British undergraduate degree classification

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The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees (bachelor's degrees and some master's degrees) in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (often with minor variations) in other countries, such as the Republic of Ireland, Singapore and Hong Kong. It is similar to the Latin honors system used in the United States.

Contents

1 Degree classification
2 First-Class Honours
3 Second-Class Honours
4 Third-Class Honours
5 Aegrotat degrees
6 Progression to postgraduate study
7 Undergraduate degree honours slang
8 See also
9 External links

Degree classification

A degree may be awarded with or without honours. Nowadays, nearly all candidates sit for honours; an ordinary (or pass) degree (i.e. a degree without honours) is usually awarded to a candidate who marginally fails the honours examination, or significant parts of it. A candidate who fails badly is usually allowed to retake the examination for a pass degree but most universities will not award such a student honours.

Most universities award a class of degree based on the average mark of the assessed work a candidate has completed. Below is a list of the possible classifications with common abbreviations. Honours degrees are in bold:

First-Class Honours (1st)
Upper Second-Class Honours (2:1)
Lower Second-Class Honours (2:2)
Third-Class Honours (3rd)
Ordinary degree (Pass)
Fail (no degree is awarded)

The system does allow for a small amount of discretion and candidates may be elevated up to the next degree class if their average mark is close and they have submitted many pieces of work worthy of the higher class. However, they may be demoted a class if they fail to pass all parts of the course even if they have a high average.

There are also variations between universities (especially in Scotland, where honours are usually reserved only for courses lasting four years or more) and requirements other than the correct average are often needed to be awarded honours.

When a candidate is awarded a degree with honours, they can suffix (Hons) to their class of degree, such as BA (Hons) or BSc (Hons).

At Oxford and Cambridge, honours classes apply to examinations, not to degrees. Thus, in Cambridge, where undergraduates are examined at the end of each Part of the Tripos, a student may receive different classifications for different Parts. The final Part is the usually the only one to count toward classification of the degree. At Oxford, the Final Honour School results are generally applied to the degree.

In some universities, candidates who successfully complete one or more years of degree-level study, but choose not to or fail to complete a full degree, may be awarded a lower qualification - a Certificate of Higher Education or Higher National Certificate for one year, or a Diploma of Higher Education or Higher National Diploma for two years.

First-Class Honours

In most universities, First-Class Honours is the highest honours which can be achieved, with about 10% of candidates achieving a First nationally.

A minority of universities award First-Class Honours with Distinction, informally known as a starred first.

A "double First" can refer to first class honours in two separate subjects, e.g. Classics and Mathematics, or alternatively to first class honours in the same subject in subsequent examinations, e.g. subsequent Parts of the Tripos at the University of Cambridge. At Cambridge, it is even possible to obtain a double starred First (noted recipients being Quentin Skinner, Alain de Botton, Lee Kuan Yew and Orlando Figes), or, in extremely rare cases such as Maurice Zinkin [link], Neal Ascherson and Rachel Orr, a triple starred First.

A Cambridge "double first" originally referred to a first in two different Triposes. The phrase "double first" originally referred to people who got firsts in both the classical and mathematical Triposes ("double men"). The two-Tripos criterion for a "double first", even in vaguely related subjects as English and History, constitutes a far higher hurdle than simply repeating the same performance in competition with the same students in a Part II of the same Tripos; it is harder because the subject matter is different, and the candidate has to reach a mark of excellence in competition with people who would have been studying the subject for longer at university level.

Second-Class Honours

The bulk of university graduates fall into Second-Class Honours, which is divided into Upper Second Class Honours and Lower Second Class Honours. These divisions are commonly abbreviated to 2:1 (pronounced two-one) and 2:2 (pronounced two-two) respectively. Although 2:1s and 2:2s are technically divisions of the same class (though a large one), the perceived difference between them is high (some employers only make the distinction between graduates with 2:1s and above, and those with 2:2s and below).

Third-Class Honours

Third-Class Honours is the lowest honours classification in most modern universities (though until the 1970s, Oxford used to award Fourth-Class Honours degrees, although they did not divide Second-Class Honours and so still had four classes like everyone else). Roughly 10% of students achieving an honours degree receive a Third.

Aegrotat degrees

A candidate who is unable to take his or her exams because of illness can sometimes be awarded an aegrotat degree; this is an honours degree without classification, awarded on the understanding that had the candidate not been unwell, he or she would have passed.

Progression to postgraduate study

Regulations governing the progression of undergraduate degree graduates to postgraduate programmes vary between universities, and are often flexible. A candidate for a postgraduate master's degree is usually required to have at least a 2:2 degree, although candidates with 2:1s are in a considerably stronger position to gain a place on a postgraduate course and to gain funding. Some institutions specify a 2:1. Candidates with a Third or Pass degree are sometimes accepted, provided they have acquired satisfactory professional experience subsequent to graduation. A candidate for a doctoral programme who does not hold a master's degree is nearly always required to have a 1st or 2:1. For highly desirable programmes a first is usually required.

Undergraduate degree honours slang

An interesting form of rhyming slang has developed from degree classes, usually using names of famous people:

A First is known as a Geoff Hurst/Damien Hirst (as 'First' sounds like 'Hurst' or 'Hirst')
A 2:1 is known as an Attila the Hun (as '2:1' sounds like 'the Hun')
A 2:2 is known as a Desmond Tutu (as '2:2' sounds like 'Tutu')[link][link]
A Third is known as a Douglas Hurd/Thora Hird (as 'Third' sounds like 'Hurd' or 'Hird')
A Fail is known as a Michael Palin (as 'Failing' sounds like 'Palin')

2:2s are often lightheartedly referred to as 'drinker's degrees'[link], with the implication that the graduate spent more time in the Union bar than studying. A Third is alternatively known as a 'Richard' after the monarch Richard III; a 'Vorderman' after the British television celebrity mathematician Carol Vorderman who received a Third at Cambridge; or indeed a 'turd'. Finally, a Pass degree is sometimes known as a 'Khyber' (after the Cockney rhyming slang phrase 'Khyber Pass').

External links

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