Grades

Undergraduate grading practices and procedures

Grading Practices and Procedures in the Department of Political Science are guided by University policies specified in the Calendar.

Grading standards

The Department is concerned about the potential problem of grade inflation and wishes to ensure equity in grading standards among colleagues. Instructors do not grade to a pre-established curve, and there are no set requirements for the distribution of grades in any course. Grades are not official until they have been approved by the Chair. In cases in which grades for a course are substantially outside normal ranges, the Chair may ask the instructor to justify or revise those grades. Instructors submit grades online, and those grades are available to students online as soon as they have been approved by the Chair. If the grades for a course are not available online, it means that the grades have not yet been approved by the Chair, and any grades posted elsewhere are unofficial and subject to change. Most assignments in Political Science are written and therefore take more time to grade properly than machine-graded exams.

Students should pay particular attention to the qualitative indicators associated with each grade in the University of Victoria Calendar:

Passing Grades	Grade Point Value	Description
A+ A A-	9 8 7	Exceptional, outstanding and excellent performance. Normally achieved by a minority of students. These grades indicate a student who is self-initiating, exceeds expectation and has an insightful grasp of the subject matter.
B+ B B-	6 5 4	Very good, good and solid performance. Normally achieved by the largest number of students. These grades indicate a good grasp of the subject matter or excellent grasp in one area balanced with satisfactory grasp in the other area.
C+ C	3 2	Satisfactory, or minimally satisfactory. These grades indicate a satisfactory performance and knowledge of the subject matter.
D	1	Marginal Performance. A student receiving this grade demonstrated a superficial grasp of the subject matter.
F	0	Unsatisfactory performance. Wrote final examination and completed course requirements; no supplemental.
N	0	Did not write examination or complete course requirements by the end of term or session; no supplemental.

Grade appeals

Students who disagree with the grade for an assignment given by an instructor have the right to appeal that grade. The Department of Political Science follows the formal procedures for grade appeals adopted by the Faculties of Humanities, Science, and Social Sciences; full details are available.

Briefly, if a student believes that an assigned grade is not a fair reflection of the quality of the work, she or he should first contact the instructor to discuss the grade. If the instructor confirms the original grade, the student can then take the appeal to the Department Chair. The Department Chair will ask the student to submit relevant materials described in the Guidelines above, and to "sign a consent form indicating that she/he understands that the grade may be raised, lowered, or remain the same". There are separate procedures described in the Guidelines noted above for a student appeal of a grading process.