Bachelor of Arts

===United Kingdom and Ireland===
{{Main|British undergraduate degree classification}}

In the United Kingdom (excluding Scotland) and Ireland, the first degree course normally lasts three years, but nomenclature varies: 19th-century and later universities usually distinguish between arts and sciences subjects by awarding either a BA or BSc degree. However, some older or [[ancient universities]], such as [[University of Oxford|Oxford]], [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]],{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} and [[Trinity College Dublin]] traditionally award BAs to undergraduates having completed the final examinations, e.g., Part II [[Tripos]] (Cambridge), Final Honour Schools (Oxford), Moderatorship (Dublin), in most subjects including the sciences. Some new [[plate glass university|plate glass universities]] established in the 1960s, such as [[University of York|York]] and [[Lancaster University|Lancaster]], originally followed the practice of Oxford and Cambridge by awarding BAs in all subjects, but have since changed to awarding BSc degrees in science subjects. At Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin the degree of [[Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin)|MA]] can be claimed, usually twenty-one terms after [[matriculation]], without any further study. For many centuries, the bachelor's degree was an intermediate step and was awarded for much of the work carried out in later times at secondary schools. The names of the final secondary school exams in France and Spain (and increasingly in the UK—the [[International Baccalaureate]]) come from this: ''le [[Baccalauréat]]'' and ''el Bachillerato'', respectively.

The [[ancient universities of Scotland]] award a [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|Master of Arts]] degree to humanities or arts graduates, but a BSc to science graduates. This course takes four years for an honours degree and three for an ordinary. In Scotland, one can opt to take an ordinary degree, which ranks below a third class honours degree (for example, BA with distinction, merit or pass).

A Bachelor of Arts is entitled to the [[post-nominal letters]] BA for an ordinary or pass degree and BA (Hons) for an honours degree. Students who completed an honours BA sometimes style themselves by '(Hon)' or '(Hons)' after the degree abbreviation in parentheses. An honours degree is always awarded in one of four classes, depending upon the marks gained in the final assessments and examinations. {{anchor|degrees}}The top students are awarded a first-class degree, followed by an upper second-class degree (usually referred to as a 2:1), a lower second-class degree (usually referred to as a 2:2), and those with the lowest marks gain a third-class degree. An ordinary or unclassified degree (which does not give the graduate the right to add '(Hons)') may be awarded if a student has completed the full honours degree course but has not reached the overall standard sufficient to merit a third-class honours degree.