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. |