Hi there Jack here from Cardiff Met International and in this video I'm going to be answering the question how are masters degrees graded in the UK? Welcome to the latest video in my series on understanding UK universities for international CIPD assignment help students. If you haven't watched any of my videos before my name is Jack and I'm part of the international team here at Cardiff Metropolitan University in the UK. I'm currently on a mission to help international student’s better understanding the UK university system. So if you're watching this video you're probably asking how exactly masters degrees graded in the UK are, or maybe what do I need to score to get a distinction. Masters degrees are graded differently to undergraduate degrees in the UK.
They don't have the same system using first class to third class that I discussed in my last video. However the grading system is still quite different to many other countries that use a percentage, grade point average or letter based system to grade their degrees. When students complete a UK postgraduate masters degree they will receive one of four different degree classifications. This classification is an indicator of how well you performed in your degree. I'll introduce you to the different classifications now students who achieve 70% or higher will be awarded a distinction.
This is the highest classification you can achieve in a master’s degree. Students who achieve 60 to 69 percent will be awarded a merit, or in some cases a commendation. Students who achieve 50 to 59 percent will be awarded a pass. Achieving a pass still means you will achieve a master’s degree. Students who received 40 to 49 percent will obtain a borderline pass or in some cases a fail. Your university will give you all the support you need to ensure you're able to pass your masters. The exact grade bands and policy at your university may differ slightly from these examples. It's worth checking if you are unsure. Many universities are also a little bit more flexible than this, and can use their discretion to consider accepting grades that are very slightly lower than the official requirements for each band.
For example if you receive an overall average score of 59.5%, your university may still consider awarding a merit. It's not guaranteed though, so it's best to aim for the classification you think you can achieve in full. If you're hoping to continue your studies after completing your masters and progress the PhD level study you may find certain universities require a specific masters classification, so it's worth checking if this is something you are thinking about. However don't focus on this too much, as there are also many universities that will just require that you've passed a master's degree. It's also worth remembering that whilst a master's degree can be challenging, it's still fairly unlikely that you will completely fail your master's degree. Your university will be careful to ensure that they have only offered places to students they're confident will be able to succeed on the course.
If you've successfully gone through the admissions process with an offer, you're on the right track already. And if you encounter issues once you've began your studies your tutors will be able to help you to overcome any difficulties. Universities never want their students to fail so it will give you all of the support that you need to succeed. So there we have it. I hope you now understand a little bit more about how master’s degrees are graded in the UK. Please do give me a like if this has been helpful and if you have any questions just let me know in the comments below. Make sure that you subscribe to our channel and click on the bell and select all to receive notifications. But for now thanks for watching and hopefully we'll welcome you to Cardiff Met one day soon.
