I recently graduated in Zoology (2.2 Hons) from Newcastle University.


I'm just wondering who else has done a biology based degree (or equivalent) and what they have gone on to do in their RL careers.

Hmm... I think that would be interesting to know aswell.

I'm planning to start a biological study (Biomedical science) in a few years.

I'm in my second year of a genetics degree.

I recently graduated in Zoology (2.2 Hons) from Newcastle University.


I'm just wondering who else has done a biology based degree (or equivalent) and what they have gone on to do in their RL careers.

What does "2.2" mean, pray tell?

It's the grading system. UK degrees go thus:

1st (best) (70+% ave)
2.1 (good) (60+% ave)
2.2 (lazy) (50+% ave)
3rd (retard)(40+% ave)
Fail (super-retard!) (unders 40%)

It's the grading system. UK degrees go thus:

1st (best) (70+% ave)
2.1 (good) (60+% ave)
2.2 (lazy) (50+% ave)
3rd (retard)(40+% ave)
Fail (super-retard!) (unders 40%)

WTF? The pass rate is 40%?

It's the grading system. UK degrees go thus:

1st (best) (70+% ave)
2.1 (good) (60+% ave)
2.2 (lazy) (50+% ave)
3rd (retard)(40+% ave)
Fail (super-retard!) (unders 40%)

Jesus Christ, how can anyone not pass?

It's hard to explain.. 70%+ is judged as "above degree level"

If your work was 80%+ it is considered good enough to be published.

Its not a set of wrong and right answers, its essays, research etc.

--------------------------

I would guess 90% of the students doing the degree do get at least a pass. This is only applicable to Zoology, I am not sure about others.

I didn't find it at all hard, I just didnt put the effort in.

A degree seems to be more a measurment of your effort level than your intellegence.. since you have to be intelegent to get in in the first place.

An what more does a workplace need to know than if you can work hard for 3+ years?

WTF? The pass rate is 40%?

It's the same system here in Oxford, and the obvious answer is that the marks are spread out.
Whereas at A-level (school) everyone can get 90% and 100% is possible, exams are set so that it's almost impossible to answer every question (in physics or maths), and mark schemes award 80% to an essay that takes 2.5 hours of the 3-hour exam.
People can fail if they don't know the subject.

I did a biological degree, and haven't a career yet.

Bright, did you graduate last summer? Are you activly looking or jus dossing about?

WTF? The pass rate is 40%?Things are marked differently at university. At school it's pretty easy to get 70% in an exam. The difference is at uni, you have more things like essays, write-ups of practicals. No matter how much effort you put in, you're unlikely to get a very high mark.

This year (2nd) counts for about a quarter of my degree, and is mostly modules. Next year, however, my final year project on its own counts for a quarter of my degree, which is the sort of work that getting 70% on it would be an extremely good piece of work.

Also, having a pass in a CV is not a positive thing. Even thirds are frowned upon.

It's the grading system. UK degrees go thus:

1st (best) (70+% ave)
2.1 (good) (60+% ave)
2.2 (lazy) (50+% ave)
3rd (retard)(40+% ave)
Fail (super-retard!) (unders 40%)
There was also just a "pass" grade, between Fail and 3rd class, at my uni. I think it's 30%, but I dunno.

WTF? The pass rate is 40%?

Jesus Christ, how can anyone not pass?

In addition to what's already been said, a pass or a 3rd class degree isn't very good. Most graduate employers only accept people with Upper Second Class (2:1) degrees, others will accept 2:2s. If you get a 3rd or a Pass you'd struggle to find a decent graduate job unless you went to a top uni. If you got a Pass you might as well not have bothered going.

Also it's much easier to get a 1st from a crap university than a good university. Lots of people drop out of Oxford and Cambridge but still end up with 1sts or upper 2nds at some other university.

WTF? The pass rate is 40%?

It simply depends how difficult you make the exam for the average person. Here at Oxford, the exams are set up so that the average mark for the year falls in the 60-65% region. 70%+ would be good (hence a first). 80%+ would be exceptional.

As others have pointed out, employers would not necessarily consider a 3rd class degree (40-50%) as of any real value. I doubt anyone would credit you with anything just for a pass. Graduate employers almost always insist on a 2:1 (upper second) or above.

Exams in the UK are rather different. 80%+ at A-level is easy enough to get. Even 100% isn't that unusual on many modules. It's just a matter of how you set up the exam paper what range of grades you get. There's something to be said for having the average well below 100%. If a lot of people are getting 90%+, all the good people just get bunched together, and their actual rank becomes dependent on one or two specific slips on the day of the exam. Move the average down, and there's more room for the best to stand out.

Again, the difference between what's officially a pass on government statistics and what's considered of value don't match up. The grades for GCSEs technically go down to "G" as a pass mark, but given the low mark required for it (and the multiple choice element to some exams) I'm sure you could train a chimp to get that. A grade below "C" is not really considered to be a pass.

Why not get rid of the pass and 3rd degree, if it not worth the paper it's on?

Ask Mugabe about things like that ;)



I suppose because it is simply the result of inflation. A generation ago, going to uni alone was a prestidous thing. Now it is becoming commonplace. Back then any degree meant something. As more and more kids get a degree, the lower levels begin to weaken.

Why not get rid of the pass and 3rd degree, if it not worth the paper it's on?

What Abaddon said: where once even a pass showed significant learning, and that was good for something, nowadays everyone has significant learning. The pass shows the same thing, but employers expect more.

I'm doing research and teaching the medics here. I'm marking an essay at the moment, and it's hard work just trying to work out what she means. I'd guess that she was a recent immigrant from her grasp of English, except that her name rather implies otherwise.

Furthest I got with biology was in GCSE science, where I got double A*. I was told that I shouldn't take A level biology because it's all covered in chemistry (the other subjects I was told would be best for me to choose was physics, maths and IT). The school dropped chemistry but by that time it was too late to change subjects (the school then dropped IT, the physics teacher was rarely there and I failed maths). That was five years ago.

What job are you doing now?
You should be able to find something decent with a bit of hard work and some A*s.

Jesus Christ, how can anyone not pass?

Easy - the tests are hard :D, I know of only ~2 people out of 150 who got >90% on some exam modules of my Biology course, and that was at a good University. Heck I worked my arse off and still got but a 68% overall ;) (stupid Mass Spectrometry that I gambled on not having a question on :mad: ).

OTH Medical courses (in my experince) have a pass requirement of 70% each year.

@Chukchi Husky: Bum luck, that sounds like a real crappy school.

What Abaddon said: where once even a pass showed significant learning, and that was good for something, nowadays everyone has significant learning. The pass shows the same thing, but employers expect more.

Okay, I get it. Now that I think about, I read that my university had a pass degree, but got rid of it.

Sorry for the threadjack.

I double-majored in Biology and Chemistry (Bachelor's) with a 3.0 average. My first job following graduation was as a nuclear weapons maintenance officer. Since then, I have been a professional computer geek.

(Not much help for you, but it's the way things worked out for me....)

Are the UK and US grading system synchronized? Meaning, does having a 75% on an UK test mean the same thing as having a 75% on an US exam?

Are the UK and US grading system synchronized? Meaning, does having a 75% on an UK test mean the same thing as having a 75% on an US exam?

I doubt it. UK marks aren't even that synchronized between different exams. 75% would be a good mark (top grade) at university, but 75% is only a B at A-level, and is rather mediocre at GCSE.

They're also not the same across all courses, or universities. 75% in Surf Science from Plymouth Uni probably isn't as good as 75% in PPE at Oxford.

I don't even know what PPE is so take a guess at Newcastle Uni's values ;)

I don't even know what PPE is so take a guess at Newcastle Uni's values

It stands for Politics, Philosophy and Economics. It's an interdisciplinary degree that's offered at quite a number of places now (but first showed up at Oxford). Traditionally a coice for those wanting to go into politics.

Are the UK and US grading system synchronized? Meaning, does having a 75% on an UK test mean the same thing as having a 75% on an US exam?

Students I know from some American universities come here and are given betas or gammas and get very upset because they expect As. The senior tutor then converts Oxford marks into either an ungraded reference or better grades, appropriate for the student's university.

Students I know from some American universities come here and are given betas or gammas and get very upset because they expect As. The senior tutor then converts Oxford marks into either an ungraded reference or better grades, appropriate for the student's university.

Yeah, that was pretty much my whole point. We had that same issue at my college where grades are from 1 to 20, good luck converting that into A's and B's. Even a conversion to a grade on 100 is not simply multiplying the grade by 5...

There was also just a "pass" grade, between Fail and 3rd class, at my uni. I think it's 30%, but I dunno.


Yup 30-40%, at least it is at Warwick. I got a pass; I was either just short of getting a third, or just clear of failing, I can't remember which now. It's really annoying, most people haven't heard of it, so you have to go to some length to explain what you mean when you say you got a pass. And that process just emphasises how badly you did. How humiliating. Often I wish I had just failed (or switched to Computer Science, which modules all scored me about 80%, but that's another story).
For what it's worth, I think that the terms "first", "second", "third" refer not your actual degree (which is just pass or fail), but to the honours which the university attaches to your degree. Hence you can get a "Mathematics degree with first class honours". And the equivalent way of describing my pass degree would be a "Mathematics degree with no honours". Bleh.

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