MSc courses do begin with a taught course and we work on dissertation over the summer. However I think they want us to choose a topic and a supervisor at the start of the course.

yeah I call it a dissertation and so do most universities I have come across lol

oh ok. I think I understand. I will apply after my first semester results so basically the offer will be based on my potential?

So then I will have to take a year out? Or do they only care about my module marks and only use them to work out if I will meet the offer? Is that not a big risk though as someone may completely fail the dissertation?

Ok, so if I get a conditional offer for my second masters, they wont know if I have met the terms because my final grade will be published after the start date of the new course because of my dissertation.

I completely agree about the fancy degree stuff. But my argument for doing another masters degree would be that my first masters does not go Into as much depth or is not rigorous. For example my first masters covers all aspects of applied and pure maths but does not go into much depth and the modules reflect this I.e my first masters course offers 3 pure maths modules but Cambridge or imperial offer a separate masters for pure maths.