Something
Emporium

First-years at Auckland, listen up

Not sure if this is old news for you, but here's something you guys should know.

The qualifications restructuring taking place in the University of Auckland will come into effect next year. The biggest transition will be the readjustment of point values assigned to each paper. Instead of your average paper being worth 2 points, it will now be worth 15. Additionally, instead of a standard full-time courseload being 14 points per year (7 papers), it will now be 120 (8 papers). Papers will have slightly lighter workloads than at present.

For those students who are caught in the transitional stage (including me, but this particularly applies to first-years), the number of points you have passed under the old system will be recalculated to equivalent values under the new system, and you will carry on.

There is a bit of a loophole in calculation, so I'll explain it here, using two hypothetical first-years in a 3-year, 42-point degree (e.g. a non-conjoint BA, BCom, BSc etc)

Hypothetical F. Year took 14 points (seven papers) in his first year. 14 old points are recalculated to 120 new points. Hypothetical now has 240 new points (16 papers) remaining to take in his degree.

Diligent F. Year took 16 points (eight papers) in his first year. 16 old points are recalculated to 137.14 new points. Diligent now has 222.86 new points (14.85 papers) remaining to take in his degree, however the powers-that-be in the transition stage decided to round it down to 14 papers.

Summary for first-years:
If you will have passed 7 papers by the end of this year, you will need to take a further 16 to get your degree.
If you will have passed 8 papers by the end of this year, you will need to take a further 14 to get your degree.
Therefore it could well be in your interest, if you are having a slack 3-paper semester at the moment, to enrol for another paper while you still can.

robbie

Comments

And hopefully the change to standardised points will finally get my Massey transcript accepted.

15 points for a paper, eh? Isn't the standard at other universities 12.5? Is Auckland moving to their own version of standardised points (a case of UoA arrogance - our papers are better than your ones) or am I mistaken?
Dominic
To answer my own question:

There's no such thing as a standard points system. A standard paper seems to be worth:

Auckland (old): 2
Otago: 6
Massey: 12.5
Auckland (new): 15
and, showing an inferiority complex
Victoria: 18-24

I'm going to feel much happier paying my fees now that I'm getting two digit point values for my papers. In fact, while they're at it, I'd feel so much better if they just went the way of pinball machines and multiplied the point values by say, 1000.

"To graduate you must accumulate 1,000,000 points with a triple multi-ball bonus."
Dominic
Event better still, the papers should include pinball sound effects.
funkymunky
That might keep me awake.
Justin
They've shifted the goalposts a bit for me when it comes to Music.

Here were the old calculations for the Music half of my conjoint:

Points completed end of 2005: 24
Points required: 32
2006 papers: Music 216 (2), 310 (3), 311 (3)
Points completed end of 2006: 32

Here are the new calculations:

Old points completed end of 2005: 24
New points equivalent: 205.71
New points required: 270
2006 papers: Music 216 (15), 310 (20), 311 (20)
Points completed end of 2006: 260.71
Points still required: 9.29

For 270-point conjoint components, they're going to allow up to 9 points grace under the term "transition points". Therefore my carefully laid plans have, in theory, been scuttled by 0.29 new points.

In practice I'm going to e-mail Music School with my best John McEnroe impersonation and they won't be wangs about it.