Grading - Degree Information and Classification

Progressing into Year 3 and Year 4, degree classifications and exit qualifications.

To progress into Junior Honours (Year 3) students must have a minimum of 220 credits and will have to make up any missing credits in order to gain the required 240 credits needed for Years 1 and 2. In addition, a student must pass any required/core Year 2 courses to qualify for admission into a programme.  


Students who fail to obtain at least 80 credits at Level 09, and to average at least 40% across 120 credits worth of Level 09 courses, will have failed to pass Junior Honours (Year 3).  

 

Retaking courses that contribute to honours classification is not permitted. Therefore, students who fail Year 3 at the first attempt will not be able to graduate with an Honours Degree. These students will be entitled to resit courses in the Summer resit diet following Year 3 - this opportunity to gain 360 credits could allow graduation with an Ordinary Degree.  


The Year 3 Examination Board meets to ratify and confirm the marks in all assessments for the Year 3 courses for which it is responsible. When you pass a course, the credits for that course are awarded.  

 

The Progression Board considers the overall performance of the students on the Biological Sciences Degree Programme. It receives marks for any outside courses taken and then confirms which students qualify to progress into the final Senior Honours year (Year 4) and decide if credits are to be awarded for any courses which they have failed.  

 

Progression into the final year is largely a matter of satisfying the criteria laid down by a programme and by the University Regulations. All students must have 360 credits (to include 120 credits at Level 09/10) before they can enter Year 4.  

 

No one can carry a course from an earlier year into the final year. 

 

In addition, a student must pass all the required courses to qualify for admission into a programme. Failure to meet programme-specific requirements will mean that admission into Senior Honours is left to the discretion of the Progression Board. A transfer to an alternative programme, or provision of an opportunity to change to an Ordinary degree, may be provided. 

 

The regulations allow the Progression Board to award credits for a Level 09 course that has not been passed, providing:  

  • The student has attained at least 80 credits in Level 09/10 courses in the year.
  • The average mark for the 120 credits at Level 09/10 courses is at least 40%.
  • For progression into Senior Honours in Biological Sciences, you must obtain at least 80 credits in Biological Sciences.
  • A significant attempt has been made to pass the course.  

A student who attends nothing and submits no assessments will receive a mark of zero.  

The procedure of awarding credits, as described above, can only be followed to allow a student to progress into the final year.  


To graduate with an honours degree you must pass both Junior Honours (Year 3) and Senior Honours (Year 4) at the first attempt.  

Honours degrees are classified according to marks in both honours years (except where students take part in an exchange Programme. Year 3 and Year 4 will count in a 1:2 ratio. 


If it is not possible for a student to obtain an Honours degree, either due to failure to progress or due to the student wishing to leave the University before the end of the degree, there are exit qualifications avaialble as follows.

 

Undergraduate Certificate of Higher Education

For students who obtain a minimum of 120 credits from passes in courses at the University of Edinburgh. 

 

Undergraduate Diploma of Higher Education

For students who obtain a minimum of 240 credits, where at least 120 credits are from passes in courses at the University of Edinburgh, and at least 80 credits are from courses at Level 08 or above.  

 

BSc Ordinary in a Designated Discipline

For students who have obtained 360 credits.

Of these, 240 credits must be from courses listed in: 

  • Science and Engineering Schedules K-Q
  • Medicine and Veterinary Medicine Schedule T
  • Psychology in Schedule I

200 credits must be at Levels 8, 9 or 10. This must include 80 credits at Level 09 or 10 in the designated discipline in courses listed in: 

  • Science and Engineering Schedules K-Q
  • Medicine and Veterinary Medicine Schedule T
  • Language Sciences and Psychology Schedule I

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