What is an honours degree?

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I've been really confused as to what an honours degree is. What does it actually mean when it says "BSc Hons"?

I always was told it meant you didn't fail anything throughout your degree. So all exams, coursework etc was at least a pass.

My 2 year degree was 135 credits per year,270 total. It 100% was not 360 credits.

This, I have an honours degree from 2007 and I never did a dissertation.

https://www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/prospective-students/courses/postgraduate/conversion-llb#accordion801092-header801129

this one is 300 credits and says it makes up the missing 60 by “giving credit for prior learning”.

It sort of does. You get either an honours degree 1st, 2:1, 2:2, 3rd or a pass. And a pass is an ordinary degree without honours.

Where is a 2 year course a full undergraduate degree?

But surely she didn’t graduate with honours because she didn’t complete 360 points. Not specifically because she didn’t do a dissertation. She completed 300 points so it was a pass. Not an honours pass of 1st, 2:1, 2:2, 3rd

Well yes - so your total becomes 360. APEL-ing credits isn’t unusual.

This shows the typical structure: https://www.bil.ac.uk/courses/business/ba-business-management-accelerated/#details

But they aren’t on your. HEAR statement. It’s just a behind the scenes justification.

its just an example of how it can work to only study 270 credits and get an honours degree.

(and the degree was over normal term times of the university, though some 2 year degrees do extra terms -ie birbeck or Arden which are more aimed at working mature students)

She got a 2.2. Dunno about the rest. It hasn't held her back at all. I thought she was mad at the time (and lazy) but what did I know?

Same. I got a 2:1 BSC Hons no dissertation

If you get any of the numbers, you’ve got a degree with eg 2.1 Honours. If you get lower than a third, but still pass, you get an ordinary degree.

You don’t get numbered grades with an ordinary degree, so she must have honours? I have an ordinary degree, I couldn’t face doing to dissertation so dropped out at the end of my third year before going into 4th, it’s just a BA no grade, I think some Scottish ones (but not mine) offer distinction etc but no numbered grades for ordinary degrees.

Well, I did shit-all work for three years then a frenzy of cramming in the last six weeks and came out with a 2.1 Hons from Oxford which I later paid £10 or something to convert to an MA. Still not quite sure how. I did do a dissertation (had 18 months but spent 4 weeks on it) but that has come in and out of the history degree requirements over the years and I was unlucky to have needed to hand one in.

As @titchy says, many degree programmes give credit for prior learning. There are benchmarks and criteria published about this.

Once more, I invite enquiring posters to READ the QAA framework. Then read your university’s regulations.

Does anyone not do an honours degree nowadays?

I think it’s to do with the number of credits, and I also thought a dissertation was standard.

You want to be disgruntled.

Cambridge grads get a masters a year after graduation. It's a throwback to when you would graduate and then teach.

It's like the BSc is better then a BA - well Cambridge graduates all get a BA. Oxford used to do the same.

Mate, it was a joke. Hence the 'winky' face. Thankfully the poster I was replying to got it.

It's not an actual master's though right?

Yes it is.

A Masters Degree is a Masters Degree if the university says it is, in the same as as a pound sterling is a pound sterling if the Bank of England says it is, and if the Bank of England issues a coin you don't like, you don't have tge right to claim it's not real.

Scottish unis have MAs they aren't actually master's. It's just called a master's of arts.

Well, they do typically involve an extra year of study - 4 years instead of 3.

Because they usually start at 17. It's still and undergraduate degree and equivalent to a bachelor's here.

In academia, and amongst those who know these things (eg graduate recruiters) anyone claiming their Oxon or Cantab MA is an actual Masters degree would be laughed at. We all know that all you have to do is pay £10 x number of years after graduation.