<p>D is in a MPhil program at Oxford (the UK one!). </p>
<p>Is there any significance to passing end of year exams "with distinction"? The UK system is pretty different from ours, so I have no reference point.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Yes. </p>
<p>There are three results you can get at the end of a Masters in the UK: fail, pass or pass with distinction. It means she did well ;)</p>
<p>Just noticed she’s in an MPhil programme which is presumably two years - if she got a distinction at the end of the first year, it doesn’t mean that will be her overall result. Her final result will come at the end of the second year.</p>
<p>In any case though, a distinction is the highest classification you can get :)</p>
<p>Do UK universities award graduate degrees with honors? That is certainly not the US practice, which is why I am lost here. </p>
<p>It is curious because in the US, grad students get grades in courses - letter grades for true courses and pass/fail for a few. So one ends up with a GPA. But none of this is reflected on one’s degree - there is only one flavor of MA (or MS or PhD etc. Professional schools, MBA, MD etc. may be different ). And for qualifying exams here, it is usually pass/fail.</p>
<p>UK seems to be different. No grades in individual courses. Just an exam at the end of the first year, which seems to be graded?</p>
<p>Yes, she is in a thesis masters program. So, based on some formula (exam + thesis perhaps), they award an MPhil “with distinction”? Curious.</p>
<p>A friend got an MPhil from Oxford (PPE) 30 years ago, and I have always been under the impression that her degree itself was actually graded (not that I ever saw the diploma, but others told me back then it was the highest PPE degree in 20 years).</p>
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<p>I don’t know about other disciplines, but in mine, there are different levels of passing (and only one of fail! :)). The levels are finely calibrated. They are used for various purposes, in particular for recommendations for fellowships. It is likely, however, that students are not actually told how they did, other than “You passed with flying colors.” Which is what I was told after my Generals.</p>
<p>Congrats on NewMassD on continuing to fly high!</p>
<p>Everything I know about British degrees I know from Dorothy Sayers, so I looked it up in wiki and it’s pretty much what I remembered. These are the levels:</p>
<p>A degree may be awarded with or without honours, with the class of an honours 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:</p>
<p>** * First-Class Honours (First or 1st)
* Upper Second-Class Honours (2:1 or 2i)
* Lower Second-Class Honours (2:2 or 2ii)
* Third-Class Honours (Third or 3rd)**
* Ordinary degree (Pass)
* Fail (no degree is awarded)</p>
<p>see [British</a> undergraduate degree classification - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_undergraduate_degree_classification]British”>British undergraduate degree classification - Wikipedia) for all the details</p>
<p>mathmom,</p>
<p>What you posted is for undergrad degrees. We in the US also award honors, sometimes multiple levels.</p>
<p>But post graduate degrees are different here. Don’t know about the UK.</p>
<p>Marite, interesting about qualifying exams. Who knew? Certainly not those of us being examined!</p>
<p>Yes postgraduate degrees are also different in the UK. Our Masters degrees are ranked: fail, pass, pass with merit (some, not all, universities) and pass with distinction. So basically the OP’s D has completed the first half of her course with the best mark. Now she just has to do the same with the thesis!
NewMassDad - for each Masters course (and your thesis) you take, you get a % mark in the UK. Each course and the thesis are assigned a set weighting and the average mark you end up with is then puts you into bands. Usually less than 50% is a fail, 50-59 a pass, 60-69 merit, 70 and above distinction but this can vary between universities. (Remember in the UK 70% really is a very good mark! We only really mark up to 80%) </p>
<p>Our doctorates though are just pass / fail at the end.</p>
<p>Hope that makes sense!</p>
<p>Well, NMD, passing with flying colors is not one of the levels and does not appear on your diploma. :)</p>
<p>This isn’t even the end of 9th week - no results will be posted for a long while. Is this a purely theoretical question???</p>
<p>samuck,</p>
<p>In some grad programs (medical anthropology in this case) they privately give out the results already.</p>
<p>so no, it is not theoretical.</p>
<p>is your experience different? Perhaps undergrads are handled differently?</p>
<p>M.Phil in Medical Anthropology - first year exams are qualifying - ie. nice to know she’s on track but everything depends on the second year results. . These end-exam courses are difficult for someone used to the US system to get their heads around - a totally different approach. I did an M.Phil in English years ago - no exams until the second year. And yes, people who’d done well in weekly tutorials failed those exams and left without a degree. But the Medical Anthropology M.Phil seems to have only the thesis second year. A different sort of pressure. Hope she’s enjoying the course and is sticking around to enjoy this week’s beautiful weather. My D was a finalist (last year undergrad this year) but still up rehearsing a play. Am still amazed that results are availabe as early as 9th week, even privately.</p>
<p>samuck,</p>
<p>There are two tracks for masters at Oxford in Med Anthro - MSC, which is one year, and for which the exam is all, and the two year MPhil, where she tells me the exam means little other than that you can stay on. I understand all depends on the thesis. </p>
<p>They sat for the exams last week. Now I know what the Exam School is for. When I saw the building in April, I thought it was some sort of secondary education scheme. guess not…</p>
<p>The main purpose of the Examination Schools is to intimidate! Which they do pretty successfully when you’re milling around in the entrance hall in your sub fusc waiting to be called for the first of your end-of-course, all-or-nothing series of Final Exams.</p>