtain a pass in each module in modules to the value of at least 50 credits
3. (iii) obtain not less than 30% in any remaining module(s).

[*]Honours: Students are eligible for the award of honours on the aggregate mark for the year over the
[*]Summer and Autumn Supplemental Examinations.

1. First Class: an aggregate of at least 840/1200 marks (i.e. 70% and above)
   or an aggregate of at least 816 with at least half of the credits attained with
   marks of 70% or above
2. Second Class Grade I: an aggregate of at least 720/1200 marks (i.e. 60 % and above but
   less than 70%) or an aggregate of at least 696 with at least half of the
   credits attained with marks of 60% or above
3. Second Class Grade II: an aggregate of at least 600/1200 marks (i.e. 50% and above but
   less than 60%) or an aggregate of at least 576 with at least half of the
   credits attained with marks of 50% or above
4. Third Class: an aggregate of at least 540/1200 marks (i.e. 45% and above but less than
   50%) or an aggregate of at least 516 with at least half of the credits
   attained with marks of 45% or above
   For the regulations governing the award of Honours in a Repeat Year, see below

http://www.ucc.ie/admin/registrar/marksandstandards/


So basically its 40% for commerce but if you need to you can compensate in a module, where if you get above 40% in all your others you are allowed pass 1 module if you get 30% or more

ballsymchugh

course dependent then. kinda lousy. medicine/dentistry and most likely pharmacy too then still have a 50% pass mark.

Bloody Nipples

Speech and Language therapy still have the old method where a 2.1 is 65%+ and a 2.2 is 60%+ but most other courses use the newer way.