“Honour or Non-Honour” Degree Classification in the UK
The British degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor’s degrees and integrated master’s degrees in the UK. This is also applied in other countries and regions.
An honour degree will not only give you a degree, but it also show your level of your achievement and particularly in that subjects by rewarding classification to your degree. This will help employers to understand a graduate’s ability.
- With Undergraduate degrees or Bachelor’s degrees
It can be a Bachelor’s honour degree (with Honours) or an Ordinary degree (without Honours). Honour degrees are divided base on the average mark which you gained in exams and other assessments. Grade boundaries can be different by universities, but the common values are listed below:
|First Class (1st)||70% or higher||A|
|Upper Second Class (2:1)||60% – 69%||B|
|Lower Second Class (2:2)||50% – 59%||C|
|Third Class||40% – 49%||D|
An “Ordinary” degree is simply known as a “PASS” and you will just achieve a degree in that subject.
- With Integrated Master’s Degree are allocated with honours as the same way as a Bachelor’s Honours Degree. Even though some Master’s Degrees are classified like postgraduate taught master’s degrees into PASS (50%), MERIT (60%) and DISTINCTION (70%)