UAC scale uni marks? (1 Viewer)

aaa666

iverson
Joined
Nov 4, 2005
Messages
22
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
i read somewhere in this forum that uac mite scale uni marks - after all getting a distinction average at usyd or unsw with a smarter cohort should be valued higher than going to uws and getting a distinction average. does any1 knw if uac scales our gpas?
 

kami

An iron homily
Joined
Nov 28, 2004
Messages
4,265
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
aaa666 said:
i read somewhere in this forum that uac mite scale uni marks - after all getting a distinction average at usyd or unsw with a smarter cohort should be valued higher than going to uws and getting a distinction average. does any1 knw if uac scales our gpas?
A distinction average is the same to UAC, regardless of which subject or university you get it from.
 

hellomike

Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2006
Messages
141
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
Just remember that UAC doesn't do anything regarding university in terms of academic marks. They are just the middleman delivering the info to you from your chosen university.
 

gorgo31

Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2005
Messages
218
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
hellomike said:
Just remember that UAC doesn't do anything regarding university in terms of academic marks. They are just the middleman delivering the info to you from your chosen university.
Untrue. I have word from UAC themselves that they convert marks from different institutions, because not all Universities use the same marking scheme.

Whether or not "scaling" goes on between institutions that use the same marking scheme is a different matter. But there is definitely a conversion process that UAC uses for certain Universities.
 

hellomike

Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2006
Messages
141
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
In some respect that probably do but the main thing I want to say is that the universities have the last word if you are going to gain admission, if you are a non school leaver for example.
 

aaa666

iverson
Joined
Nov 4, 2005
Messages
22
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
natstar said:
My best friend transferred from UWS to USYD and she said that USYD mark much easier than UWS
good point.
 

hellomike

Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2006
Messages
141
Gender
Male
HSC
2005
Originally Posted by natstar
My best friend transferred from UWS to USYD and she said that USYD mark much easier than UWS

What did you exactly mean? Did you mean USYD mark as in the mark from USYD or USYD mark much easier?
 

kami

An iron homily
Joined
Nov 28, 2004
Messages
4,265
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
hellomike said:
Originally Posted by natstar
My best friend transferred from UWS to USYD and she said that USYD mark much easier than UWS

What did you exactly mean? Did you mean USYD mark as in the mark from USYD or USYD mark much easier?
She's saying USYD are easier markers for her friend's specific degree - nothing to do with scaling.
 

Jessica_00

Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2005
Messages
120
Gender
Undisclosed
HSC
N/A
natstar said:
My best friend transferred from UWS to USYD and she said that USYD mark much easier than UWS
How is that possible? 0_o
 

melsc

Premium Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2004
Messages
6,365
Location
Chasing ambulances in the Inner West...
Gender
Female
HSC
2005
aaa666 said:
i read somewhere in this forum that uac mite scale uni marks - after all getting a distinction average at usyd or unsw with a smarter cohort should be valued higher than going to uws and getting a distinction average. does any1 knw if uac scales our gpas?
I have been told they do scale, however it is unfair to assume UWS students recieve D's easier because of lower UAI's etc... Like anyother uni there must be fewer HD's than D's etc, it may be slightly easier due to the supposed lack of competition but the uni still has standars to uphold and HD's and D's are not given out like candy, besides UAI's do not guarantee success in a course. It would also be unfair to assume that a law student at UWS does not work as hard if not harder than a single degree student at another institution.
 

ace

is retired
Joined
Oct 25, 2002
Messages
564
Location
Australia
Gender
Male
HSC
2003
Jessica_00 said:
How is that possible? 0_o
Few things first,
- each university is different
- universities are subjective

Now given the two items above, if we have a fairly uniform distribution of variation between students perceptions and the associated universities then we can expect in many cases (or well on bos at least), we will hear the opinions of

- Uni X is easier than Uni Y
- Uni Y is easier than Uni X

But given the rather un-unformity of BOS, we will either see more of a X > Y and probably less of Y > X.

So just remember it depends on people's perceptions, work ethic and so on. Some courses to some people are easy, to others they are hard.
 

stazi

Nightman
Joined
Feb 23, 2003
Messages
14,093
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2004
natstar said:
My best friend transferred from UWS to USYD and she said that USYD mark much easier than UWS
stop telling that anecdote. multiple bosers transferred from UWS to USYD and they all say that USYD is heaps harder to do well at.

... i also hear that UAC throws away all UWS applicants, since it's not a real uni.

And the only real scaling they do is for students from non-standard grading schemes (e.g. Maquarie (sp)). These grades need to be converted to the 7-point scale that most other unis utilise.
 

M@C D@DDY

Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2003
Messages
217
Gender
Male
HSC
2004
hmm... i am interested how they actually do that? like converting a different scale to the standard Usyd & UNSW method of grading.
 

stazi

Nightman
Joined
Feb 23, 2003
Messages
14,093
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2004
they probably just get the raw marks and convert them from those
 

stazi

Nightman
Joined
Feb 23, 2003
Messages
14,093
Location
Sydney
Gender
Male
HSC
2004
The quality of candidates at UWS is worse. full stop. i'm sure you're willing to admit that. UWS uses the same marking standard as other unis, i.e. grades will be loosely distributed around the bell curve. Now, you tell me, is it easier to get a D against worse students, or around better ones with the same distribution of marks?

Your friend could be affected by numerous factors. For instance:
a) She may not have been able to transfer all her subjects over, and had to repeat some. Repeating a subject (or a similar one) results in a higher mark the second time round
b) if she lives closer to the city, her travel time has gone down, leading to more sleep, more absorption of material and more time to study
c) It is fun to say you're outside of the norm. Some people like to brag about hard subjects being easy for them. Your friend may be trying to do a similar action 'ohh im so not studying at all and gettin good (read: very average) marks'.
d) Uni is hard to get adjusted to for the first year. After this, it gets much easier, as you learn time management, effective studying techniques, etc.

And a person-by-person basis isn't particularly applicable here. Hiphop got credits and above at UWS, but at USYD, he gets a below credit average (from memory). He even is retaking subjects he's taken at UWS, yet is still finding higher marks difficult to attain. Is this a relevant way of comparing the ease of attaining marks at one uni over another for all candidates? No. It's only really relevant for the individual.
 

Anonymou5

Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2006
Messages
270
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
D) Quite possibly, but I guess thats just up to the individual. Ive seen people do well 1st year and not been able to maintain it 2nd and 3rd.
It's pretty hard to maintain the 95+ average you obtain in your first year throughout the later years of a course. Yes the example is a bit extreme (and yes people do obtain those sorts of averages in first year) but it just goes to show that your vague comment doesn't really 'prove' anything. I mean you said your friend did "good" (with a credit average) but then again if uni marks are bell curved then it doesn't take much to fall from a "good" (ie. credit) mark to a pass mark. Let me summarise, there is very little difference between a pass and a low to mid credit.

I think it's a bit silly to say such and such a university marks harder than another one. The actual course should be specified because courses with subjective marking shouldn't be compared at all.
 

Anonymou5

Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2006
Messages
270
Gender
Male
HSC
N/A
I'm just saying that your comment about how people's marks can go down in later years doesn't really prove anything (this is indepdent of whatever point you're trying to make). Because like I said, I'm sure that we can agree that regardless of how much effort you put in, it is extremely difficult to maintain a 95+ average. On the other hand, you could study the same way and your average could easily fall from 66 to 62 (ie. credit to pass). So your assertion that USYD's marking is easier solely on the basis of a mark shift from pass to credit isn't valid.

dont see how courses with subjective marking cant be compared. The majority of courses do involve subjective marking, except for the obvious ones like those that involve maths etc
It's rather obvious on general grounds as to why courses with subjective marking can't be compared. If you think otherwise, could you please enlighten me as to how you can objectively compare two courses with subjective marking? After all, what point is there in making a comparison if it's not an objective one?

Anyway I'm not interested in a waah-fest, I'll leave that to others.
 
Last edited:

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 0, Guests: 1)

Top