All Change Makers marking and grading is based on the humanities model of grading. This will look and feel very different to marking within a science or engineering field. Read this post to find out more about how you will be graded and what those grades mean.
Horizons or iExplore?
Taking your Change Makers module for Horizons or for iExplore result in slightly different outcomes in terms of how your grade is recorded and used.
Horizons non-credit module (1st Year modules only) – if your module is non-credit, you will receive a numerical grade and a pass/merit/distinction classification. This will be recorded on your transcript, but will not count towards your degree or year mark.
Horizons extra-credit module – if your module is extra-credit, you will receive a numerical grade and a pass/merit/distinction classification. This will be recorded on your transcript, but will not count towards your degree or year mark.
Horizons credit module – if your module is for credit, you will receive a numerical grade and a pass/merit/distinction classification. This will be recorded on your transcript and your numerical grade will count towards your year mark and your final degree.
iExplore module – if you take a Change Makers module for your iExplore option, you will receive a numerical grade and a pass/merit/distinction classification. This will be recorded on your transcript. You must pass your iExplore module to progress in your degree, but the module is included within your year mark as pass/fail. This means that it makes no difference to your degree what your numerical mark is, you just must get a mark higher than 40% to progress. If you get a mark lower than 40%, different departments will handle this differently – and it will also depend on the rest of your academic record. You might be able to have the low grade accommodated, you might be asked to resit the assessment, or you might need to repeat the module or even the whole year. Your department will be able to advise you on the outcome individually.
What is humanities grading?
Humanities grading will give you a percentage grade. The classification of those percentages is as follows:
- 40%+ is a pass
- 60%+ is a merit
- 70%+ is a distinction
Your grade is derived from a combination of whether you have met the requirements of the assessment brief, and how well you have done so. There is also a consideration of whether you have shown flair and originality.
This means that there is not a criterion, question or rubric for every single available mark. A large part of your grade is based on the judgement of your teacher. Your teachers are very experienced in marking in this way, and it is a very important part of their expertise. Your teachers regularly meet to discuss, learn, improve, compare and share their marking practices, ensuring that as a group, we all apply our experience to your marking fairly.
All of your work will also be marked by two independent teachers – your own class teacher and another teacher from our team. This second teacher will understand your assignment and the work that you have completed, but will not know all the members of the class individually and so provides a more objective overview of your work.
In addition, all of your work from the second year onwards, will also be reviewed by an external examiner from another university to ensure that all of your marking is fair and of a high standard.
What do I need to do in order to get a particular grade?
Each assignment will vary, and you will always be provided with marking criteria to help you complete the assignment to the best of your ability and to help you focus your effort where it will yield most marks. However, there are some general principles that will help you figure out how to think about the different grades.
- 0% – No submission has been made
- 1-9% – A submission has been made but no effort has been made to address the assignment brief
- 10-19% – A submission has been made that shows some attempt to address the assignment brief but fails to produce a satisfactory standard in any area of the assignment
- 20-29% – A submission has been made that adequately addresses the assignment brief but fails to produce a satisfactory standard in multiple areas of the assignment
- 30-39% – A submission has been made that adequately addresses the assignment brief but fails to achieve a basic or satisfactory level of achievement in all areas
- 40-49% – A submission has been made that addresses all areas of the assignment brief to a satisfactory level, or addresses some areas of the assignment brief to a slightly higher standard while neglecting others, but achieves the standard required to pass overall
- 50-59% – A submission has been made that represents a good attempt to address the assignment brief, with some areas of basic achievement and other areas of slightly advanced achievement
- 60-69% – A submission has been made that represents a good attempt to address the assignment brief and generally meets all areas of the brief to a good standard
- 70-79% – A submission has been made that represents an excellent attempt to address the assignment brief and generally meets all areas of the brief to an excellent standard
- 80-89% – A submission has been made that represents an an excellent attempt to address the assignment brief and meets all areas of the brief to an excellent standard. In addition there are parts of the assignment that demonstrate exceptional skill, thinking or originality
- 90-100% – A submission has been made that represents an an excellent attempt to address the assignment brief and meets all areas of the brief to an excellent standard. In addition, the assignment as a whole demonstrates exceptional skill, thinking or originality – or – demonstrates a novel, original or individual approach that surpasses all expectation.
What grade do most students get?
Every student is marked on their own achievement.
We do not use a curve or normalise your grades, (except in exceptional circumstances where an external factor might have impacted the ability of every student to complete their work – such as during the initial lockdown of the pandemic).
There are no grades that are more or less likely to be given – it is perfectly possible to get any grade between 0-100%.
Easy ways to maxmise your Change Makers grade
Although each assignment will be different, all Change Makers assignments have some things in common that you should look out for. Follow these tips to maximise your grade.
- Always read the assignment brief carefully, and review the marking criteria that are provided
- Take every opportunity to ask for guidance, clarification and feedback that is given to you – your Change Makers teacher will want to help you as much as possible – but it is your responsibility to engage with your teacher and make the most of this opportunity
- Review any previous Change Makers feedback – we take a lot of time and care to provide useful feedback – ask if you don’t understand your feedback, and then make sure you apply it in the following assignment
- Get feedback on your ideas, plans, progress and drafts – most Change Makers assignments offer unlimited or bottomless feedback – ask for feedback, apply any suggestions and then come back to ask for more. Many of our assignments specifically state that you must demonstrate the use of feedback in your submission – make sure you do this or you will be wasting marks!
- Make sure that you use the word count, format, platform and required referencing practice stated in the brief. If the brief says you must use Sutori – make sure you use Sutori. If the brief requires you to use Harvard referencing, make sure you check the library guide and use Harvard referencing.
- Don’t be afraid to take risks – many of our assignments encourage you to take risks and work in new ways. Look critically at the assignment brief – there are ways to take risks while not risking your mark. The assignments often include a reflective component, where you can critically analyse your own work and if something falls short of your hopes or expectations, you can regain any marks that might have been lost by recognising and acknowledging this clearly in your reflection.
- Always ask your teacher – your teacher will be very happy to help you find the best way to complete your assignment.
- If you are having any difficulty with workload, scheduling, motivation, well-being, team working, or another issue – make sure that you talk to your teacher as soon as possible. Don’t wait until the day of the deadline or miss the deadline. Your teachers can do a lot to support and help you – so let them help you achieve your very best.
What is additive marking compared to deductive marking?
When you hand in an assignment in your own discipline, it is more likely to be marked in a deductive way. That means that marks have been deducted from 100% for every wrong answer or mis-step. That means that if you get a grade of 70%, you could expect to look for where you have ‘lost’ the other 30% of your grade. And if it is marked out of 100, you might expect to find 30 marks that have been lost.
However, in humanities marking, we start with 0 and add marks for every satisfactory, brilliant and amazing part of your work. Your teachers will be able to give you clear guidance on how to improve your work in the future, but they will not be able to list 30 things that you have done wrong. The marking does not work in that way.
Remember that your humanities mark is also not prescriptive – not every single mark is accountable as being due to a specific factor in your submission. The grade is a combination of your attempt to satisfy the brief, with how well you have done that. So it is a combination of a CALCULATION of what has been submitted and a JUDGEMENT of how well that satisfies the brief. The judgement is where the ‘human’ comes in to the ‘humanities’. It is an inherent part of how humanities disciplines work.
Remember that your work is being marked by two individual teachers and an external examiner to help ensure that the judgement component of the grading practice is fair. And you might be surprised to hear that within our marking team, two individual markers will often arrive at grades that are only a couple of marks apart, if not exactly the same. Very rarely, we might disagree about a mark – in which case we have a discussion about how the mark has been arrived at. If the disagreement persists, a further marker would be brought in to provide a third opinion. However, this is very rarely needed.
What about pass/fail assignments?
Some Change Makers assignments are graded as pass/fail. These assignments will always contribute only a small percentage to your overall grade.
Each pass/fail assignment will be set up to best suit the learning that is expected from that particular assignment – if you haven’t read the Assessment FOR Learning page – check that out for more details.
Your pass/fail assignment will either be set up with component marking, or baseline and excellence marking.
Component marking means that your assignment includes a number of compulsory components. Your grade will be evenly split between the components. If you submit every component, you will receive a grade of 100%. If you miss one component, you will receive a lower grade. For example, if the submission requires five components are successfully submitted and you submit four components correctly and one component is either missing or incorrectly completed, you would receive a grade of 80%. It is important to note, that there is no judgement of how well a component is completed, as long as it meets the criteria for successful inclusion.
For example, if you were asked to include both a pro and a con of using a particular method, and you failed to include any pros and cons, you would not get the component mark. You would also not get the component mark if you only included a pro, but no con. However, it would not matter how well thought through your pro and con were, as long as they were recognisably a pro and a con.
This type of grading is used where carrying out an activity is more important for your learning than the outcome of that activity.
Baseline and excellence marking means that if you complete the submission (submit all required components), you would get a distinction grade of 70%. It would not matter what the grade would have been if the assignment were being graded normally. Please note though, that marks may be deducted from the 70% for missing elements.
From the baseline grade of 70%, you can also be awarded an additional 10% for each of three areas of excellence – communication, collaboration and creativity. So you could get up to 100% if you submit the assignment correctly, and demonstrate excellence in all three areas.
This type of grading is used where completing the assignment provides value in itself, but also allows room to push for a higher grade. You can focus on the areas of excellence without worrying so much about the rest of the assignment, as long as you complete the required elements. Excellence does mean excellence though – so you do have to work extra hard to achieve those extra 10%s!
Last updated 3rd October 2023