London School of Economics and Political Science
degree classification calculator

Class boundaries

What do I need for a First?

The planner under the calculator works backwards from LSE’s own algorithm. Enter the marks you have so far, leave the years you have not finished empty (or set how many classification marks are still to come), and it shows the lowest mark you would need in every remaining course to reach each class. It runs the same calculation as the calculator, using the classification-mark counts and the aggregate in the table above.

The answer is a single mark repeated across every remaining course. Real marks vary, and because the class counts how many marks reach each band, an uneven spread can sometimes get there with a lower average. “Already secured” means the algorithm gives that class even at 0 in what is left, but you still have to pass those courses: failed courses lower or cap the class.

Eighteen marks, and the count is what classifies you

Section 3 builds a list of eighteen classification marks: the marks in all eight of your second and third year courses, with a full unit counted twice and a half unit counted once, which gives sixteen; then your First Year Average, counted twice, as the seventeenth and eighteenth. Section 7 then classifies on how many of those eighteen reach each class. Two students with the same average can be classified differently, because the spread of the marks is what the rule reads.

The aggregate is a sum, not an average

Section 4 defines the aggregate as the sum of the eighteen marks. It is a second, lower route into a class rather than the primary test: ten marks at 70 or above is a First on its own, and the aggregate is only consulted when you have eight or nine. A First then needs 1,180, a 2:1 needs 1,030, and a 2:2 needs 880. With fewer than eight marks in a class, no aggregate is large enough.

Your first year counts, but only as two marks

The First Year Average is the mean of the best six of your nine first-year marks — four papers counted twice, plus LSE100 — rounded to a whole mark, and it then enters the eighteen twice. So a weak first year is capped in its effect, and a strong one cannot carry a weak final year. For students who started before 2021/22 LSE100 is not a classification mark at all and is left out of the average; from 2021/22 it counts if it is one of your best six.

A Third needs sixteen marks, not ten

Section 7.4 is the one row that does not follow the ten-or-eight pattern: a Third requires sixteen of the eighteen marks to be at 40 or above, with no aggregate alternative. Miss that and you are eligible only for a Pass degree — which is an award, but not an honours classification.

Failed courses move the class down

This is one of the few schemes on this site where a rule can lower your award. Under section 10, unredeemed fails in more than one course drop the classification by one class, and fails in three courses cap the degree at a Pass. A first-year fail counts towards both, except in LSE100. And you are only eligible for an award at all with no more than three units of failed courses, so the calculator stops rather than guessing beyond that.

A resit is worth the pass mark, and no more

Where an assessment is failed and retaken, section 8 caps the course at a Pass for classification, and a maximum mark of 40 is used in the aggregate or in the first year average. Both marks appear on your transcript, but only the capped one classifies you. Enter 40 for a resat course, not the mark you were given.

There is no ordinary borderline rule

Every other university on this site has a band below each boundary where the higher class can be awarded on the marks alone. LSE does not. A Sub-Board can recommend a higher class under the General Proviso, but only on a formal Exceptional Circumstances submission, and only where you are within 3 marks in a single classification course or 10 marks on aggregate, you already hold marks in the higher range, and the affected work was out of line with the rest of your performance. That is a judgement about evidence, not about numbers, so this page does not apply it.

Four-year degrees are the same shape at a different size

A four-year BA/BSc is classified on twenty-six marks: twenty-four from years two, three and four, plus the First Year Average twice. A First needs fourteen marks at 70 or above, or twelve or thirteen with an aggregate of 1,700; the 2:1 and 2:2 aggregates are 1,490 and 1,270, and a Third needs twenty-four marks at 40 or above. The calculator above models the three-year degree. Note also that the LLB runs its own separate classification scheme, which this page does not cover.

What this calculator does not do

It applies the published algorithm to the marks you enter. It cannot know your programme’s approved variances, any extenuating circumstances, capped resit marks, or how a Board of Examiners will use its discretion. Where a rule is a judgement rather than a formula, the page says so rather than guessing.

Sources

Every figure on this page is read from LSE’s own regulations:

• LSE — Three Year Classification Scheme for BA/BSc Degrees, students from 2018/19 (last updated August 2025) — Section 1 the mark scale, section 3 how the eighteen classification marks are built and the best-six-of-nine First Year Average, section 4 the aggregate, section 7 the ten-or-eight-plus-aggregate thresholds and the sixteen-mark Third, section 8 the resit cap, section 10 the penalty rules, and sections 11 to 12 the Exceptional Circumstances proviso.
• LSE — Four Year Classification Scheme for BA/BSc Degrees, students from 2018/19 (last updated August 2025) — Section 3 the twenty-six classification marks, section 7 the fourteen-or-twelve thresholds with aggregates of 1,700, 1,490 and 1,270, and sections 11 to 13 the fallback to the three-year scheme with a one-class drop.

Regulations change between intakes. Your own cohort’s handbook is always authoritative.