On grades

Rough Grade Guide
Range	Result
19-20	Astronomical
17-19	Great
14-17	Fairly great
12-14	Passable
9-12	A bit mince
5-9	Mince
0-5	Total mince

I am most impressed with myself, in that I've managed to resist checking my exam results for three full days. Just a week and a half to go now until there's actually a chance of them being visible.

During my three and a half years at St Andrews, I have been continually mystified by the entire grading system and what my results actually mean. Grades are awarded on a curved scale from 0 (useless) to 20 (amazing), with 5 being a pass. That's simple enough, but even though a 5 is a pass it's still a pretty poor grade, and an 11 is apparently the minimum that most people should be aiming for.

The grade conversion table provided a while ago by e_to_the_ipi helps a little. I wouldn't rely on it too much, mostly because it varies from department to department anyway, but more worryingly because it notes that getting a lower second class grade requires a reasonable degree of "presision".

More seriously, at the moment I am on a 16.3 average - this is a rather awkward place to be as there are only a couple of fractions of grades between getting a 1st and a 2:1 at the end of it all. There are two weeks until I find out just how hard I need to work next semester, and it looks like the grade system is forever going to remain a mystery.