CAO Midpoints

Constab2

Reference the above does anyone know what the difference is between points requirement & mid point ,if applying for a course which points requirement do you base your choice on,any info would be great.

**Timbuk2**

The points requirement is the points that the *last* student who got into the course obtained, so you need to get this or above to get into the course.

The mid points are just a measure of the centre of the spread of points. The average would be just the average of every student's points - if a mid/median points is reported, it is the points that the half-way student who was accepted into the course got (sorting the students from highest to lowest points).

E.g. if a course has points requirement 510, and accepts 50 people, this means that the 50th person got 510. If the median points are 540, it'd mean that the 25th student got 540 - it's not a hugely useful number, it's the points requirement / minimum points that really matter!

Look at the CAO sticky at the top of the forum, it will answer a lot of questions you have about how the CAO system works!

Constab2

Thanks very much just cleared up a massive amount of confusion between my son & I,he got some very bad info from his career guidance today.Very relieved.

MathsManiac

**Timbuk2** wrote: »

- it's not a hugely useful number, it's the points requirement / minimum points that really matter!

I agree that the median number of points is not very relevant for entry purposes, but it is quite useful in another way: it tells you something about the calibre of student in the class. The standards that lecturers expect of students is often influenced - consciously or otherwise - by the calibre of the students that typically do the course. If you barely scrape into a course in which the median of those who got in is much higher than the minimum entry requirement, you might be more likely to find yourself struggling to keep up.

partyatmygaff

MathsManiac wrote: »

I agree that the median number of points is not very relevant for entry purposes, but it is quite useful in another way: it tells you something about the calibre of student in the class. The standards that lecturers expect of students is often influenced - consciously or otherwise - by the calibre of the students that typically do the course. If you barely scrape into a course in which the median of those who got in is much higher than the minimum entry requirement, you might be more likely to find yourself struggling to keep up.

Hmm, that's not always the case though is it?

IIRC, you're doing Maths. Say your entry requirements were 500 points and the median was 550. It wouldn't really make sense to say someone who got 560 points with a B3 in Maths is a better Maths student than someone who barely got 500 points but got an A1 in Maths, would it?

MathsManiac

Of course. But I never suggested that this number gave you a complete picture of all the various skills of all the people in the class. I simply said that it tells you something about the calibre of students in the class.