At the beginning of each course, the instructor will announce the distribution of marking weight among term work and final examination, and the evaluation procedures to be used.
In grading, the faculty will not lose sight of the student as a whole person, but the emphasis in grading will be on academic achievement.
The grading system used at the University is the Alberta Common Grading Scale, also known as the Alpha 4.00 Grading Scale. Grades have the following meanings:
Grade | Interpretation | Grade Points |
|---|---|---|
A+ | 4.00 | |
A | Excellent | 4.00 |
A- | 3.70 | |
B+ | 3.30 | |
B | Good | 3.00 |
B- | 2.70 | |
C+ | 2.30 | |
C | Satisfactory | 2.00 |
C- | 1.70 | |
D+ | Poor | 1.30 |
D | Minimal Pass | 1.00 |
F | Failure | 0.00 |
FI | Failure, academic misconduct | 0.00 |
AU | Audit | |
I | Incomplete | |
M | Full Year Course, No Mid-term Grade | |
N | Non-credit | |
PA/FA | Pass/Fail* | |
W | Withdraw from Course |
*See Pass/Fail Courses in the Course Description section.
Because of the nature of the Alpha 4.00 system, there can be no uniform university-wide conversion scale. The relationship between raw (%) scores and the resultant grade will depend on the nature of the course, and the instructor's assessment of the level of this class compared to similar classes that he/she has taught. An instructor may provide students with his/her own conversion scale that he/she has found useful as a guideline for distributing grades over the Alpha 4.00 scale.
A student may attend classes in a given course without receiving credit under the following conditions.
• Permission of the course instructor, or alternately the faculty dean, must be obtained and submitted to the Registration and Student Finance Office on the “Permission to Audit” form. Note that obtaining instructor permission does not guarantee registration in that course.
• Priority is given to students registered for credit. Should a course be full and have a waitlist, auditors will be removed and may be added to the course only at the add/drop deadline unless a course cap increase is possible.
• A student may audit a course or course component that is by its nature practical or applied, except for applied music, but in such cases the audit fee shall be the same as the normal tuition fee. Instructors may also impose other conditions on student participation in practical or applied components for safety reasons.
• A student who audits a course must attend at least 80% of the class sessions of that course to receive the audit notation on a transcript unless specific, written alternative arrangements are arrived at between the instructor and the student.
• An auditing student, other than an Inclusion Alberta student, will not complete any evaluative components, so as to allow them to take a course for credit at a later date. This shall not apply to students from Inclusion Alberta who may audit courses and who also often complete modified assignments as appropriate.
• A grade of AU is assigned for successful completion of the audit requirements. "Audit notation denied" appears for students who have not completed requirements. AW is assigned for students who withdraw from an audited course.
• Audited courses will not be considered as meeting pre- or co-requisites for any course or program at The King's University.
• A student may not audit any course which he or she has previously attempted for credit or audit.
The last day for changing a course from audit to credit or withdrawing from an audited course for each term can be found in the Academic Schedule.
If a student has made prior arrangements to complete course work after the end of the term, a professor may award an “Incomplete”. An incomplete will not be given for missing an examination unless there were circumstances that were judged to be extenuating by both the appropriate Dean and the Registrar. The student has up to four weeks after the end of classes to make up incomplete work. If the work is not completed by that time, a grade of zero will be awarded for the incomplete work and calculated into the final grade for the course. Incomplete agreement forms are available in the Registration and Student Finance Office. Incomplete grades will not normally be used if the student has more than 40% of the course work to complete, except allowing for a stand-alone final or assignment where there have been accepted extenuating circumstances by the Dean and Registrar. Students with more than 40% of the course remaining, or more than a stand-alone final or assignment as previously described should Withdraw from the course before the last day to Withdraw rather than Fail.
If a student decides not to complete a course, he or she may withdraw from the course before the Withdrawal date (see Academic Schedule).
A student can withdraw from a course by withdrawing in the Registration and Student Finance Office in person or online using their OnLine Registry Services. A student wishing to withdraw completely from the University must fill out a “Notification of Withdrawal” form available in the Registration and Student Finance Office and surrender their student identification card.
The student's Statement of Results and transcript will note “W” for the withdrawn course. The “W” is not computed in the GPA and would not normally carry an academic penalty. Students who have more than one term with significant repeated W's may be required to Withdraw. The student should consult the Fees section to determine if he or she qualifies for a refund. If a student stops attending classes but does not complete a “Course Withdrawal” form, his or her statement of results and transcript will note a grade for the course based on the work done relative to the requirements of the course.
A medical withdrawal request may be made by the last day of classes in extraordinary cases in which serious illness prevents a student from continuing his or her classes or from withdrawing before the last day to withdraw specified in the academic schedule, and incompletes or other arrangements with the instructors are not possible. Medical withdrawals are normally for all courses in which the student is registered for the term.
Medical withdrawals after the withdrawal deadline that involve a pre-existing medical condition must present novel circumstances in order to be considered for late withdrawal. Under most situations, known pre-existing medical conditions do not warrant approval of a medical withdrawal.
Applicants wishing to return to studies will be required to complete the necessary supporting documentation (including the appropriate form) and submit them to the Registration and Student Finance Office. In order to return to studies in subsequent terms, an evaluation will be made by the Registrar, upon receipt of medical documentation stating that the student is cleared (deemed medically fit) to resume studies.
The grading policies of the University are based on the assumption that normally the classroom instructor is best able to evaluate the performance of the student. However, the University has the responsibility of ensuring that proper grading practices and procedures are safeguarded, and the grade appeal process is a way of balancing responsibilities.
If a student believes that their grade for an assignment or test, or final mark for a course is not right, the student should speak to the course instructor within 30 days of receiving the grade or mark in question if possible, indicating what seems wrong.
If consultation with the instructor is not possible or fails to resolve the disagreement, the student may, within 30 days of consulting with the instructor, or within 30 days of receiving the grade if such consultation is not possible, present a written appeal to the Registrar and professor's Dean. The appeal should state the mark or grade in question, the grounds for the appeal and the remedy sought. Acceptable grounds are such things as a procedural error, failure to consider all relevant factors, an error in marking or computing a mark, bias or discrimination, etc.
If there appear to be sufficient grounds for the appeal, the Registrar and the professor's Dean will, within 30 days of the appeal, reach a decision. They shall consult with the instructor in question. In the case of an assignment or exam grade, in making a decision the Registrar and Dean may arrange for another qualified academic to re-grade the assignment or exam. In the case of a final course mark, the Registrar and Dean will review the mark distribution and computation with the instructor to see that proper procedures were used in assigning the mark before making a decision on the appeal. (If the instructor is the Dean, the Registrar and the Vice President Academic and Research shall serve in this capacity. In this event, the decision of the Vice President Academic and Research shall be final.)
If the procedure suggests that the student's grade or mark should be changed, the Registrar will arrange for the change. Whether the appeal is upheld or denied, the Registrar will inform the student, the instructor and the Dean of the change in writing.
If the student believes that there are grounds for further appeal because their first appeal decision did not consider all of the relevant information, the student may, within 30 days of the Registrar and Dean's decision, present a written appeal to the Vice President Academic and Research. The appeal should state the mark or grade in question, the grounds for the appeal, the remedy sought, and the reason the remedy was not sufficient in their opinion based on specific information that was not considered.
If there appears to be sufficient grounds for further appeal, the Vice President Academic and Research will consult with the instructor, the Registrar, and the Dean in question. The Vice President Academic and Research will review the resolution that was given and determine what course of action to take. The Vice President Academic and Research's decision shall be final.