Faculty of Arts Policy on the Award of Marks: Advice to Students
Why are my marks disappointing?
From 'Getting your head around the BA' by Kate Chanock
If you've had a piece of work returned to you and you were pleased with the result, terrific - if not, here are a couple of thoughts to help you climb back on the horse. First of all, you're not alone. Across Australia, a majority of students get lower marks in their first year at uni than they got in Year 12. One reason is that you're being measured against a different cohort: not all the people who finish high school, but all the people who've done well and gone on to uni. This means, unhappily, that you can get worse marks without doing worse work - it's just a mathematical reality.
The other reason, however is one that you can do more about. People take a while to get their heads around the things they're asked to do at uni because THESE ARE NOT THE SAME THINGS AS BEFORE. Uni is different, and that's fine as long as we all recognize it. You need to do your best to figure out how it's different, and your tutors need to do their best to tell you. But bear in mind that it's ages since some tutors were at school, and school was different then - so most of the figuring is up to you and it can take all year to do it.
But that's okay because you've got all year! The decisions other people make about your future are not based on your first year marks, but your second and third year ones. Prospective employers, or academics who select you for further study, will look at your transcript (the record of your marks for each subject, each semester) if that's important to their selection process. But it's the later year marks that normally count in their decisions, and invitations to do Honours are based on these. This doesn't mean you can afford to waste your first year, but it means that you can use it to learn how to do as well as you can next year, without beating yourself up over mistakes on the way.
That's if you're passing. If you're not, lose the parties or see an academic learning skills adviser, whichever is more necessary (you will be the judge of that!). You may need to call on the experience of people who've been around for longer and know how the place works.
To view the Faculty Grading System:
http://www.unimelb.edu.au/HB/facs/ARTS-S13666.html#S100265