St Andrews may have moved from the Oxbridge system to the modular system now more common in UK universities. Edinburgh appears to be similar. At Oxford, you typically write one short tutorial essay a week, but it doesn’t count for your final result. Sometimes one or two extended essays may be substituted for exam papers, but these are different from tutorial essays and you get more time. Your final result will be based on your final exams only (sometimes incorporating some extended essays). Other Uk universities have moved to a system that is a bit different, including results from some essays along the way, but your final result will still be almost exclusively based on your one or two main subjects, and will be classified first, upper second, lower second, third, occasionally pass, not by grade point average. This is still quite different from the US; although most UK universities do have the reputation of being quite generous graders at the moment; you will probably end up with a pretty good degree if you do a reasonable amount of work.