Understanding your unofficial transcript

The official grading system used by the university can be found on the Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar. A transcript legend is also provided on the Registrar's Office website, which includes numeric grades, non-numeric grades, and requirement designation definitions.

At Waterloo, a passing grade in undergraduate courses would be a grade of 50% or higher, and any grade below 32% will be calculated into averages as a 32%.

Other grades that you may be assigned include:

  • CR (Credit): Credit is granted for the courses but not included in any average calculation.
  • INC (Incomplete): reflects an agreement between a professor and student to hand in work late; no numeric value. You can refer to the INC grade process for further information.
  • FTC (Failure to Complete): No credit is granted, failure to complete and INC agreement, the grade is calculated in averages as 32%
  • NMR (No Mark Recorded): No work submitted for the course, calculated in averages as 32%
  • DNW (Did Not Write): Student missed the final exam, calculated in averages as 32%
  • WD (Withdrew): No credit is granted, no numeric value
  • WF (Withdrew/Failure): Course was dropped too late, grade is calculated in averages as 32%

Math student averages

The following table lists the averages you will see on your unofficial transcript, and what they mean.

Average on  Quest                 Description
Term Average (TAV) Term Average is an average of all the courses you took in that term. This is not normally used for standing decisions.
Cumulative Average (CAV) Cumulative average is the overall average of all the courses you have taken so far.
Major Average (MAV) If your program requires you to maintain an average for a specific subject, this will be listed under your major average. A list of courses included in the MAV and average requirements can be found in the undergraduate calendar. 

Special Major Average (SMAV)

If your program requires you to maintain averages for specific subjects, these subjects will be listed under your special major average. For example, students in Mathematical Economics must maintain a 70% in all of their ECON courses.