B.Eng @ Monash Grading Systems??

[VCEcupcakes]

Hi I'm currently studying engineering at monash and was kind of confused about the different grading systems when looking them up on the monash website. If I'm not mistaken, for engineering there are three types of grading calculations HWA, WAM, GPA. Which one actually matters the most when I finish my degree?

[b^3]

WAM=Weighted Average Mark.
First year units are weighted 0.5 and everything else is weighted 1. So that is first year units are worth half of other units. With the weightings taken into account it's basically a (weighted) average of the scores for all your units.

GPA=Grade Point Average, same weights as for WAM but instead goes on the grade level you get. So HD is 4.0, D is 3.0, C is 2.0 and so on. I guess the difference between this and WAM is that you might have a WAM greater than 80 but have a GPA that isn't 4.0 (that is not HD's in everything), as you could get 100 in one unit and 79 in another.

HWA=Honours Weighted Average.
Before this year, you would only graduate with honours for engineering if you averaged a certain score (used to be 75+ for first class, and something for the lower ranges). Now as they've changed the system and are giving everyone honours with their engineering degree, you'll still get honours, but have to average higher to get the same class of honours, so now it's 80+ for first class honours. This means that some people may graduate with honours in engineering as they are entitled to, but without any class of honours (if they get between 50 and the cut off for the lower grade honours). I should also note that the HWA only takes into account your engineering units. That is if you say are doing a double degree with science, if you average 82 overall but in your engineering units only average 75, you won't get first class honours. Also the years are weighted differently for HWA, basically first year is weighted 1, second year 2, third year untis 3 and fourth year units 4. For me I think it worked out to being something like 40% of the score goes on the final year units (because of the way I've got it structured with the double).

As for which one matters the most? For engineering, a high wam/gpa will get you past the first stage when applying for jobs, that is getting selected out of the piles of applications through automated processes. After that a lot more goes on what experience or vac work (which now isn't compulsory...) you've done, the Honours class might help a bit, but a lot of emphases goes on experience (for engineering anyways), from what we've heard so far.

So yeah, a high average will get you past the first application stage, but experience plays a large role after that.

Note: I haven't started applying for positions yet but this is what we've heard from older members and through various lecturers and such.

Here's something I made a while ago. It wasn't perfect at first and I can't remember if I updated it since, but it should give you an idea about it all (just ignore the unit handbook links for the wrong year).
WAM, GPA (4.0), HWA Calculator (MONASH)

EDIT: Since that's probably still confusing I'll just summarise it a bit.

WAM - Weighted Average Mark
First year unitsweighted: 0.5
Other years units weighted: 1
Takes into account unit marks, e.g. 75 82 e.t.c.

GPA - Grade Point Average
First year units weighted: 0.5
Other years units weighted: 1
Takes into account the grade bracket you fall into - HD (4.0), D (3.0) e.t.c.

HWA
Unique system for engineering to calculate which honours grade you fall into
First year units weighted: 1
Second year units weighted: 2
Third year units weighted: 3
Fourth year units weighted: 4
Takes into account unit marks.

For a standard 4 year engineering degree with 8 units in each year level this gives for the HWA:

First year
Second year
Third year
Fourth year

Remembering that the HWA is more latter year heavy where as for WAM and GPA your first few years count more than the above.

[VCEcupcakes]

thanks for clarifying
So from what you're saying the HWA doesn't seem to matter that much in the grand scheme of things then? In terms of GPA/WAM what constitutes as high?

[b^3]

thanks for clarifying
So from what you're saying the HWA doesn't seem to matter that much in the grand scheme of things then? In terms of GPA/WAM what constitutes as high?

Well I guess there's not really a concrete answer to it. Different employers look for different things, certain employees look at graduates from a certain unit first (since they've had good experiences with those in the past), while others will look at marks or experience first. It just depends really. I wouldn't say that HWA doesn't seem to matter, since it reflects your effort in the engineering part of the degree (well for double degrees anyway). If anything, keeping all three of them high will help. Keep in mind that if your WAM is high then your HWA is likely to be high too, (and consequently your GPA would probably be too). I'd say just focus on doing well in everything, as well as trying to go and get experience as well. If you try to maximise your units then the three gradings should be up there.

(Sorry for giving a round about answer, but sometimes it will go down to employer preference. It's best to just try and maximise all of your units, putting more work into the higher level units in that semester. e.g. doing three first year and one second year unit in a semester, to put a bit more effort into the second year unit while still trying to HD the others. Keeping in mind that for Engineering, experience is a big factor once your marks are on the above average end). Anyway, hope that helps.

[duhherro]

Also, on the general consensus, what gpa / WAM do employers usually look for?