Calculating the weighted assessment mark and the percentage of assessment taken in the year used in the graduation benchmark
Weighted Assessment Mark
Modules all have one or more forms of summative assessment that contribute to the overall module mark.
We call each of these an ‘assessment component’ of the module and give each of them a weighting to determine how much they should influence the overall module mark.
For example, a module might be assessed by an essay worth 40% and an exam worth 60%. It is the overall module mark which determines whether the module is passed which we would normally use to inform the degree classification.
For the purpose of calculating weighted assessment marks for the graduation benchmark, we use the actual assessment component weightings within a module (see example below), rather than the overall module mark. This is therefore based upon the assessment components passed within the year, NOT the whole modules passed up to 13 March 2020.
Example:
A student has undertaken 6 modules (each 15 credits). Only the essay components of all of the modules have been undertaken up to 13/03/20 - there are no exam marks.
|
Module assessment |
Assessment weighting |
Student's grades |
|---|---|---|
|
Three of the modules (A-C) are assessed by an essay (1/3 of the module assessment) and an exam (2/3 of the module assessment). |
Each has a weighting of 5 units of assessment (1/3 of assessment for the 15 credit module) |
|
|
The other 3 modules (D-F) are only assessed by an essay (100% of the module assessment). |
Each has a weighting of 15 units (100% of the 15 credit module) of assessment. |
|
The weighted average of the assessments within the year is thus calculated by:
Percentage of assessment taken in the year
In order to determine the percentage of assessment taken in the year for the graduation benchmark calculation you divide the total component mark credits used in the weighted assessment mark calculation by the whole number of credits in the year (normally 120 credits, although this may be higher in some degree programmes.
Using the information from the example above and assuming the total year credits as 120 credits the % of assessment taken in the year is calculated by:
