Oxford does have rather strange grading habits, so, as a prospective applicant, please take note of this if academic achievement is something you care about deeply. If you are already in Oxford, take this article as a warning about how varied your scores can be – you might want to change up the proportion of time you allocate to studying after this! If you have already graduated, please be aware that your final grade is a mixture of your hard work and healthy dollops of luck.
Getting your score breakdown
You will probably only receive a single numerical mark for each paper. Raw marks will not be disclosed to you nor your college. You can however make a request to ask for the scores given to you by each individual marker and comments that the exam board has given. They will also have an explanation of the decisions to be taken for your MCN, if any.
Marking Discrepancies for the same script
There are two markers for essay-based subjects, in a bid to reduce subjectivity, where both markers will grade the same script separately. If the marking discrepancy is small, the marks can be averaged. However, this also means that there can be huge discrepancies observed. It is not unheard of that one marker awards a First-class grade while another gives it a lower 2:2 grade.
What compounds this is the narrow range of possible grades candidates are normally awarded. This is from an E&M Subject Board report in 2023:
The implication of the narrow range of grades is that even a five mark variance in marker discretion can move a candidate from lower quartile to upper quartile.
To give a bit of flavour as to how random the marking can be in the Economics and Management degree:
- For one of the management essay-based papers, I personally received a score from a marker that placed me in the upper quartile, and a score from another marker on the same script that placed in the lower quartile
- In fact, a friend of mine received 80 for one paper (an exceptional First Class score) from one marker and 55 from another marker (an absolutely dismal Second Lower) score
While double-marking does help to reduce some of the dependency on one marker, it also shows that the subjectivity of grading is immensely high. In addition, while huge discrepancies are supposed to be resolved by the intervention of a third marker as an arbiter, the final result anecdotally tends to be near the average of the initial two scores.
For the exact same script, it is strange that two markers can have such wildly different interpretations of the quality of the work. Unfortunately, despite the relatively huge subjectivity of marking relative to the range of marks, the examiners’ decisions are deemed to be academic judgement and cannot be questioned.
Potential mistakes
You won’t be able to get your exam scripts back – not even a scanned copy – only the score.
If you see a huge discrepancy between your exam score and what you normally receive, you should flag this out. Administrative errors are rare but not unheard of – you don’t want to be the poor sod who gets a 58 because some overworked administrator typed 85 wrongly. The university has to retain your scripts for six months for cases such as these.
Conclusion
Oxford is a wonderful place to study. However, your examination score may have its own way of following its own random walk, simply because quality of a submission is highly subjective, and even more so given the limited time markers can dedicate to each piece of work. It is a pity, given the number of hours students invest in sharpening their understanding of the surrounding literature and honing the craft of writing. As I always reminded myself – the numerical FHS grade itself has little, if any, significance to your future. Maybe a good grade will help to reduce the number of applications you make for jobs or Masters’ programmes. Still, learning not to satiate your innate curiosity and only for external validation is a road to disappointment, because the validation of markers is often fickle and inconsistent.
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