Examinations and Grades

Course Examinations

Final Examination Schedule

The required work for each course--such as examinations, papers, written and oral reports, and class participation--is prescribed solely by the instructor and the department. Most courses include a midterm and a final examination. The midterm is usually scheduled during a regular class period designated by the instructor. All work must be completed within the term unless the student has been granted the mark of INC (see Grades, below).

Final examinations are scheduled by the Registrar in accordance with the University schedule of final examinations. All final examinations will be held during the official University examination period (see Calendar).

Final examinations are scheduled in all courses except certain conversation, composition, laboratory, research, and seminar courses; however, it is the prerogative of the instructors of such courses to request that a final examination be scheduled if he or she wishes. Final examinations will be two, three, or four consecutive hours in length depending on the point value of the course, the nature of its material, and the requirements of the instructor and the department.

It is your responsibility to determine your individual examination schedule and to be in the examination room promptly at the specified hour; unauthorized absence from or tardiness at a final examination will automatically result in a failing grade.

Grades

Grading System

The grading system is as follows:

• A excellent (90-100)
• B good (80-89.9)
• C fair (70-79.9)
• D poor but passing (60-69.9)
• F failure (the grade of F is a final grade and is not subject to reexamination)

Plus and minus grades are also used, except with D.

Grade Point Averages

Grade point averages are computed on the following scale:

• When the Registrar calculates the grade point average, courses are weighted according to the number of credit points.
• Courses that cannot be credited toward any degree are not included in the grade point average.
• Each student must maintain at least a C (2.0) average.
• In the case of repeated courses, only the grade earned for the first attempt will be figured into the grade point average.
• Except in the case of a grade issued to replace an INC authorized by the Admissions and Student Affairs Office, all grades are based exclusively on the work completed by students during the term a course is offered, i.e., supplementary or revised work completed after a course has ended may not become the basis of a change of grade except in the case of an authorized INC.

Other Grade Designations

• P (passed):
  Indicates a course taken and passed for examination credit, but without indication of quality.
  
  Course instructors award the appropriate letter grade, which is converted by the Office of the Registrar into a mark of P (for grades A through D) or F.
  
  Elementary and intermediate foreign language courses cannot be taken on a Pass/Fail basis. Noncredit foreign language students may take selected courses for R credit.
  
  Visiting students should not request the mark of P without first obtaining permission from the appropriate official at their home institution.
  
  Students for whom the mark of P is academically acceptable may indicate this choice on their registration forms or on subsequent change-of-program applications.
  
  See Calendar for the last day to exercise the Pass/Fail option.
  
  
• UW (unofficial withdrawal):
  Automatically assigned when a student discontinues attendance in a course without formally submitting an approved change-of-program form to the Registrar. Although marks of UW are not counted as part of a student’s overall academic average, they do indicate that the student is not making satisfactory academic progress. Thus, students who receive marks of UW may be placed on academic warning or probation, or they may be asked to terminate their studies.
  
  The mark of UW is permanent and cannot be changed by subsequent completion of course work (see INC, below). You may repeat a course in which you received a UW, but the grade for the repeated course will not count in your grade point average.
  
  
• INC (incomplete):
  Granted only with the permission of the Admissions and Student Affairs Office in consultation with the course instructor. The purpose of the mark of INC is to permit postponement of some portion of the written work of the course when incapacitating illness (as certified by Health and Related Services), serious family emergency, or other comparably grave situations require such postponement. The major portion of the course requirements must have been completed if a student is to be eligible for the mark of INC.
  
  If you wish to receive the mark of INC, you must submit a petition in writing to the Admissions and Student Affairs Office before the last class day of the term; no petition will be accepted after that date (see Calendar).
  
  Students who are granted the mark of INC must agree with the course instructor on a terminal date for completion of the work required for the course. The mark of INC will be removed from the transcript when fall-term course work is completed by March 30 of the following spring term and when spring- and summer-term course work is completed by October 30 of the following fall term. When course work is submitted after those dates, the mark of INC will remain on the transcript; the grade will be recorded beside it.
  
  The mark of INC becomes a permanent mark when the course work is not completed by the assigned deadline, which may be no later than the last class day of the following term.
  
  In extraordinary instances a maximum one-term extension may be granted by the Admissions and Student Affairs Office. Students with three or more marks of INC will not be permitted to register for the following term. An INC may not be removed by auditing or otherwise attending the course a second time.
  
  
• R (registered for the course; no qualitative grade assigned):
  This option is only available to Noncredit Foreign Language Program students and Postgraduate Nondegree Students in lecture courses, with the permission of the course instructor. Seminars, credit language courses, credit writing courses, and laboratory science courses may not be taken for the mark of R, even with the permission of the course instructor.
  
  A student who wishes to take a course for R credit is not required to take the final examination but must fulfill any other requirements established by the course instructor.

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