A Guide to

Degree Abbreviations
and Grading

An Overview of Degree Abbreviations

Every degree awarded across the UK has letters assigned to it; these letters are an abbreviation of the full degree name. There are so many di erent abbreviations it is often hard to know what the letters stand for. Degrees come in three categories; Undergraduate degrees known as Bachelor's degrees, Postgraduate degrees known as Master's degrees and nally Doctorate degrees.

Undergraduate Degrees The general rule is that all undergraduate degrees start with a B, for example BSc and BA. Nearly all undergraduate degrees are Bachelor degrees hence the B, the following letters then relate to the subject that was studied, here are some examples for the most common undergraduate degrees: BA Bachelor of Arts BSc (B.Sc.) Bachelor of Science BEng Bachelor of Engineering LLB Bachelor of Law Most Bachelor degrees are 3- 4years long. Honours Degrees The majority of undergraduate degrees are awarded as honours degrees and have (Hons) at the end of the abbreviation. In England if a student completes their degree with a grade under 40% will they be awarded an 'ordinary degree' instead of an honours degree. This does vary slightly in some universities Oxford and Cambridge. Postgraduate Degrees Similarly to undergraduate degrees postgraduate degrees are mostly pre xed with the letter M, standing for Masters. You will have had to complete a Bachelor's degree to get onto a masters course and these courses can be anywhere from 9 months to a maximum of 2 years. Masters are mainly research based and seen as the next step up in education after a Bachelor's degree. The abbreviations are all similar to that of the Undergraduate degree, for example: MA Master of Arts MSc Master of Science MEng Master of Engineering MChem Master of Chemistry Mphys Master of Physics particularly across Scotland and at

To add further confusion, it is possible to gain an undergraduate Master's degree. This is particularly common with the sciences and engineering, where this is a four year course. A common master's degree that is not so traditional is the MBA, this is the abbreviation for a Masters of Business Administration. This is usually taken by those who have some commercial experience, and is a more challenging quali cation than most Master's degrees. There is also the MPhil. This is usually a two year research quali cation rather than a taught program and is often sponsored by a commercial partner.

Doctoral Degrees
These are the highest level of degree awarded in the UK; as you would assume they have a D in their abbreviation. For example: MD/ DM Medical Doctorate PhD/DPhil Doctor of Philosophy. There are di erent types of doctorates and, as a consequence, di erent ways to earn doctorate degrees. There are doctorates earned for professional quali cations such as Doctor of Medicine (DM or MD), these courses are predominantly taught. There are also doctorates awarded for those who have conducted original research, such as Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), these degrees involve more independent learning. Finally there are honorary doctorates awarded to those who have made a notable contribution in their eld.

Degree Classi cations

Undergraduate Moving away from the lettered grading (A, B, C etc) system used in the rest of British Education the University system uses Firsts, Upper Seconds, Lower seconds and Thirds. A degree grade is made up from the average of the grades an individual has achieved in their modules at university (excluding their rst year of study in most cases). Degree Classi cation summary 1/ I/ 1st = First Class Honours Degree 70%+

This is the highest classi cation of Bachelor's degree you can achieve and would be equivalent of A/ A* in A Levels and GCSEs.

2:1/ 2i/ Upper Second = Second Class Honours Degree, Upper Division: 60 2:2/ 2ii/ Lower Second = Second Class Honours Degree, Lower Division: 50 3/ 3rd = Third Class Honours Degree: 40- 49%

69%. 59%.

This is the lowest class of Honours degree you can get, after this it becomes an 'ordinary degree' you can also be awarded an ordinary degree if you fail some of the core modules.

Postgraduate Again the grading system changes for postgraduate degrees. Masters are awarded as a Pass, Merit or Distinction (some universities only award a Pass and Distinction). The boundaries for these are*: Pass = 50-59% Merit = 60 69% Distinction = 70%+ *At some universities these boundaries can di er. Doctoral Degrees are either awarded or not and there is very rarely a grading system within a doctorate, however a PhD candidate applying for a job may be 'writing up' their thesis, awaiting their viva after submitting the thesis, or doing corrections. Minor corrections have 3 months to be completed and are most common. Major corrections generally have 6 months to be completed. Very few PhD candidates have no corrections at all.

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