The UK Grading System

Hello! I had a long day today.  Not because it was bad, it just went on forever.  First, since the majority of my day revolves around my grades, I'm going to explain the UK (more specifically Stirling) grading system.  They don't give A, B, C grades here, at least not in the traditional sense (but all of my grades transfer into As, Bs and Cs...and technically Ds and Fs, but we're not going to have any of that around here).  There really isn't any easy way to explain this (even though it isn't really hard to understand) so I'm just going to jump right in.  Here are the grades that are given out here and then, I'll explain what it translates to in American.

1A - 1C = excellent

2A - 2C = very good

2D - 2F = good

3A - 3C = pass
(I'm not pondering the possibility of anything below this, but for the sake of explaining, I'll list them.)

4 = marginal fail

5 = FAIL

Ok, so basically the goal is to pass.  It's really hard to get grades in the 1A-1C category.  I've heard that there are some professors who don't even give out grades that high.  The majority of the student population usually lies in 2D - 2F and 3A - 3C.  Anything 2F and higher is considered pretty darn good here.  Also, for the most part this scale lines up with American grades (like a 5 is an F, 4 is a D, etc.), but it's the 2A - 2F zone where things get tricky.  Here is how this basically lines up.

1A = A
1B = A
1C = A
2A = A-
2B = B+
2C = B+
2D = B
2E = B
2F = B-
3A = C+
3B = C
3C = C-
4 = D
5 = F

So, now that all of that is explained, I'll now continue talking about my day.  First, I went to my EUC seminar where I finally got my presentation grade back.  And I got......a 1B (A)!  I'm really excited.  Evidently this is hard to do, so I'm super pumped.  Also, I found out that the Phd student will be grading my paper for that class.  This is another plus, because she likes me.  Yes, this sounds like favoritism.  Yes, it is true.  Yes, it is a good thing for me.  And it's not like I don't have to work for her favoritism either.  For example, in that seminar today I was the only one who watched the movie.  Meaning not only was I the only one who answered her questions, I also seemed to be the only one that had a pulse.  Was it awkward? Yes.  But, favoritism does not come easy.

Then, I went to take my quiz for LEI.  This was interesting to say the least. I think I did ok on it. The questions were just really strange.  Here is one of my favorites "James is a 35 year old man.  His job is stressful.  Which form of leisure would he participate in?".  You know, since I can obviously figure out what James does in his past time with that little of information.  It was ridiculous, but hopefully in a passing way.

After my quiz, I went to pick up my LEI essay.  I got a 2C, also known as a B+.  I'm happy with that! Considering this was my first UK essay, I'm very proud of my B+.  Especially considering how seriously they take referencing here.  It is a major thing.  Whereas back home, it's just kind of there (as in I write the paper and reference later. Here I have to reference and then write).  Here, they actually look at your Works Cited.

This afternoon, I had my LEI lecture.  It was interesting.  Mystery Woman talked about extreme sports today.  Here is what I learned; extreme ironing is considered a sport.  Look at this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njHE4S-HD3I).  It's crazy.

Tomorrow I have one class. I'll probably spend the majority of my day reading about UK local government.  Oh they ways to spend a day...