2.0 Course Evaluation

2.1 Credit

To obtain credit in a course, students must meet all the course requirements for attendance, term work and examinations.

2.2 The Course Outline

The instructor is required to provide to the students of each course a formal statement called the course outline. The course outline must be given to the students before the last date for course changes, in a document distributed in class or posted at the class Web site.

The course outline must specify all the elements that will contribute to the final grade, and the weighting of each element.

The course outline may specify requirements that must be satisfied for the student to be eligible to write the final examination or the deferral of the final examination. If no such conditions are explicitly mentioned in the course outline, all students are eligible to write the final examination or, where circumstances warrant, to apply to the Registrar's Office for deferral of the final examination.

The course outline may also specify the requirements imposed on those auditing a course, including attendance, to successfully complete the audit.

2.3 Standing in Courses/Grading System

Standing in a course is determined by the course instructor, subject to the approval of the Faculty Dean. Standing in courses will be shown by alphabetical grades. The system of grades used, with corresponding grade points, is as follows:

Grade points indicated above are for courses with 1.0 credit value. Where the course credit is greater or less than one credit, the grade points are adjusted proportionately.

The following percentage equivalents apply to all final grades at Carleton.

Other grades and notations in current use by the University are as follows:

The following are interim notations that are, after due process, replaced with one of the grades above.

The following notations are no longer in use by the University:

2.4 Examination Regulations

Students writing tests and examinations should be aware of the rules governing examination conduct. These rules include those listed in the Instructional Offences section of this Calendar as well as those printed on the back cover of official examination booklets. Students may inform themselves of these latter rules at the Web address www.carleton.ca/senate.

It may be necessary to schedule mid-year and final examinations during the day for classes held in the evening and vice versa or on Saturday.

All tests and examinations, except laboratory examinations, oral and slide tests and other particular tests, are subject to the following rules:

1. Tests or examinations given in class may not exceed the time allotted for the class;
2. Final examinations in the summer term will be held in official examination periods;
3. In courses numbered below the 2000-level, mid-year and final examinations will be held in the official examination periods;
4. In courses numbered below the 4000-level, no tests or examinations may be held during the last two weeks of fall, winter or summer terms, or between the end of classes in a term and the beginning of formally scheduled examinations;
5. In courses below the 4000-level, take-home examinations may not be assigned before the last day of classes and are due on the last day of the official examination period;
6. In courses at the 4000-level, arrangements for examinations outside the official examination period are at the instructor's discretion but must be announced at least three weeks in advance.

2.5 Deferred Final Examinations

Students who are unable to write a final examination because of illness or other circumstances beyond their control may apply to write a deferred examination. Such applications must:

1. be made in writing to the Registrar's Office no later than five working days after the original final examination or the due date of the take-home examination; and
2. be fully supported in cases of illness by a medical certificate dated no later than one working day after the examination or by appropriate documents in other cases. Medical documents must specify the date of the onset of the illness, the (expected) date of recovery, and the extent to which the student was/is incapacitated during the time of the examination.

The granting of a deferral also requires that the student has performed satisfactorily in the course according to the evaluation scheme established in the Course Outline, excluding the final examination for which deferral privileges are requested. This may include,among other conditions, a failure to (i) achieve a minimum score in the course before the final examination; (ii) attend a minimum number of classes; (iii) successfully complete a specific task (e.g. term paper, critical report, group project, computer or other assignment); (iv) complete laboratory work; (v) successfully complete one or more midterms; or (vi) meet other reasonable conditions of successful performance.

Aegrotat standing may be considered for applicants for deferred finals but will be granted only if a substantial proportion of the term work has been completed and is of high quality.

Students normally will not be given a deferral of a deferred examination. Students granted a deferred final examination who are then unable to write the deferred final examination due to properly documented personal or medical conditions will receive one of the notations Aegrotat (Aeg), Did Not Complete (DNC) or the grade F for the course as assigned by the appropriate appeal committee. The notation Aeg denotes a pass standing and is assigned only in cases where a substantial proportion of the term work has been completed and is at a high academic standard. The notation DNC denotes that the course has been neither passed nor failed and is assigned when satisfactory performance has been achieved during the term. In all other cases, the grade F is assigned. (see Standing in Courses, Section 2.3).

Students who have obtained approval for a deferred examination in an ITV course will not have access to tapes for the course after the end of the academic term of the original course.

Deferred final examinations are usually scheduled in the time period approved by Senate, unless alternate arrangements are made wi th the i nstructor. Normally, deferred final examinations are held in February for fall term courses, in June for fall/winter and winter term courses and in October for summer term courses, except where such a delay will delay graduation.

The deferred examination schedule is altered for certain mathematics, physics and statistics courses: MATH 0007, MATH 0107, MATH 1005, MATH 1007, MATH 1107, MATH 1009, MATH 1119, MATH 2004, MATH 2007, MATH 2008, MATH 2107, PHYS 1001, PHYS 1002, PHYS 1007, PHYS 1008, STAT 2507, STAT 2509, STAT 2605. For these courses, when the course is offered again the next term, the deferred final examinations are held in April for fall term courses, in December for summer term courses and, with the other deferred examinations, in June for winter term courses.

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