This amended grading policy only applies to spring 2020 semester-length and mini-4 classes.

No, these changes are for the spring 2020 semester only and were made due to the impact of COVID-19.

Undergraduates

Faculty members will continue to record letter grades. For undergraduates who select the pass/no pass final grade, any grade of D or above will be reflected on your record as a P, and any classes for which an R has been assigned will be recorded as an N grade. Courses which for which you do not elect a pass/no pass final grade will still reflect the letter grade assigned.

Graduate Students

For graduate students, courses for which you elect the pass/no pass final grade will have grades assigned per the college’s policy. Students in CIT and SCS will receive S grades instead of P grades. Graduate students will have their grades converted accordingly. S grades are the equivalent of a P grade, and vice versa.

You can see your grades in Student Information Online (SIO). Under the Academic Info tab, choose Grades and QPA. After they have been entered by your course instructors, your grades will be visible.

No. Because mini-3 courses were completed before remote instruction began, the pass/no pass special election period is not available for these courses. This option is only available for spring 2020 semester-length and mini-4 courses.

You will be able to elect the pass/no pass final grade for seven days, typically starting the day after the final grade deadline for the course. You should receive reminder e-mails as this time approaches.

The chart below indicates the dates and times of the Special Pass/No Pass Election Periods for each campus/teaching location/program. All times indicated below are Pittsburgh time (Eastern Time/ET). 

We have added functionality through the SIO Registration screen for this semester to make the process easier and quicker. You will not need to submit Pass/No Pass Approval forms for your spring 2020 semester-length or mini-4 courses.

No. You may log into SIO multiple times as you make your decisions about each course. However, remember that once you have chosen to switch a course to pass/no pass, the decision is irrevocable.

Any student with a missing or incomplete grade once final grades are submitted will have to wait until the letter grade is assigned to make their course election to pass/no pass. 

Once a letter grade has been assigned, you will be notified of the grade change. The University Registrar's Office will contact you with further instructions about making a pass/no pass election in this case. 

If you are anticipating a change of grade, you must decide whether or not to make a pass/no pass election based on the existing grade. Should a changed final grade come in, you will be contacted about the potential to make a new decision based upon the new grade assignment.

No. The choice to change a course to the pass/no pass final grade is irrevocable and may not be changed at a later date. No exceptions will be made.

No, these changes to the pass/no pass policy pertain only to classes which are not already graded as pass/no pass by default.

Yes. The course will count toward all appropriate degree requirements, as if you had taken it for a letter grade.

Courses taken as pass/no pass are not factored into the quality point average, nor are they used in the determination of honors. They do not contribute to your total quality points for the semester, although they do count toward your total units carried for the semester.

Important: Every course you convert to pass/no pass may impact both your semester QPA and/or your cumulative QPA permanently, depending on the value of the letter grade you are converting. If you have questions or concerns about converting your grades, please speak to your advisor.

Semester QPA is used to determine your on-going academic performance and actions per semester, while the cumulative QPA calculates all of your semester QPAs (undergraduate vs graduate level) to demonstrate performance at the end of the program.

From the Undergraduate Catalog: units earned for a course multiplied by the Quality Point Value of the grade given for that course equals the quality points for that course. For example, a 9-unit course assigned a C grade is awarded 18 quality points (9 units x 2 quality points = 18 quality points). Total Quality Points divided by Total Units Factorable equals the Quality Point Average.

To learn more about QPA calculations, refer to the Undergraduate Catalog.

If you are considering converting courses to pass/no pass, we encourage you to do the math in order to investigate your options and discuss the situation with your academic advisor.

The effect of pass/no pass courses on your QPA depends on the number of factorable units and the grades earned. For example, if your semester QPA is 2.0 before a particular grade is entered, and that grade turns to be a D, the 1 unit awarded for quality points could lower your semester and/or cumulative QPA. If the grade turns out to be an A, however, the 3 units awarded for quality points could raise your semester and/or cumulative QPA. 

Pass/no pass grades are not factored into your QPA, so a P grade cannot raise your QPA as an A grade would. This also means that if you convert all of your courses to pass/no pass, your QPA for the semester would become 0.00, which could ultimately lower your cumulative QPA.

No. Classes for which you select the pass/no pass final grade for the spring 2020 semester will not count toward any limits on pass/no pass courses for your degree program.

No. You may select the pass/no pass final grade for any and all of your spring 2020 semester-length or mini-4 courses. Please keep in mind that you will need to be enrolled in a minimum of 36 units in order to maintain full-time enrollment status, however.

No. As long as you are enrolled in at least 36 units, you have achieved full-time status. Your full-time status will not be affected by changing a course final grade to pass/no pass, because pass/no pass elections do not affect the number of units carried.

Yes. Undergraduate students will have the option to select pass/no pass grading for any of their courses, even if they are graduate-level.

The CMU graduate program will have to accept the spring 2020 course P grade to count toward the program requirements.

Yes, if you are taking courses which fall within the May 20-26 election period, you may make pass/no pass elections for those courses at that time.

SIO will treat a currently registered spring 2020 course as passing in order to meet the pre-requisite requirement during fall 2020 registration. If you are already registered for the fall 2020 course, you need not do anything.

After final grades are submitted and a P grade was elected, if the course pre-requisite requires a grade of C or better, please see your academic advisor about entering a pre-requisite waiver for the spring 2020 course taken for a P grade. For pre-requisites requiring a D grade or better, a P grade will satisfy the pre-requisite and no further action is needed.

Yes, via the same process as other courses. For students from Carnegie Mellon taking courses at other institutions through PCHE Cross-Registration, we will communicate the change to pass/no pass to the host institution.

Yes. Study abroad courses in which the student receives a P, CR, or S grade will be transferred to Carnegie Mellon.

Yes. Carnegie Mellon must honor the external letter grades as assigned by the study abroad program/institution, and the same study abroad transfer credit grade requirements will apply. Those grades will be recorded on your transcript at TR for transfer credit.

No, all summer session courses will follow the regular grading policy.

Yes, consistent with the campus wide communication concerning the P/NP grade conversion option, students have the ability to convert final letter grades to either P or NP for the spring 2020 semester.

Please contact the University Registrar’s Office, CMURegistrar@andrew.cmu.edu.