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Your grading options for Winter Term 2020

April 29, 2020 — 

Congratulations on completing Winter Term 2020!  This has been a challenging time, and because of that, the UM has formulated a number of options for students whose grades may have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 situation.

Here are some FAQs about this policy, and whether you should utilize it.

 

What are my grading options?
Students have four grading options for courses completed in the Winter Term 2020 and courses that spanned both the Fall and Winter Terms 2019-2020.

  • You can keep your letter grades as they are.  
  • You can keep your letter grade but have it excluded from your GPA.
  • If you receive a letter grade that you aren’t happy with, as long as it isn’t an F, you can opt to have a “P” show up on your transcript instead. A number of faculties have created quick reference information to help you understand the different grading options, you can read about those here.
  • You can Voluntary Withdraw (VW) from the course.

 

Do I have to do anything?

 NO!  These options are in place for students who may have been negatively impacted by COVID-19.  If you are satisfied with your grades, you don’t have to do anything. 

 

 What should I do if I have an F*?

Most likely you should VW from the course; however, you need to consider what the impact on your course load would be.  For example, if you need to be a full time student, and you VW a course, you may drop below the minimum to qualify as full-time.  This can impact study permits and various sources of funding. 

If you need to maintain a specific course load, and the VW would drop you below that, then you should not VW, otherwise, a VW is a good option.  

 

 How will my choice affect getting into my target faculty?

The simplest answer is that it probably won’t have an effect.  All letter grades will be used in your GPA for admission.  Excluding a grade will not make you more likely to be admitted.

Taking a Pass Grade is only useful in very specific situations. In general, a P* does not work for pre-requisites and admission.  

 

Who can I talk to about my options?

You should talk to an academic advisor before you change your transcript in this way. They will be able to help you consider all of the pros and cons of this decision.

 

 How do I make my selection?

 The process is very easy.  Log into UM Learn (please note that UM Learn will be unavailable from 5:30 p.m. on Friday, May 8 to 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 9) and follow the steps   Directions are provided along the way.  The default choice will be to do nothing and keep your grade.  You need to click on which choice you want, and then submit.  

Remember, if you don’t want to make any changes, you don’t have to go to UM Learn at all.

  • You can log in as many times as you want
  • You can make your selection for each course on different days, so you have time to think about your choice
  • You don’t have to do it all at once, but once submit a selection, you can’t change it in UM Learn.

 

 What if I make a mistake?

Email an academic advisor in your home faculty.  Be sure to include the following information:

  • Student Number
  • Student Name
  • Course Info – Course title, section, CRN (e.g., ECON 1010 A04 56432)
  • Original Grade (grade earned in the course)

Select one of these choices:

    • I want to keep my original grade and include it in my CGPA
    • I want to keep my original grade, but exclude it from my CGPA
    • I want to VW from the course
    • I want to change my grade to P*

Once your faculty office has this information, they will request the change be made through the Registrar’s Office.  The change may take several days or longer, for you to see the update on Aurora Student. 

Please do not send the same request to any other UM staff member, or contact the Registrar’s Office directly.  This will result in a delay to the processing of the change that you have requested.

 

You will have until May 10, 2020 to decide which grading option is best for you.  Learn more about each of these options here.  Learn all about the supports for students available on the student COVID-19 webpage.

 

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2 comments on “Your grading options for Winter Term 2020

  1. Nicole iordanov

    Good afternoon this weekend unfortunately I wasn’t able to do the option for the changing the grade I was wondering if there was still a possibility to do it today

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