Northumbria University
degree classification calculator
Quick answer: Northumbria classifies on your qualifying modules — the best 100 percentage-graded credits at each level, so the lowest-scoring 20 credits of each year are set aside before anything is calculated. It then takes the better of Level 6 and Level 5 weighted 60:40 or Level 6 alone. Averages are rounded to a whole number. If you land within 2% of a boundary you are lifted to the higher class provided half your graded Level 6 credits reach it — a rule that was relaxed on 1 May 2025 and no longer needs a majority.
Northumbria degree classification calculator
60:40 or Level 6 alone, on your best 100 credits per levelLevel 5 — second year
Level 6 — final year
What do I need for a First?
Enter the marks you already have above. These boxes are the credits still to come in each year: a year with no marks yet is counted as all still to come. Change them if that is not right for you.
| Class | Mark needed in every remaining module |
|---|
Class boundaries
| Class | Weighted mark | Uplift rule |
|---|---|---|
| First Class Honours (1st) | 70% or above | or 68% with at least half of final-year credits at 70% or above |
| Upper Second Class Honours (2:1) | 60% or above | or 58% with at least half of final-year credits at 60% or above |
| Lower Second Class Honours (2:2) | 50% or above | or 48% with at least half of final-year credits at 50% or above |
| Third Class Honours | 40% or above | — |
What do I need for a First?
The planner under the calculator works backwards from Northumbria’s own algorithm. Enter the marks you have so far, leave the years you have not finished empty (or set how many credits are still to come), and it shows the lowest mark you would need in every remaining module to reach each class. It runs the same calculation as the calculator, using the year weights, the best-credits rule and the secondary rules in the table above, so a class reached through one of those routes shows the lower figure.
The answer is a single mark repeated across every remaining module. Real marks vary, and where only some credits count or a class can be reached through a share of high marks, an uneven spread can sometimes get there with a slightly lower average. “Already secured” means the algorithm gives that class even at 0 in what is left, but you still have to pass those modules.
Your worst 20 credits at each level never enter the calculation
Section 5.11 defines qualifying modules as “the best 100 percentage graded credits per level”, and says plainly that the lowest scoring 20 credits per level do not contribute. This happens automatically to every student, at Level 5 and at Level 6. The regulation even covers the awkward case: where the best 100 credits cannot be made up of whole modules, the lowest-marked module included is weighted at the appropriate credit value — so a 30-credit module on the boundary contributes part of itself rather than all or nothing.
Two routes, and the one that suits you is chosen automatically
The classification is computed “based on the most favourable outcome to the student” from either the qualifying modules in Levels 6 and 5 weighted 60:40, or the qualifying modules in Level 6 alone. A weak second year cannot pull you down, because the Level 6-only route is always available; a strong second year can pull you up. Level 4 never counts.
The borderline rule was relaxed in May 2025
You are borderline when your average is not more than 2% below a boundary — so 68 or 69 for a First, 58 or 59 for a 2:1, 48 or 49 for a 2:2. The higher class follows where half of all your graded Level 6 credits sit on or above that boundary. The change log at the front of the 2025/26 regulations records what changed: until 1 May 2025 the rule also demanded that the majority of graded credits be in the higher band, and that requirement has been removed. Half is now enough. Pass/fail modules are excluded from the test.
There is no borderline at the bottom
The regulation says the borderline rules apply to all honours classifications however calculated “except at the fail/third class boundary”. An average of 38 or 39 is not lifted to a Third by any profile of credits, because the 40% minimum cannot be met. If the full 360 credits have not been attained after compensation and referral, a Pass degree may be awarded instead where at least 60 Level 6 credits have been achieved.
Referred and compensated modules enter at 40%, not at the mark you earned
This catches people out. A module passed after referral is awarded the module pass mark — 40% — and section 3.6 says that is the mark used for the calculation of final classification, however well the resit actually went. A compensated module is recorded at the same 40% (3.5). Enter 40 for those modules here, not the mark on the script. They may well be among the 20 credits per level that get set aside anyway.
Pass/fail modules, and the case where the discount does not apply
Modules validated as pass/fail carry credit but are excluded from the classification entirely (2.4). That produces an exception worth knowing: on a programme with 20 credits or more of pass/fail modules per level, the classification is based on all your percentage-graded credits, because the pass/fail credits have already been taken out — the 20-credit discount is not applied a second time. For an award to be classified at all, at least half the credits at the level of the award must carry a percentage mark.
Longer programmes, placements and years abroad
Where a programme carries more than 240 Level 5 and 6 qualifying credits — a 480-credit honours degree, for instance — all those modules count, with the 60:40 applied pro rata by credit. A year-long placement at Level 5 is not weighted in the classification. A year of study abroad follows whichever of two schemes the programme specification names: usually not weighted, but where it is weighted the calculation becomes the best 100 credits in levels 6:5:5 at 60:20:20, or Level 6 alone, whichever benefits you. The Integrated Masters (5.16) runs on levels 7:6:5 at 60:20:20, or 7:6 at 60:40, or Level 7 alone. This page covers the standard three-year honours degree.
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 Northumbria’s own regulations:
- Northumbria University — Academic Regulations for Taught Awards (ARTA) 2025/26, ref PL071-v004 — read in full: the change log recording the 1 May 2025 relaxation of the borderline rule; 2.1 rounding of module marks and averages to the nearest percentage; 2.4 pass/fail modules and the 50%-graded-credit requirement for a classified award; 3.5 compensation and 3.6 referral, both of which enter classification at the 40% pass mark; 5.11 the Honours Degree — the two routes, the definition of qualifying modules as the best 100 graded credits per level, the credit-value weighting of a straddling module, the bands, the borderline rule and its exclusion at the fail/third boundary, and the pro-rata, placement and study-abroad variants; 5.16 the Integrated Masters.
- Northumbria University — Assessment (Quality and Teaching Excellence) — the page the regulations are published from, and the University’s notice that the degree algorithm is under review for students entering in September 2026.
Regulations change between intakes. Your own cohort’s handbook is always authoritative.