At most UK universities, the highest grade that you can get is a 1st and to get a 1st you 'only' have to get 70% in tests and assessments. In fact getting anything over 80% can be extremely difficult depending on your subject or the type of assessment. Universities do this in part to allow students who really put in the extra hours to be acknowledged.
However, it quickly became apparent to me that the number of hours put into a piece of work did not directly correlate to the score received. I am personally under the impression that it looks a lot more like the exponential learning curve.
The key feature of this graph is that at the beginning putting in a few hours work reaps a huge reward, but the more work you put in the harder it is to see progress. I'm also of the impression that, being an exponential curve, it is virtually impossible to obtain 100%.
So, with all of this in mind, I decided to stop aiming for 100% on tests. I decided instead to aim for 80% because that felt like a safe 1st. And I know if I got 80% on every test I would extremely happy. (That is not to say that I do always achieve 80%, but that it is what I aim for).
But 'Why?' you ask. 'Why wouldn't you put in those extra hours to get the best grade you possibly can?'
Well this is firstly because, especially at university, as you move along that learning curve, the revision becomes more daunting and unpleasant. I can get 80% in a test by referring to my class notes and practice questions alone but to get a score higher than that, I would have to do additional research, read academic papers and ancient textbooks. And all of that sounds really icky and slimy to me.
This is because achieving 80% requires you to know the bulk of the information but achieving 100% requires you to know every specific detail and intricate fact because you can never know which ones you will be asked to recall in your exam.
So I decided not to! 80% is an extremely respectable grade at university so I decided not to put myself in any unnecessary pain. It has also helped me to be less perfectionist and to know when to stop studying for tests.
Secondly, I realised how much more I could achieve with the time I was saving! If we add some numbers to this very crude graph, you can see just how much time you can save.
80% can be achieved in half the time of 99%.
Personally, I have other interests as well as my degree. And I realised just how much I could achieve if I stopped at 80%. I then have that saved time to put into my social media, sustainability and my other hobbies. My goal in life is not to be a perfect engineer but to be an excellent engineer who also has a full and well rounded life.
Having time for my hobbies and my other priorities makes me so much happier than 100% on one test would.
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