Editing Norrington Table (section)

== History==

Contrary to popular belief, the Norrington Table was not created in 1962 by [[Arthur Lionel Pugh Norrington|Sir Arthur Norrington]], who was then president of [[Trinity College, Oxford|Trinity College]].  Norrington did not invent the idea of producing a table of the results of [[Colleges of the University of Oxford|Oxford colleges]]. Rather, he suggested a refinement to the weightings given to results in a existing table. Norrington's scoring system was suggested in 1963 and abandoned after 1985, owing to changes in the Oxford examination system.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/exams|title=Examinations and assessments &#124; University of Oxford|website=www.ox.ac.uk}}</ref>

On 5 September 1963, Norrington had a letter published in ''[[The Times]]'', in which he objected to the table that their correspondent had published two days earlier (3 September 1963, p.&nbsp;12). ''The Times'' had previously published a table of Oxford colleges' results in 1962 (29 August 1962, p.&nbsp;5).

Norrington wrote: "Your Correspondent has analysed the final examination results this year and gives an order of merit, among the first colleges, based on the percentage of Firsts and Seconds.  This, in effect, is the same as basing it on the percentage of Thirds, and gives it no extra credit for Firsts.  College A, for example, that gets 20 Firsts, 60 Seconds, and 20 Thirds scores less by this method than College B that gets no Firsts, 81 Seconds and 19 Thirds, but surely A has, in reality, done much better than B.  A better result, I submit, is obtained by a points system in which a First scores more than a second and a Second more than a Third.  If you make the points 3, 2, and 1 respectively and calculate what percentage of its "possible" each college has secured, you will find that College A, with 200 points out of 300, has scored 66.67 per cent, and B, with 181, only 60 per cent.  This method of calculation will be found to promote Magdalen and Merton, which come surprisingly low in your Correspondent's order."  (5 September 1963, p.&nbsp;13)

In 1986, when Oxford for the first time split Second Class honours into Upper Seconds and Lower Seconds, ''The Times'' unilaterally adopted the [[Tompkins Table]], which gives more weight to a First class degree: five points for a First, three for a 2.1, two for a 2.2, and one for a Third. This system was devised in 1981 by Peter Tompkins, of [[Birkenhead]], to classify the results of [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] colleges, and a table compiled by Tompkins on this basis was published on 28 August by ''The Times'' (28 Aug 1981, p.&nbsp;10) alongside a table using the Norrington scoring system, which had been compiled by the ''[[Cambridge Evening News]]''. The Tompkins Table became the preferred rating for [[Colleges of the University of Cambridge|Cambridge colleges]] and has prevailed for Oxford colleges as well since 1986.

=== Recent rankings ===
Below is the Norrington Table for the [[academic year]]s 2021/22 and 2019/20 along with mean values for the period 2006 to 2019.<ref name="ox.ac.uk" />
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!College/<br />Hall
!2022 Score<br />%
!2020 Score<br />%
!Mean Score<br />(2006–2019)<br />%
|-
|[[Merton College, Oxford|Merton]]
|80.9
|81.0
|75.60
|-
|[[Lincoln College, Oxford|Lincoln]]
|80.7
|79.5
|71.06
|-
|[[Harris Manchester College, Oxford|Harris Manchester]]
|77.7
|77.4
|65.90
|-
|[[The Queen's College, Oxford|Queen's]]
|77.7
|81.7
|69.90
|-
|[[St Peter's College, Oxford|St Peter's]]
|77.6
|81.5
|67.94
|-
|[[St Catherine's College, Oxford|St Catherine's]]
|77.2
|82.5
|70.48
|-
|[[Wadham College, Oxford|Wadham]]
|76.8
|80.9
|71.91
|-
|[[St John's College, Oxford|St John's]]
|76.5
|80.2
|74.49
|-
|[[Somerville College, Oxford|Somerville]]
|76.4
|72.8
|68.27
|-
|[[Pembroke College, Oxford|Pembroke]]
|75.8
|78.0
|69.03
|-
|[[Keble College, Oxford|Keble]]
|75.8
|76.6
|69.65
|-
|[[Magdalen College, Oxford|Magdalen]]
|75.7
|77.4
|75.42
|-
|[[Mansfield College, Oxford|Mansfield]]
|75.6
|75.5
|68.44
|-
|[[New College, Oxford|New College]]
|75.5
|83.5
|74.65
|-
|[[Brasenose College, Oxford|Brasenose]]
|74.9
|80.4
|70.81
|-
|[[Worcester College, Oxford|Worcester]]
|74.4
|78.8
|71.52
|-
|[[Oriel College, Oxford|Oriel]]
|74.3
|79.8
|69.54
|-
|[[University College, Oxford|University]]
|74.1
|78.9
|70.85
|-
|[[St Hilda's College, Oxford|St Hilda's]]
|73.9
|78.3
|67.99
|-
|[[Balliol College, Oxford|Balliol]]
|73.7
|78.6
|72.62
|-
|[[Corpus Christi College, Oxford|Corpus Christi]]
|73.6
|77.0
|71.00
|-
|[[St Anne's College, Oxford|St Anne's]]
|72.8
|77.0
|69.51
|-
|[[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]]
|72.5
|75.6
|72.02
|-
|[[St Edmund Hall, Oxford|St Edmund Hall]]
|71.8
|76.5
|68.08
|-
|[[St Benet's Hall, Oxford|St Benet's Hall]]
|71.7
|69.5
|62.76
|-
|[[St Hugh's College, Oxford|St Hugh's]]
|71.2
|78.8
|68.55
|-
|[[Hertford College, Oxford|Hertford]]
|70.6
|79.2
|70.39
|-
|[[Trinity College, Oxford|Trinity]]
|70.3
|79.1
|71.30
|-
|[[Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford|Lady Margaret Hall]]
|69.7
|75.7
|68.11
|-
|[[Jesus College, Oxford|Jesus]]
|68.5
|78.0
|71.26
|-
|[[Exeter College, Oxford|Exeter]]
|68.0
|75.8
|69.09
|-
|[[Wycliffe Hall, Oxford|Wycliffe Hall]]
|60.0
|63.6
|67.43
|-
|[[Regent's Park College, Oxford|Regent's Park]]
|68.9
|74.3
|64.13
|-
|[[St Stephen's House, Oxford|St Stephen's House]]
|50.0
|80.0
|59.46
|-
|}

=== Past rankings ===
Norrington Table rankings from 2006 to 2019 by college, ordered by mean rank, and omitting all [[Permanent private hall|PPHs]] since they take very few undergraduates,  with the exception of [[Regent's_Park_College,_Oxford|Regent's Park]]:<ref name="ox.ac.uk">{{cite web|url=http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/undergraduate-degree-classifications|title=Undergraduate Degree Classifications {{!}} University of Oxford|website=www.ox.ac.uk|accessdate=23 November 2020}}</ref>

[[File:Norrington Table rankings 2006-2019.png]]