Swansea University
degree classification calculator
Quick answer: Most Swansea degrees use the Revised Banding System: your best 80 Level 6 credits carry weight 3, the remaining 40 Level 6 credits plus your best 40 at Level 5 carry weight 2, and the rest of Level 5 carries weight 1. Professionally accredited Engineering programmes, and undergraduate Physics from the 2025/26 cohort, use a plain 2:1 year weighting instead — your programme decides which, so the calculator asks. Nothing is rounded, and Swansea classifies a Pass Degree at 35–39.99%. Within 2% of a boundary the Board considers two Guiding Principles; they are not an entitlement.
Swansea degree classification calculator
Bands 3/2/1 by rank, or a 2:1 year weighting for accredited Engineering and PhysicsRegulation 3.4 covers all programmes except professionally accredited Engineering and, from the 2025/26 cohort, undergraduate Physics. Those use 3.5. This is set by your programme, not chosen by you.
Level 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 | Classification average | Uplift rule |
|---|---|---|
| First Class Honours | 70% or above | considered at 68% with either 120 credits at 70% or above, or a non-weighted final-year average of 70% or above — the Board may raise the class, but is not obliged to |
| Upper Second Class Honours (2:1) | 60% or above | considered at 58% with either 120 credits at 60% or above, or a non-weighted final-year average of 60% or above — the Board may raise the class, but is not obliged to |
| Lower Second Class Honours (2:2) | 50% or above | considered at 48% with either 120 credits at 50% or above, or a non-weighted final-year average of 50% or above — the Board may raise the class, but is not obliged to |
| Third Class Honours | 40% or above | — |
| Pass Degree | 35% or above | — |
What do I need for a First?
The planner under the calculator works backwards from Swansea’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 weighting bands 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.
Which scheme applies is decided by your programme
Swansea runs two classification methods and you do not get to choose between them. Regulation 3.4, the Revised Banding System, covers all programmes except professionally accredited Engineering and — from the 2025/26 cohort — undergraduate Physics. Those use regulation 3.5, a plain year weighting. The Physics carve-out is cohort-dated, so a Physics finalist who started earlier is still on the banding system. Set the picker in the calculator to whichever your programme specification names; the two produce different marks on the same transcript.
The Revised Banding System weights by rank, not by year
Under 3.4 your credits are sorted into three bands. Band 3 is your best 80 credits at Level 6, carrying weight 3. Band 2 is the remaining 40 Level 6 credits plus your best 40 credits at Level 5, carrying weight 2. Band 1 is the rest of Level 5, at weight 1. Note what Band 2 is not: it is not the best 80 credits drawn from Levels 5 and 6 ranked together. The Level 6 slice and the Level 5 slice are fixed sizes, so a strong Level 5 module cannot displace a weak Level 6 one. On a standard 240-credit profile the divisor is 80×3 + 80×2 + 80×1 = 480.
Accredited Engineering and Physics: Level 6 counts twice Level 5
Regulation 3.5 is much simpler — a credit-weighted average of each level, with Level 6 weighted twice Level 5, and no banding at all. Where the two schemes disagree it is usually because banding rewards a strong top slice: a student with a few excellent Level 6 modules and a weaker tail will generally do better under 3.4 than 3.5. That is not a choice available to you, but it is worth understanding why a friend on another programme with similar marks finished in a different class.
Swansea classifies a Pass Degree at 35%
The bands in 3.1.1 are 70+ First, 60–69.99 2:1, 50–59.99 2:2, 40–49.99 Third and 35–39.99 Pass Degree. That last band is unusual — most UK universities stop at the third-class boundary and treat anything below it as a fail. Note also that the bands run to two decimal places and no rounding rule is published, so this page does not round: 69.99% is a 2:1, not a First. Tolerated failures are included in the average, which 3.1.1 states explicitly — enter them at the mark recorded.
The two Guiding Principles are considered, not applied
If your classification average falls within 2% of a boundary, the Progression and Awards Board considers two Principles. Preponderance (3.3.1): at least 120 of the 240 contributing credits in the higher band — 180 of 360 for an advanced initial degree, with Level S marks excluded. Exit Velocity (3.3.2): the non-weighted average of your Final Year of Study is in the higher band. Either one may be enough, and the word “non-weighted” is deliberate — every module in your final year counts once, whatever its credit value, so a strong 10-credit module pulls as hard as a strong 30-credit one. This calculator tells you when you meet a Principle, but it will not promote you, because the regulations do not: these are principles the Board weighs, not an entitlement. Viva voce examinations are explicitly not permitted for determining classification.
Years abroad, years in industry, and the advanced initial degree
A four-year scheme with a year abroad or in industry adds Band S at weight 1, and it is applied only where it helps the candidate — otherwise the three-year formula stands. The advanced initial degree (four years, Level 7) has its own cascade: Band 4 is the best 90 Level 7 credits at weight 4, Band 3 the remaining 30 Level 7 plus the best 60 at Level 6 at weight 3, Band 2 the remaining 60 Level 6 plus the best 30 at Level 5 at weight 2, and Band 1 the remaining 90 Level 5 credits at weight 1, with preponderance measured over 180 of 360 credits. This page covers the three-year initial 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 Swansea’s own regulations:
- Swansea University — Undergraduate Assessment Regulations, Section 3: Classification of Honours Degrees — read in full: 3.1.1 the classification bands including the 35–39.99 Pass Degree and the inclusion of tolerated failures; 3.3, 3.3.1 and 3.3.2 the window of opportunity and the Preponderance and Exit Velocity Principles, the latter expressly non-weighted; 3.4 the Revised Banding System with its three bands and the four-year and advanced initial degree variants; 3.5 the year weighting for accredited Engineering and Physics; and the prohibition on viva voce examinations for classification.
- Swansea University — Section 3 classification page (Academic Guide) — cross-checked for the 2% window wording, the description of the Principles as guidance the Board considers rather than an entitlement, and the scope of 3.4 including the 2025/26 cohort date on the Physics carve-out.
Regulations change between intakes. Your own cohort’s handbook is always authoritative.