marjo: @usetime and Ajanlekoko, i feel both of you. When i entered uni, i had no proper feedback/info. I and my friends mentality was to just do enough to get a 2.2. i rocked the whole first year ( entered thru A levels and so did only 3 years) just doing enough to get by. In my third year it dawned on me that i needed to move up into 2.1 ( i now had info/feedback that had gingered me up). i had a classmate (a married woman NCE holder) who kept preaching to me about getting good grades but i just didn't pay enough attention. I spent the last year swotting like crazy . My grades left me a 3 points short of 2.1. so i ended up with a 2.2. i still kick myself about it cos i have seen my missed opportunities with my 2 eyes. I'm still doing fine professionally but i still wonder how better it could have been with the 2.1.
Usetime has a point, unis need to properly induct students and give them real time feedback on their results/scores so they can make informed decisions. Some might argue this point that even if you have no feedback you are mean to study, that is another discussion. I had a friend who found out he would graduate with a 3rd class. rather than go home to face the wrath of his dad ( a lecturer ) he opted for an extra year to improve his grades. He didn't tell his dad he was in 3rd class oh just that he had a carry over. His dad wasn't happy but he finally got a 2.2 and all was well that ended well . You don't know how embarrassing it is to have a 3rd class agree till you start job hunting

in the school i attended, if u have an extra year surely ur grade will be reduced because ur G.P will be divided by 6 if u are on a 5yr course and by 5 if u are on a 4yr course. For instance, if the credit unit of ur courses from 1st yr to 5th yr is uniformly 2 credit unit and in each yr u offered 8 courses both 2nd & 3rd yr respectively. Then u had 5 Bs, 2 As & 1 D in 1st sem and in 2nd sem u had 4 Cs, 1 A, 2 Bs and 1 E all in first year. If u calculate it by 2 credit unit, u will get 4*2{5}, 5*2{2} & 2*2{1} for 1st sem and 3*2{4}, 5*2{1}, 4*2{2} & 1*2{1} for 2nd sem. Now if u multiply it out, u will get 40+20+4=64 for 1st sem and 24+10+16+2=52 for 2nd sem. Remember that we assumed the credit unit for the courses to be 2, so it means that, the total credit unit for each semester will be 8courses * 2 cr.unit=16. Therefore if u do it that way for 1st year, 2nd yr, 3rd yr, 4th yr and 5th yr and sum the whole multiplied grades{i.e A, B, C, D or E multiplied by 2} and the whole sum of the credit unit respectively, then divide the total of the sum of the multiplied grades of each semester by the total of the sumed credit units of each semester, u will discover that if u had an extra year because of one or two courses it will not increase ur G.P even when the extra yr is also included. N.B grades A=5, B=4, C=3, D=2, E=1 & F=0.

yamakuza:

thanks for the insight.

I'm assuming they gate crashed the tests/interviews cos most "good companies" advertise for 2.2 and above?

Actually in one of the cases (her first job after graduating).... She knew one of the guys in H.R and pleaded for her to just get a chance at the entry examination.. The connection she got was being put on the list of those who would sit for the test.. She said the truth was that the man told her to her face that he only did it with the expectation that she would write and fail.. Well, she didnt... Infact she aced the test with the highest recorded test score in the Chambers (one of the best Chambers in Nigeria) history (marked by four partners).. She got offered the job with minimal fuss.. NEXT (her second job), she got riding on the experience of her first job... Well she aced the test and is today employed working for a company that many graduates will kill to work in.. Including me..

The truth in her case was that she had a lot of personal drama going on in her life which affected her in school.. SO the grades she got were really gotten with minimal effort.. Today, shes on top of her game and a fast rising Lawyer.. And NO!! she dosent have an MSc..

^ Thanks!

yamakuza:

thanks for the insight.

I'm assuming they gate crashed the tests/interviews cos most "good companies" advertise for 2.2 and above?

Lol. Thank you jare, my brother. I don't suffer fools gladly, neither do I have the pateince for B.S. In fact, no really GOOD company would advertise for 2.2 (for entry level). Let's even forget the 'dream' Chevrons, Shells, and Mobils of this world; the likes of P & G, the Big Four auditing/professional services firms, and the other top notch companies these days advertise for at least 2.1 graduates that are not more than 25-26 years old. It is only government establishments and companies like Nigerian Breweries, First Bank et al that are 'considerate' enough to reduce the requirements to 2.2 level and 30 years of age. All things being equal, fair, and legit, a third class graduate has NO chance of even being shortlisted for any aptitude test in any company/organisation anywere worth working for in Nigeria. TRUTH!

But being the jungle that Nigeria is, connections, nepotism, sentiments, and primordial ties are always stronger and more effective than merit. That's why third class graduates may even get good jobs by hook or crook, while better qualified people (at least on paper) remain unemployed. Let's not kid ourselves.

And if I may add, for a 'bottom power' third class graduate that had to 'plead' with a HR top dog to allow her write a test, I would readily believe that she also 'pled' with her connecttons - with the fullest complement of her ASSets - to doctor the results of the so called test for her to get the job. Nonsense. The country is a joke.

Another Okija:

Actually in one of the cases (her first job after graduating).... She knew one of the guys in H.R and pleaded for her to just get a chance at the entry examination.. The connection she got was being put on the list of those who would sit for the test.. She said the truth was that the man told her to her face that he only did it with the expectation that she would write and fail.. Well, she didnt... Infact she aced the test with the highest recorded test score in the Chambers (one of the best Chambers in Nigeria) history (marked by four partners).. She got offered the job with minimal fuss.. NEXT (her second job), she got riding on the experience of her first job... Well she aced the test and is today employed working for a company that many graduates will kill to work in.. Including me..

The truth in her case was that she had a lot of personal drama going on in her life which affected her in school.. SO the grades she got were really gotten with minimal effort.. Today, shes on top of her game and a fast rising Lawyer.. And NO!! she dosent have an MSc..

What a testimony.
In other words . . . go out and get your own third class degree today!
Only in Nigeria jare.

The truth of the matter is that class or no class does not determine your success. I made a third class, its no body's fault. But if I don't succeed at what I'm doing, hold me responsible. I don't believe in motivational books, I'm self motivated.

usetime: failure?
hey common , failure teaches success so lets talk about it .
my theory is that information cause kneejerk reactions not the other way round.
lik we were taught to go to school and study hard and make good grades.
i'm thinking go to school,study, department processes your grades,
gives you feedback ,everyother action is a response to the feedback,
e.g in your case , you were lax until 400 level ,not because u were
intellectually deficient but because - u were getting NO feedback,
in the absense of feedback, u based your action on wrong information - ASSUMPTIONS , when you verified your assumptions with true feedback,
in 400 level the action took care of itself.
so i think, how many people got hit cuz of late,poor feedback.
if the student had recieved continouos feedback and still failed then
its a noda matter. but like i see nobody wants to talk about "failure"
. big deal. if the thing don happen ,e don happen, me i talk about it.
cuz i've learnt from it - e.g this pseudo theory of mine - information drives success cuz action or motivation its a reaction to information
not really to be focus of effort,the effort should be on getting the timely information-u notice first class and 2.1's got more frequent feedback?
anyway,see how this works in modern life,like sms alerts from banks
gives you up to date status of your account,
sms messages are more instant than snail mail,
ditto for email, what's the outcome - better feedback leads to
better action. in traditional universities the burden is on the student to
get the feedback , then those who are lax in this regard use ASSUMPTION which may be disastrous, but if the burden fell on the departments to generate the feedback for the students ,much like the banks do,ur car speedometer does,etc. i bet they'll be mor phenomal successes.
e.g sombody seing a 4.5 gpa in year 1 will strive to keep it or push for 4.8 or 5.0

i get your drift dude. Information drives success. But as ajanlekoko has rightly pointed out we should learn to take responsibilities for our lapses. You talked about real time feedback on performance from the school time, and u ascribe that to failure. I beg to disagree friend. U should know how to compute your g.p mate, thats firstly ur task not the schools responsibility. Chase the feedback. At worst most school would release the full session result at d end of d session. So why not take a pen and compute ur cgpa rather than wait for it to be done for u. Even after writing an exam, u should be able to roughly guess your result. No one can deny an unserious student a third class or pass grade in school, it's ur fault, move on, and learn from it.

I did a 4yr course(engineering physics) and I started having an inkling of my 3rd class in my last semester.I was already hovering between the last points of a 2.2 and the early points of a 3rd in the 3 preceeding semesters b4 d last.I did very well in my extra semester but that wouldn't even salvage d situation. Inasmuch as I solely take d blames and bear the brunt of the grade myself,I beleive the nature of the course added to it.cramming was the order of the day and that's my weakness.atleast I passed courses one doesn't need to cram very well.then maybe I got carried away by my very first result in school.I started with a 4.61 with very little effort and I swear till I left that ife,it seemed my GP was always being halved each semester(lol).I guess the nail in the coffin was a missing result.it was a part 3 course I had failed and when I did it again,I passed.my my results was already computed with an F.when d result wasn't found,they just threw in an E after I had troubled them.
It is true that our schools lack good feedback procedure to keep us on our toes but then that's why we need to calculate our CGPAs ourselves..now since 2009 ve been an the street and the reality is dawn on me.ve been doing one or 2 things like trainings,working with small firms etc and ve really garnered experience.ithe most pain ve had was when I got shortlisted for an MTN job.given experience ve had woking with their engineers,I had already passed the 2stages of interview where I was tagged "impressive".my case got to the HOUR and that was where it died;company policy on 3rd class.ve moved on but pple it hurt bad!I actually still had a chance of being employed cos of my experience but the irony is just that it was the connection that got me to where I could proove myself that still worked against me.cos there were many Pple for the job.politics played in and only the stronger ones made it.I even know of a fellow 3rd classer who got the job but am not complaining.
So this 3rd class thing is a really nig stigma no matter how intelligent u are

In my opinion, I think those that say there are 2:2 or 3rd class graduates that are better than 2:1 or 3rd graduates are just joking!
The fact that a 3rd class graduate passes an aptitude test and a first graduate fails is totally meaningless....though I agree it's possible.
To make a 2:1 or 1st class requires constant regular effort...it requires consistency!...though I realize some bribe their way through.
It's just like saying because Chelsea won the champions league, they are suddenly better than ManU...or Barca.
Some of the reasons why these 3rd class grads blast tests that guys with higher grades fail is cause they jack for them like hell because they realize it's a rare opportunity! While a 1st class guy might Faulk cause of pride or he probably thinks the job is below him anyway, why disturb himself by jacking....
And the idea these 1st class or 2:1 people have that they must do masters first before anything....when the third class guy is scrambling for any and every opportunity to gain work experience....which is what counts in the end.

Why I would rather employ a 1st class or 2:1 grad is that I know s/he is consistent!
All in all, I think time and chance happens to them all..... Whether na 2:1 and above or 2:2 and below... Your way na your way! With God on your side and with a better attitude to work and diligence, it won't matter.....plus, a degree is nothing more than a degree..... See how @Seun nairaland de flex na.....and him say hin no get degree....that is to say... NA GOD!

Its true that the feedback\ information ssytem of our unis is poor but the fact remains that the students are the ones to blame. Most students use the first 3yrs partying and joining cult groups. I had a friend when we were in 100 and 200 l he had vry gud. Grades but wen he joined a cult group he had a vry bad result in 3 and 4l. If u take ur studies seriously wit info or nt u will hv a gud grade in skul

This is one of the best topics I've ever seen on NL. Like I've always tell people, the moment you start having Bs and Cs with the latter more than the former, you better pray you make it to 2:1 cos you hardly can. The funniest part is that some people see Bs and Cs as 'good grades'. I cried the first time I had C cos I know the implication (many students don't).

So many students just don't know the rudiments of CGPA and how it works. E.g If you have the choice to pick between a 2unit or 3unit elective course, pick the 2unit. If you are not compelled to take an elective, don't take it cos you are not better off taking it even if you have an A.

Having said that, students should take a keen interest in their grades cum CGPA. Many of them can work on Excel yet they wont use it to calculate their own GP. Using the 'what if' analysis on Excel, you can actually know what grades you need to get in your courses to make a particular grade point even before writing your exam. The same can be done for all your 4 years the moment you know the courses you'll be offering and their units. E.g if u have a GP of less than 3.0 in any level, you can never make a 1st class again even if you have 5.0 in the remaining levels (which is pratically impossible).

I thank God for my school. We usually have our results before resuming the new semester.

@gblasting my 2 kobo

Thank God we are now getting the gist that the school should not be wholly blamed for poor or delayed feedback. You as the student should understand how the cgpa works and calculate it yourself. I ran a five year course, and by the time i got to 3rd year, i extrapolated all the A's in my 4th and 5th year, and i knew instantly that first class no go reach me. From thence, i just maintained my level. Man cant kill himself!

in nigeria too....one can stil go for a pgd n head for masters...... there iz alwys a way out a dark tunnel my friends........

AjanleKoko:

What a testimony.
In other words . . . go out and get your own third class degree today!
Only in Nigeria jare.

Not only in Nigeria. people with third class are getting jobs abroad.Thats why there is always a stage called interview. Some companies asked for 2.1 too but most never care about your degree. You will have to go through phone interview, assessment test and interview with HR to evaluate you.

hmmnnnn. my case is different, dem dey pursue me from village that time, there was this lady that lay her hand on my head since then I hardly comprehend even 1+1 i became dumb but i still dey go school sha with relatively low grade like pass but my final year was a different case after deliverance i score grades i never score in my life but what i suspect was that nobody cares what happen to you suffer severe headache as if they hit hammer and nail on the head but i thank God i eventually made 2.2 and now my health is stable and happy after service God loves me sha.

1st Class or 3rd Class means nothing to me provided you can prove your worth. Graduating with a 3rd class does not mean you are a dullard and you are doomed. However, a 1st Class degree holder is not always the best horse in a race. In reality the 3rd class might be well berth in success to the chagrin of a 1st class graduate. Here's the thing, there is so much emphasis on paper appreciation in Nigeria by the govt against the reality that makes an individual. Come to think of it, can our 1st class graduates compete independently with their counter out of the shores of Nigeria? If they cannot, then something is fundamentally wrong with the system. In developed countries most of the movers of the economy are non-professors and college drop-outs. So what are we sayng? I have met 3rd class graduates who have distinguished themselves and proved beyond doubt that their certificates don't make them. Let's stop the stigma and encourage reality.

pro01: And if I may add, for a 'bottom power' third class graduate that had to 'plead' with a HR top dog to allow her write a test, I would readily believe that she also 'pled' with her connecttons - with the fullest complement of her ASSets - to doctor the results of the so called test for her to get the job. Nonsense. The country is a joke.

..... u jst dnt believe in how God does His tins....

i find it funny that people blame the poor information system in schools for scoring low grades. Every student should know how the cpga system works and if you dont, i question why you are in a uni in the first place.
Right from my first yr i could calculate all the grades i would need to get a first class so i basically knew which courses to concentrate on and which ones i could slack off a bit.

Any course that was 3-4 credits and above i made sure i left absolutely no stone unturned when it came to studying... it must be an A no matter what it took. For the 1 credit practical courses... i knew i could get away with a B at worst so no point wasting valuable party/chic time studying hard for those.

The big problem for a lot of people is that they also are not aware how badly carry-overs affect them. In my school, a 3-credit course automatically becomes a 6-credit course once you have to repeat it. Even if you got an A the following yr in that course, you would basically be credited with only 3 of 6 credits! So you knew quite well that anything more than 1 carry-over in a 2 credit course and above meant saying goodbye to a 1st class cgpa.

Didnt need posted grades at all... just followed my own personal cgpa sheet i created in yr 1 and ended up with a 1st class. I basically knew my own cgpa well before the results were posted.

^ feedback as per missing results. Guess none of your results got missing.

#All things being equal, i assume we are considering only serious students in our sample space.

Nosyke tell them.........2.2 And 3rd clas are our grade in Political Science! Im In Political Science Unilorin Wah Bout Yu??

davidylan:
i find it funny that people blame the poor information system in schools for scoring low grades. Every student should know how the cpga system works and if you dont, i question why you are in a uni in the first place.
Right from my first yr i could calculate all the grades i would need to get a first class so i basically knew which courses to concentrate on and which ones i could slack off a bit.

Any course that was 3-4 credits and above i made sure i left absolutely no stone unturned when it came to studying... it must be an A no matter what it took. For the 1 credit practical courses... i knew i could get away with a B at worst so no point wasting valuable party/chic time studying hard for those.

The big problem for a lot of people is that they also are not aware how badly carry-overs affect them. In my school, a 3-credit course automatically becomes a 6-credit course once you have to repeat it. Even if you got an A the following yr in that course, you would basically be credited with only 3 of 6 credits! So you knew quite well that anything more than 1 carry-over in a 2 credit course and above meant saying goodbye to a 1st class cgpa.

Didnt need posted grades at all... just followed my own personal cgpa sheet i created in yr 1 and ended up with a 1st class. I basically knew my own cgpa well before the results were posted.

so good grades are really a proof of expended effort ,rather than intellectual acuity.
It's a function of input in labour hours.

This is d very reason most people are (and will continue to be) turned of by the world's misguided metrics of intellectual assessment.
It's outdated and gamable.

Unfortunately, many doors won't open to those who don't play by these artifcial rules.

Read somewhere that google is dumping the cgpa metric in its hiring policy.
Thats a smart company.
They want to really really go beyond the numbers to see the talent bf them.
Other companies,shud follow suit.


The smart ones are those who wud consistently make more optimal choices given a range of differing alternatives and at a minimal cost.
This is what companies shud look out for ,not just paper certs.
Some come with sterling credentials: first class,2.1. Others come wrapped in poor credentials..
But that dont change their
abilities.


besides,the average company is run by intellectual midgets. And drones and midgets love routine and rules over innovation.

asalimpo:


so good grades are really a proof of expended effort ,rather than intellectual acuity.
It's a function of input in labour hours.

This is d very reason most people are (and will continue to be) turned of by the world's misguided metrics of intellectual assessment.
It's outdated and gamable.

Unfortunately, many doors won't open to those who don't play by these artifcial rules.

Read somewhere that google is dumping the cgpa metric in its hiring policy.
Thats a smart company.
They want to really really go beyond the numbers to see the talent bf them.
Other companies,shud follow suit.


The smart ones are those who wud consistently make more optimal choices given a range of differing alternatives and at a minimal cost.
This is what companies shud look out for ,not just paper certs.
Some come with sterling credentials: first class,2.1. Others come wrapped in poor credentials..
But that dont change their
abilities.


besides,the average company is run by intellectual midgets. And drones and midgets love routine and rules over innovation.

I think you have it completely upside down. No matter how intelligent you are, you need a measure of hard work to pass - hard work and discipline is required to wake up from bed to go to class, study on your own, maintain class notes etc. Intelligence does not just fall from the sky neither are you able to waltz through exams by sleeping all day. Lets be blunt, many people with 3rd class grades put in far more hardwork than many people with 1st class degrees... so if this was all about "hard labor" then why are they still failing?

This idea that google is dumping the cgpa system is nonsense... a way for poor students with terrible grades make themselves feel good. More often than not, people with first class degrees are the ones who end up as doctors, lawyers, professors and scientists... people with third class... well you know the rest. Stop fooling yourselves.

Depot:
Yes,i graduated wit 3rd c & i strongly believe that d paper will not determine my future.Its just a mere paper.

Hmmm u must b in for a long thing. So 2yrs after this ur post what is d story?

davidylan:


I think you have it completely upside down. No matter how intelligent you are, you need a measure of hard work to pass - hard work and discipline is required to wake up from bed to go to class, study on your own, maintain class notes etc. Intelligence does not just fall from the sky neither are you able to waltz through exams by sleeping all day. Lets be blunt, many people with 3rd class grades put in far more hardwork than many people with 1st class degrees... so if this was all about "hard labor" then why are they still failing?

This idea that google is dumping the cgpa system is nonsense... a way for poor students with terrible grades make themselves feel good. More often than not, people with first class degrees are the ones who end up as doctors, lawyers, professors and scientists... people with third class... well you know the rest. Stop fooling yourselves.

What about people with no grades at all? I get the fact that people have to graduate with good grades as it shows that their hard work has finally paid off but to write off people with third class is wrong.I understand that Nigeria is using all this first-class and 2.1 stuff to screen people but in "developed countries", most organization don't based their employment on degrees. Everyone gets interviewed and you are judged on that interview alone. If they have two or more candidates that are equally good, they can now arranged a second stage interview and then maybe screen candidates out based to their educational background. Most organizations that i have worked have people who got jobs through apprenticeship.they don't have a university degree (just high school or college drop-outs) and they are very good in their field. IT, Mechanical Engineers and even air-traffic controllers.

I feel writing off people who have third class or no grades at all is not right.I know a lot of people (especially Nigerians) who have good grades but don't have good jobs and i know 5 people with third class and 3 guys who don't have a degree who...well you know the rest.

davidylan:


I think you have it completely upside down. No matter how intelligent you are, you need a measure of hard work to pass - hard work and discipline is required to wake up from bed to go to class, study on your own, maintain class notes etc. Intelligence does not just fall from the sky neither are you able to waltz through exams by sleeping all day. Lets be blunt, many people with 3rd class grades put in far more hardwork than many people with 1st class degrees... so if this was all about "hard labor" then why are they still failing?

This idea that google is dumping the cgpa system is nonsense... a way for poor students with terrible grades make themselves feel good. More often than not, people with first class degrees are the ones who end up as doctors, lawyers, professors and scientists... people with third class... well you know the rest. Stop fooling yourselves.

I disagree strongly with wat u say.
The segregation of people by som irrelevant metric shud b declared a crime and banned.

When som1 has a 1st class or 2.1 wat do they immediately think?
- they think, theyre eligible to apply for the best jobs out there?
They aim on d best jobs. The search for the best jobs. And the job and opportunity brokers give them preference perpetuating a sick trend.
Thts y a 1st c/2.1 is likely to hav a more successful career than others - because theyre bound to receive preferential treatmnt.
The issue is the basis for the biase isnt even logical yet the elemnt of discrimination is suppose to b intellectual/mental.
It takes revolutionaries to uverhaul systems but in the opprtunity brokerage case we need revolutionaries.

1st c/2.1 is going to b more discriminatory about jobs? Y? because they believe they deserve better.
Y cant a pass/third c even hav such hope? because He,has been eternally branded a failure, who created this brandg system?him?
No? Society. By collusion with thoughless policy makers.

Unwitingly, by the same hand, society brands certain people superStars for life.
You and I know,people are changelings, so a permanent
endorsemnt is false at d least.


The issue,i'm stressing goes far beyond tryng to console or put down any group. Its about d illogicity of d classifcation system.
Society loves to create packages and labels for itself ,to create and interprete meaning, but its human classifcation system - and the creation of barriers to maintain exclusivity by those in so called higher systems is artifcial and in d case of intellectual classifcation ,
as an attestation of fitness for intellectual purpose ,ruinous.

Think about it.
The creation of not-too-advanced societies, needs the spreading and irrigation of false ideologies like this brain classifcation system by the lazy prideful society that maintains it.

This classifcation system is causg worthy prospects to be denied opprtunities of buildg better careers and in d process buildg better nations. Its also entrenchg a falsehood and leadg to extensive manipulation of the academic system (gamers-as students and tin gods-lecturers).

Smart thinkg organisations are already taking steps to buck d trend. Google is one of them.
Som universities are catchg on too and choosing to assess candidates more holistcally and more emperically rather thn going by a past snapshot.