faculty & staff
- Arts ISIT

grading guidelines

UBC's guidelines for grading and reporting grades

Grading policies should attempt to ensure that all students are assessed fairly in relation to other students in the same class, students in other sections of the same course and students in other courses.

These guidelines establish a framework for the fair treatment of students in Arts courses and provide details of the formal procedure involved in submitting marks, dealing with student appeals and pleas for special treatment, etc. We encourage you to share this material with students.

grading practices and standards

UBC courses are graded on a percentage basis (or pass/fail - P/F - if a course is so designated). Corresponding letter grades are assigned automatically by the Registrar. (See UBC Calendar, Academic Regulations, Grading Practices).

Percent	Grade	Level of Achievement
90-100	A+	exceptional
85-89	A	exceptional
80-84	A-	exceptional
76-79	B+	competent
72-75	B	competent
68-71	B-	competent
64-67	C+	adequate
60-63	C	adequate
55-59	C-	adequate
50-54	D	adequate
00-49	F *	inadequate

* For students taking courses in other faculties or schools where the passing grade is higher than 50%, all grades below the higher passing grade will be assigned a letter grade of F.

grading criteria

The following guidelines offer a broad-brush characterization of the type of work that might be associated with various ranges of grades. The intent here is to encourage general consistency across the faculty rather than to provide precise specifications.

80% to 100% (A- to A+)

Exceptional performance: strong evidence of original thinking; good organization; capacity to analyze and synthesize; superior grasp of subject matter with sound critical evaluations; evidence of extensive knowledge base.

68% to 79% (B- to B+)

Competent performance: evidence of grasp of subject matter; some evidence of critical capacity and analytic ability; reasonable understanding of relevant issues; evidence of familiarity with the literature.

50% to 67% (D to C+)

Adequate performance: understanding of the subject matter; ability to develop solutions to simple problems in the material; acceptable but uninspired work, not seriously faulty but lacking style and vigour.

00% to 49% (F)

Inadequate performance: little or no evidence of understanding of the subject matter; weakness in critical and analytic skills; limited or irrelevant use of the literature.

distribution of grades

Results in an average class of reasonable size will normally fall somewhere within the following broad limits:

Grade "A"	5% to 25% of the class
Grades "A" and "B" combined	not more than 75% of the class
Grade "F"	not over 20% of the class

There will, of course, be exceptions, and none of this should be taken to imply that grades in any course must conform to a bell curve. Generally, the point is to be thoughtful about grading patterns and practices.

scaling of grades

Marks in this course may be scaled (see Calendar, under Grading Practices). If scaling is required, it will be carried out after each assignment, so that students will know where they stand going into the final examination. If scaling is done on the final examination, students will be informed if they ask to review their examination according to the usual policy.