-
Finished your HSC? Check out our University Discussion, Non-School forums or help out next year's HSC students! -
YOU can help the next generation of students in the community! Share your trial papers and notes on our Notes & Resources page
Calculating WAM (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Ragerunner
- Start date
Year is not a crucial factor because whilst later year subjects are more difficult, you are assumed to have been better prepared for them than for earlier subjects, so in relative terms all is good.
An example of this relative stability is inflation - if your wages rise by 10% but inflation is 10% then in real terms nothing has changed. Similarly for WAM your ability has increased over time.
I suspect that in CSE they use the other because for the purposes they use it for it's more important that you know the later year stuff, so they don't really care if you've forgotten whatever you did in Comp 1A back in first year if you can still do all the stuff from third year.
An example of this relative stability is inflation - if your wages rise by 10% but inflation is 10% then in real terms nothing has changed. Similarly for WAM your ability has increased over time.
I suspect that in CSE they use the other because for the purposes they use it for it's more important that you know the later year stuff, so they don't really care if you've forgotten whatever you did in Comp 1A back in first year if you can still do all the stuff from third year.
gman03
Active Member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2004
- Messages
- 1,283
- Gender
- Male
- HSC
- 2003
in EE&T, it is the year of the course, not the year of the program matters..
for example, COMP1021 has a weighting of 1X, but we do them in 2nd year semester one.
Likewise I would probably doing some MATH2XXX course during my 3rd year, but will have a weighting of 2X, not three times..
for example, COMP1021 has a weighting of 1X, but we do them in 2nd year semester one.
Likewise I would probably doing some MATH2XXX course during my 3rd year, but will have a weighting of 2X, not three times..
Last edited:
UTS does use the WAM to calculate the final grade for your course, if applicable (such as Pass, Credit or Distinction degree). Most of the time, your first year core subjects and any elective subjects are excluded (but its different for each course!).
So for my old course (BSc in IT), only the 2nd and 3rd year CORE IT subjects would be included in the WAM calculation to work out the final grade for the course.
As for my new course, the Computing side is the same as above. As for Business, I'm not too sure, but I believe its only your major subjects and not the first year core subjects, but I'll have to check on that.
I'll have to check about the "year" thing at UTS in terms of WAM, but I don't think they would use it at UTS, considering my above example. The core IT subjects are spread across a number of different IT courses, and a particular subject could be done in either 3rd, 4th, 5th or even 6th year depending on your course. Same goes for my Accounting major. I can pretty much do the subjects in any order provided I meet the prerequisites and there is not much stopping me in terms of that so people are doing different major subjects who are in the same major each year, so it would unfair to use a "year" thing in that sense since some people could be penalised for doing harder subjects in an earlier year, or vice versa.
So for my old course (BSc in IT), only the 2nd and 3rd year CORE IT subjects would be included in the WAM calculation to work out the final grade for the course.
As for my new course, the Computing side is the same as above. As for Business, I'm not too sure, but I believe its only your major subjects and not the first year core subjects, but I'll have to check on that.
I'll have to check about the "year" thing at UTS in terms of WAM, but I don't think they would use it at UTS, considering my above example. The core IT subjects are spread across a number of different IT courses, and a particular subject could be done in either 3rd, 4th, 5th or even 6th year depending on your course. Same goes for my Accounting major. I can pretty much do the subjects in any order provided I meet the prerequisites and there is not much stopping me in terms of that so people are doing different major subjects who are in the same major each year, so it would unfair to use a "year" thing in that sense since some people could be penalised for doing harder subjects in an earlier year, or vice versa.
Okiez well using the formula with the "years" I got a WAM of 80.125 for my first 2 years of subjects.
Using the formula that I stated without the years, which is the same as above, but no years, I got a WAM of 80.5. It doesn't seem to make much of a difference to me.
Using the formula that I stated without the years, which is the same as above, but no years, I got a WAM of 80.5. It doesn't seem to make much of a difference to me.
Lexicographer
Retired 13 May 2006
The term "year" is misleading here. When I used it I was referring to the stage at which the sunbject is considered, so Chemistry 2 is taught in stage two of a normal physical sciences degree (ie second semester of first year). Disregarding for a moment the fact that it's a first year core subject, its weighting would be 1 (even though people taking it as part of a second major may have this subject in third year) because of its difficulty and position on the course ladder.
Anyway, I can see now what the WAM really refers to. It's like a GPA that is calculated with your raw subject marks rather than your GPA band ranks, allowing for a more accurate final award calculation.
Anyway, I can see now what the WAM really refers to. It's like a GPA that is calculated with your raw subject marks rather than your GPA band ranks, allowing for a more accurate final award calculation.
Alrighty well with my example, there are many courses which have majors in them, such as Business. You can't really then classify subjects into their "difficulty and position on the course ladder" though.
Lexicographer
Retired 13 May 2006
You can't do it directly from WAM to GPA, you need to go back to your academic transcript and see what your individual subject marks were.