I completely agree. While it’s true that some were affected by COVID more than others, the grade bump didn’t at all acknowledge this. In fact I think it’s fair to say that the second semester policy of bumping 47% up to a pass more fairly helped out those who were most affected by COVID, as it is clear that those who failed papers this year probably had some struggle with online learning - whether it be physical access to resources or simply not being able to cope with online learning as oppose to in-person learning.

You also didn’t mention something which has annoyed me all year, which is that while a grade bump in the scheme of things isn’t that bad for the individual, it is bad for those whose relative grades matter, such as those doing competitive entry courses in first year i.e. Law, medicine, engineering etc. I did engineering and got A+ on all my papers in first semester before the grade bump, whereas many students simply didn’t try as hard and got A’s (which was relatively easy given the 24 hour exams). The Uni’s policy meant that despite doing better than my peers, only the final bumped grade was to be taken, meaning an awful lot of people ended up with A+, further pushing up the GPA requirements to get into the very competitive specialisations such as Engsci, Software or Mechatronics, which in turn increased the pressure for all students to do well in semester two.

Another problem arose from the grade bump which is that while most courses in engineering are done in either semester one or semester two, one of the courses (ENGGEN115) was taken in either semester. I took 115 in semester two due to my conjoint degree, meaning whilst the average grade in semester one for the course was A/A+, the average for my cohort was B. It was clear that some people for this reason wanted a grade bump, but I suggested that the grades be scaled to match the grades from first semester in order to make it more fair (this also wouldn’t be as controversial as your suggestion of comparing our cohort to previous years, as it would be comparing two cohorts both affected by COVID). I ended up working my ass off and getting an A, but this didn’t matter since most others breezed through the course with an A+ in first semester. Did they do as well as me? No. Did they know the course content more or study as hard as I did? No. So was it fair? Absolutely not. Yet I’m still grateful for not having a grade bump in semester two, as I ended up with two A+ this semester which I would not want to have watered down by another grade bump.

Another anecdotal issue I faced and observed is the dichotomy between students after semester one, particularly amongst us first year students. There seemed to be two types of people - the naïve and complacent students vs students with obvious imposter-syndrome. I was affected by the latter, meaning I didn’t believe I deserved the grades I received in semester one. I tried hard and got all A+‘s, but I believed that the only reason for this was due to the 24 hour exams and the grade bump, which led to me questioning my own intelligence and abilities when it came to starting semester two. While this manifested itself as intense studying in semester two in order to somehow prove to myself that I was good enough and I could still get decent grades, it led to problems with my mental health and severe burn out - both of which I didn’t encounter in semester one. On the other side was the complacent, naïve student. The students that, due to not really having fully experienced Uni before, believed that getting good grades was as easy as it was in semester one and that the grades they received accurately depicted their ability. This led to a large number of students not really trying all that hard in semester two, and only really getting a dose of reality when timed, in-person tests showed them that Uni was not as easy as semester one made it out to be. Again, this led to people who ended up either just giving up and getting terrible grades in semester two (although they would have received better grades, had they been more informed about how Uni works), or cramming in the second half of the semester and having mental breakdown after mental breakdown. This was heavily prevalent amongst those doing competitive degrees such as medicine or engineering (the CST is while other shit-show for another discussion and I have immense empathy for all first year med student who had to go through it.)

So what am I really saying here? I’m saying that while the grade bump (and perhaps the 24 hour tests and exams) were done to alleviate the stresses placed upon students due to COVID, it simply exacerbated mental health problems in semester two and led to even more controversy and disappointment. More people will be negatively impacted by the actions the Uni imposed in semester one than positively impacted, and I applaud the OP for bringing light to this issue. I really hope then Uni can learn from it’s mistakes and do a better job, if the situation is to arise again.