CR/NCR for Winter Term courses

This message was originally sent to students by James W.E. Rush, vice-president, academic and provost.

• Course instructors can elect to use CR or NCR in place of numeric grades for Winter Term 2020
• Students will be able to ask to convert numeric grades to CR or NCR for a specific period after the end of Winter Term 

We know that the changes we have put in place for the end of the Winter Term 2020 because of COVID-19 may be difficult for some. We want you to have the best learning experience at Waterloo during these times of unprecedented change. We also want to make sure that you can continue to make progress towards earning your degree.

To help you with this we are making two important changes for courses that award numeric grades.

Instructors can now use CR (credit) or NCR (no credit) in place of numeric grades for Winter Term 2020

Firstly – we are changing our guidance to instructors. If instructors judge that they don’t have enough evidence to assign numeric grades for Winter Term 2020, they can now choose to use:

• CR - credit granted if you pass the course, or
• NCR - no credit granted if you do not pass the course.   

If your instructor chooses this grading plan, it will apply to all students in the course.

You should expect to hear from your instructor by email on their plan to give you grades – either numeric or CR/NCR -- at the end of the term.

Students will be able to ask to convert numeric grades to CR or NCR for a specific period after the end of Winter Term

The second change we are making allows you to avoid a need to appeal your numeric grades after the end of Winter Term 2020. Normally, we ask you to follow Policy 70 to petition grades. This will not apply this term if you want to convert a grade to CR or NCR.

The University will be working with Faculties to develop a simple method for you to convert your grade for a limited time after the end of the term, should you decide to do so. We will also be providing you with information you need to consider when making this decision. More information on this process will be coming soon.

If you have any questions about these changes, please talk to your course instructor or academic advisor.

More information to come on Spring dates and fees

We know there is a lot of information coming to you right now, so we want to be clear about what you can expect to hear from us.  
 
You should expect to hear more information about course offerings, the new set of academic and financial dates, and new enrolment  appointments  by Friday, March 27, 2020.  
 
Before then, if you have questions, please continue to send them to  coronavirus@uwaterloo.ca  and our team will do their best to get you the information you need as soon as we can.