Honours

Honours in Law provides a mark of distinction and is awarded to UNSW Law graduates of the highest calibre. Honours is a recognition both in Australia and internationally of the quality of Law graduates.

To be awarded Honours in Law, students are not required to complete an additional year. Honours in Law is based on academic excellence throughout the degree. There are three criteria relevant for awarding Honours:

• Honours Weighted Average Mark (WAM)
  
  From Semester 1 2010, Honours WAM is calculated using the WAM from core courses as 60% of the Honours WAM and the WAM from elective courses as 40% of Honours WAM.
  Example:
  
  

  Course	WAM (%)
  Core	75.15
  Elective	76.80
  Law Honours (75.15 X 60%) + (76.80 x 40%)	75.81

• Satisfactory performance in written research
  To demonstrate satisfactory performance in written research, a student must complete one long substantial piece (i.e. 6uoc research thesis) or three shorter substantial pieces of research essay (i.e. 3000 words or more) in their program that is awarded a credit (65%) or more. 

  IMPORTANT: Please remember to collect and keep original copies of research papers that are eligible for Honours Nomination.

• Not been found guilty of plagiarism or serious misconduct on more than one occasion  and not more than one failure in the law program

Honours will be awarded in the LLB and JD in the following classes: Honours Class 1; Honours Class 2, Division 1; and Honours Class 2, Division 2.

Historical Information regarding Honours WAM cut-offs

Following is the WAM cut-off history for previous graduating cohorts:

* Starting Semester 1 2010, Honours cut-off will be calculated based on Honours WAM, NOT Law WAM

Only students in their final semester of study who wish to be considered for the award of Honours should apply to Law Student Services by completing the Honours nomination form available here.