University of South Wales
degree classification calculator
Quick answer: USW averages one pool of 180 credits — your best 60 credits at Level 5 together with all 120 at Level 6 — or, if it suits you better, the 120 Level 6 credits alone, whichever is higher. Because it is a single pool rather than two year averages, Level 6 carries two thirds of the result. Direct entrants and top-up students are classified differently, on their best 100 Level 6 credits. The thresholds sit half a point below the round numbers: a First needs 69.5%, not 70, and there is no borderline rule beyond that.
USW degree classification calculator
Best 60 Level 5 credits pooled with all 120 at Level 6, or Level 6 aloneA2.7.5: students who registered at the final degree stage, or topped up from a USW HND or Foundation degree, are classified on Method 3 rather than on the better of Methods 1 and 2.
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 | Average mark | Uplift rule |
|---|---|---|
| First Class Honours | 69.5% or above | — |
| Upper Second Class Honours (2:1) | 59.5% or above | — |
| Lower Second Class Honours (2:2) | 49.5% or above | — |
| Third Class Honours | 39.5% or above | — |
What do I need for a First?
The planner under the calculator works backwards from USW’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 and the best-credits rule.
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.
One pool of 180 credits, not two year averages
This is the thing to understand about USW, and it is easy to misread. Method 1 takes “the 180 credits obtained from the best 60 credits at level 5 and the 120 credits at level 6” and averages them together, as a single pool weighted by credit. Level 6 therefore carries two thirds of your result — 120 credits out of 180 — not half. If you averaged your Level 5 mark and your Level 6 mark and split the difference, you would get a different and wrong answer. Method 2 is simply the average of your 120 Level 6 credits, and USW classifies you on whichever of the two is higher, so a weak second year cannot pull you down.
Only your best 60 Level 5 credits count — but a core module cannot be dropped
Method 1 uses the best 60 of your 120 Level 5 credits, so half of your second year is set aside automatically and the weaker half is the half that goes. Where the 60 credits cannot be made of whole modules the split is by credit value. One limit on this: the note under A2.7.1 says core modules cannot be excluded from the classification of an award, so a core Level 5 module stays in the calculation even if it is among your weakest.
Direct entrants and top-up students are classified on Method 3
If you registered at the final degree stage, or entered it by topping up from a USW HND or Foundation degree, A2.7.5 classifies you on Method 3: the average of your best 100 credits at Level 6. That is a different rule, not a third option added to the best-of — you do not get to compare it with Methods 1 and 2, and they do not get to compare theirs with yours. Set the picker accordingly. Note the regulation reads a little oddly here: A2.7.1 lists three methods while A2.7.2 refers to “the higher of the two averages”, wording left over from when there were two. A2.7.5 is what resolves it.
A First needs 69.5%, not 70%
USW’s classification thresholds sit half a point below the round numbers: 69.5 for a First, 59.5 for a 2:1, 49.5 for a 2:2 and 39.5 for a Third. Nothing is rounded and there is no borderline or uplift rule anywhere in A2.7 — the half point is the leniency, which is the same approach UCL and Sheffield take. Be careful not to read the thresholds off the marking scale at A2.3.1 instead: that describes module grades as 70–100 for a First, 60–69.5 for an upper second and so on, and it is half a point away from the classification table. Module descriptors and degree thresholds are different things here.
Capped marks: resits, late work and compensation
A resit module mark is capped at the module pass mark however well the resit goes (A1.26.6), and that capped figure is what enters your classification — enter 40, not the mark on the script. Coursework up to five working days late is capped at 40%, and beyond five days it scores zero, unless you have an Individual Support Plan (A1.17.7). A compensated module is different: it is graded PC but keeps the actual mark you achieved (A1.28.6), so enter the real figure for those.
Unusual credit patterns, and what happens with transferred credit
Two cases have their own rules. If you passed 360 credits with only 100 at Level 6, USW averages all your Level 5 modules — whether that is 100, 120 or 140 credits — counts the result as 20 credits at Level 6, and then applies Method 2 (A2.7.3). If you passed 140 credits at Level 6, the average is taken over all 140 and then weighted as 120 before Method 1 is applied (A2.7.4). Separately, if you brought in transferred credit and do not hold at least 60 Level 5 and 120 Level 6 USW credits, your classification is based on your 120 USW credits alone (A1.6.12) — credit transfers, but classification does not.
These regulations also cover the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama — differently
The same document governs RWCMD, but its honours degrees are not classified by this algorithm. Section A4.9 sets out separate rules for BA Stage Management and Technical Theatre, BA Design for Performance, BA Acting, BMus Music, BMus Jazz, BA Music Theatre and the Graduate Diploma in Vocal Performance, each with its own marking scale and eligibility conditions. If you are at RWCMD, this page is not your algorithm.
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 USW’s own regulations:
- University of South Wales — Regulations for Taught Courses 2025/26 (v2.2), Academic Registry — read in full for classification: A2.7 the three classification methods, the requirement that core modules cannot be excluded, the half-point band table, the direct-entry rule at A2.7.5 and the unusual credit patterns at A2.7.3 and A2.7.4; A2.3.1 the undergraduate marking scale, whose thresholds differ from the classification thresholds by half a point; A2.5 progression and reassessment; A1.17.7 the five-day late submission cap; A1.26.6 the capping of resit module marks at the pass mark; A1.28 compensation, including that a compensated module keeps its own mark; and A1.6.12 the effect of recognised prior learning on classification.
- University of South Wales — undergraduate marking scale (A2.3.1, same document) — the percentage scale and its grade descriptors, recorded separately because it is the most likely thing to be mistaken for the classification thresholds.
Regulations change between intakes. Your own cohort’s handbook is always authoritative.