Grading Scale Procedures

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Grading Scale Procedures

Parent Policy

When grades are awarded for coursework units or Honours coursework degrees the following procedures should be used.

Interim Grades

Upon completion of study and accompanying assessment requirements, each unit will be assigned a Final Grade according to the approved grading schema.

Where assessment has not been finalised by the date results are published in a study period, this will be signified by the appropriate interim grade (Deferred Assessment, Supplementary Assessment or Withheld).

When results are formally released for a semester; all units must have a grade recorded, whether Final or Interim.

Responsibility

Board of Examiners
Faculty Dean

Deferred Assessment (DEF)

Used to indicate that a deferred examination (only) has been approved.

The Deferred Assessment grade is used to create records for examination purposes in officially designated supplementary assessment periods – i.e. the Supplementary and Deferred Examination period in August/September for semester 1 units and January/February for semester 2 units.

Deferred Assessment grades must be converted to a final grade no later than the date when Supplementary and Deferred Examination results for that teaching period are published.

Responsibility

Board of Examiners
Faculty Dean

Supplementary Assessment (NS)

Used to indicate when all assessment has been completed but a pass has not resulted, and some form of supplementary assessment has been granted.

Supplementary Assessment grades must be converted to a final grade no later than the date when Supplementary and Deferred Examination results for that teaching period are published.

Responsibility

Board of Examiners
Faculty Dean

Withheld

Used to indicate that not all assessment tasks have been assessed and that a final grade can not yet be recorded.

Withheld grades must be converted to a final grade no later than 12 weeks after the associated Callista teaching period end date for that unit.

Responsibility

Board of Examiners
Faculty Dean

Withdrawn Fail (WN)

Withdrawn Fail is awarded to students who apply to withdraw from units of study between Monday of Week 10 in a standard semester (or equivalent in a non-standard semester) and the last day of the teaching period in that semester.

For this purpose,

a) Week 10 is the tenth week following the teaching start date, including any semester break, and

b) the Student Administration web pages will contain the actual dates for standard and non-standard semesters.

Students may not withdraw from units in a semester after the last day of the teaching period in that semester.

Responsibility

Board of Examiners
Faculty Dean

Withdrawn Incomplete (WI)

Used to indicate that a student was unable to undertake or complete all assessment for a unit due to extreme circumstances beyond his or her control occurring or having effect after the commencement of the Withdrawn Fail period.

Responsibility

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education)
Board of Examiners
Faculty Dean

Not Assessed (NAS)

Used to finalise a unit undertaken on a non-assessed non-award basis.

Responsibility

Board of Examiners
Faculty Dean

GPA (Grade Point Average) Calculation

Monash uses a 4.0 GPA scale where each unit of study is awarded a grade value between 0 and 4 based on the grade awarded for the unit:

Grade	Grade value
High Distinction	4
Distinction	3
Credit	2
Pass	1
Fail	0.3
Withdrawn Fail	0
Other grades	not included in calculations

Units resulting in grades SFR (Satisfied Faculty Requirements), NE (Not Examinable), NAS (Not Assessed) and WI (Withdrawn Incomplete) are not included in the GPA calculation.

Each grade value is then multiplied by the credit points for the unit and these values are then summed. Finally, the summed value (weighted GPA unit score) is divided by the total number of credit points undertaken. The result is then calculated to two decimal points.

GPA=	Σ (grade value x credit points)
	Σ credit points

Example

Unit	Mark	Grade	Grade Value	Credit points	Weighted GPA Unit Score (grade value awarded x credit points)
MON1001	63	C	2	6	12
MON1002	80	HD	4	12	48
MON1003	40	N (Fail)	0.3	6	1.8
MON1004	85	HD	4	6	24
MON2001	96	HD	4	24	96
MON2002		WN (Withdrawn Fail)	0	6	0
MON3001	52	P	1	6	6
MON3002	77	D	3	6	18
MON4001	82	HD	4	6	24
				78	229.80

GPA = 229.80 divided by 78				GPA =	2.95

Responsibility

Student Administration and Systems
Examinations

WAM (Weighted Average Mark) Calculation

Monash weights each unit of study based on the year level of the unit. Level one units are weighted at .5 to take into consideration transitional issues that may occur when students are undertaking the first year of university study. All other year levels including those at the postgraduate level have a higher level weighting of 1.

Year level of unit	Year level weighting
1 (undergraduate)	.5
All other year levels	1

Units resulting in grades SFR (Satisfied Faculty Requirements), NE (Not Examinable), NAS (Not Assessed) and WI (Withdrawn Incomplete) are not included in the WAM calculation.

The WAM is calculated by multiplying the mark by the year level weighting and then by the credit points for the unit. The resulting values (or weighted marks) are then summed. The weighted credit points are then calculated by multiplying the credit points for the unit by the year level weighting. The weighted credit points are then summed. Finally, the sum of the weighted marks is divided by the sum of the weighted credit points. The result is then calculated to two decimal points.

WAM=	Σ (1^st year marks x 0.5 x credit points) + Σ (later year marks x 1 x credit points)
	Σ (1^st year credit points x 0.5) + Σ (later year credit points x 1)

Example

Unit	Year Level	Year Level Weighting	Mark	Grade	Credit points	Weighted Mark (year level weighting x mark x credit points)	Weighted Credit Points (year level weighting x credit points)
MON1001	1	0.5	63	C	6	189	3
MON1002	1	0.5	80	HD	12	480	6
MON1003	1	0.5	40	N (Fail)	6	120	3
MON1004	1	0.5	85	HD	6	255	3
MON2001	2	1	96	HD	24	2304	24
MON2002	2	1		WN (Withdrawn Fail)	6	0	6
MON3001	3	1	65	C	6	390	6
MON3002	3	1	77	D	6	462	6
MON4001	4	1	82	HD	6	492	6
						4692	63

WAM = 4692 divided by 63						WAM =	74.48

Responsibility

Student Administration and Systems
Examinations

Contact Person: Education Policy