Last year Katy circulated a table with the minimum number of species you should collect. But they're pretty low numbers in most cases, compared to what you could find with a bit of effort. And she does say that "if you collect this minimum number (and they're all good quality specimens, correctly identified and labelled) then you should expect a mark of around 50%."
Ah but I know you can do better than this. In fact she says "for a first class collection you should be aiming for at least double the minimum number." I think that would be a pretty tall order for some groups (like ferns - and I know firsts have been awarded for far fewer than 16) but for others (like trees and mosses) then it should be readily doable.
My advice is to get stuck in and see how many you can get, which isn't such a big deal if you can do a little bit here and there over the term. But it's still about quality really, not quantity, as if you submit badly preserved, wrongly identified specimens it will rather count against you. But you can do much better than these minimums. And I'd like to hope that you'll want to do better anyway, because you'll become interested in your subject (maybe even a little bit obsessed... talking to your Business Student housemates when they're trying to eat their tea... stopping every few yards when you're walking anywhere so everyone gets fed up... using the fancy terminology in everyday conversation. That sort of thing).
These are the minimums suggested:
Seaweeds: 12 (I'm not sure why this is a higher number but probably because there are many UK species)
Trees in winter: 10
Lichens: 10
Mosses: 10
Fungi: 10
Beetles and other insects: 8
Spiders: 8
Molluscs: 8
Grasses: 8 (easy in the summer but I'd say nice specimens are virtually impossible over winter)
Ferns: 8
Asteraceae (daisy family): 8
Birds / mammals: 6
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