MEng final grade calculation

ace-card

Hi all,

I am studying for a BEng degree in motorsport engineering in the uk. I am planning to continue on to the MEng after this year, providing I achieve the benchmark 60% requirement. I've been aiming much higher than 60% however as I REALLY want a first class honours qualification; I've been spending AT LEAST 40 hours a week study time to try and keep my marks to the magical 70+% "first-class" region.

Someone told me yesterday that when you progress onto the MEng, your second year doesn't count (much like your first year doesn't count for a bachelors), and is merely a stepping stone onto the higher course. Is this true? Having heard this, I'm now feeling like all my efforts to maintain 70+& this year have been in vain as it becomes obsolete next year :-(

Can someone with experience in this area please advise?!

Best regards
Darren

sjb-2812

I'd guess it depends on the exact mark-scheme, and so possibly the only person who can answer this in PF is you. Maybe speak to your Director of Studies, or similar, or look at the booklets you were given at the start of the course/year to see how things break down (this is based on my experiences, things may be different at your university).

cmb

Are you saying that you wouldn't bother to put the effort in to doing the best you can, unless someone else thinks it is worthwhile?

I suppose we all have our own work ethics ....

ace-card

I actually found my answer today, and in short, no, my second year grade isn't counted. It's simply a stepping stone onto the MEng (i.e. 60%+). This is because at the end of it, I won't have a BEng AND MEng (as opposed to an MSc where this would be the case), I will simply have an MEng, which is the last two years of the course.

Not quite sure what this has to do with work ethics though. At no point did I say that I would have slacked of had I known this to be the case. It's a simple case of wanting my efforts for this year to be counted towards my final grade, that's all. No need for trying to read between the lines on this one.

cmb

I was simply reading the line '..my efforts...have been in vain..'. Why do you feel they've been in vain?

ace-card

I feel slightly cheated...I had an average of 83% last year, knowing that that wouldn't count, but still put in the time. This year, I've had a lot on; I've been trying to juggle a new baby, a wife, fighting through solicitors for my eldest daughter who lives 100 miles away, and uni work......it has been stressful to say the least, which has also put my marriage under immense pressure. To find out that its not even considered in the long run feels like a kick in the balls to be honest!!! Such is life!

cmb

If you are saying that, in hindsight, you made sacrifices elsewhere that, on balance of benefit/deficit, were not the best ones to make, then for sure I sincerely commiserate. Doing your best to the detriment of other things is always a problem, as there are so many hours in a day in which to attempt to complete everything as well as you might like to.

Just so you don't feel totally alone, for my Bachelor's degree I had a series of assignments in my last year that were under-marked here-and-there, and each time I raised it with the tutors they agreed but said the bits they'd down-marked were just little things that wouldn't make a difference. Well, I got 69.8%. I'm pretty sure I had been under-marked on a First by at least that missing '0.2%'. But the 2i I was awarded has never made a difference to my later life that I've noticed. In fact, I hear that some employers even shy away from folks with Firsts, on the logic [however misplaced?] that they are 'more academic' [assumption being 'less practical'] and may have spent too long in their study rooms to acquire a full set of 'people skills' during 'extra-curricular' time.

Still, employers do quite often want to see the year-on-year breakdowns and I don't think you should believe your extra efforts are entirely without future benefits.