Term promotions

General term promotion rules for first year students

Students are assessed at the end of every term and a decision is made on whether the student qualifies to proceed to the next term. The promotion details are given in the Examinations and Promotions Engineering section of the Waterloo Academic Calendar.

Please contact the SE associate director if you have any questions regarding term promotions or related issues. 

Clearing Failed Courses

Term 1A rules

Term Average

Term Failure Count

Decision

Academic Standing on Quest

Avg. ≥ 60.0

0

Promoted

Avg. ≥ 80 = Excellent

Avg. ≥ 70 = Good

Avg. ≥ 60.0 = Satisfactory

Avg.≥ 60.0

1 or 2

Proceed to 1B

May Proceed to 1B

60.0 > Avg. ≥ 50.0

-

Required to repeat

Failed - required to repeat

Avg.

-

Required to withdraw after 1A engineering

Failed - required to withdraw from 1A

Notes:

  1. Conditionally Promoted is changed to Promotion Granted when 1A failures are cleared.
  2. Students Required to Withdraw After 1A may request a Qualifying Program for Readmission (QPR).
  3. Options after failing 1A.

* Students should contact the SE office, not the First-Year Engineering office. 

Term 1B rules

Term Average

Failure Count

Formal Decision

Academic Standing on Quest

Avg.≥ 60.0

0

Promoted

Avg. ≥ 80 = Excellent

Avg. ≥ 70 = Good

Avg. ≥ 60 = Satisfactory

Avg. ≥ 60.0

1 or 2

Conditionally Promoted

Conditional - must pass failures before graduation

60.0 > Avg. ≥ 50.0

-

Required to Repeat Term

Failed - must repeat term

50.0 > Avg.

-

Required to Withdraw Engineering

Failed - required to withdraw

 Notes:

  1. 1A failures are added to the overall failure count at the end of the 2A term.
  2. Conditionally Promoted is changed to Promotion Granted when term failures are cleared.
  3. Students who are Required to Repeat the Term must achieve an average of 60% or better with no course grades below 50% on their repeat term. Otherwise, they will be Required to Withdraw from Engineering.
  4. Students Required to Repeat Term must repeat 8 months (2 terms) after the failed term.
  5. Students Required to Withdraw may request a Qualifying Program for Readmission (QPR).

* Students should contact the SE office, not the First-Year Engineering office. 

Clearing failed courses

The options for clearing failed courses do not apply in a term with a Required to Repeat or Required to Withdraw academic standing. A successful repeat term or QPR term will clear all courses failed in the original term.

Students must pass failed courses that are required for their degree so that their failure count is equal to zero prior to graduation. We strongly encourage students to clear failed courses ASAP while the course material is still fresh.

If a student accumulates three failed courses, they must go into a non-degree term and take courses to bring their failured count down to one in order to proceed in the program.

Retake and pass the failed course in a future term

This option depends on the availability of the course in a specific term and your academic or work term schedule.

Take and pass an equivalent course at the University of Waterloo or another institution

This is usually a more flexible option since the equivalent course may be delivered through the Centre for Extended Learning or scheduled at night, which may allow you to take it on a work term. The SE associate director decides if a course is equivalent to a first year course.

To take a course at another University you must apply for a Letter of Permission which allows you to enroll as a visiting student, determines the Waterloo equivalent course, and transfers the completed course grade to your Waterloo record.

Write and pass a supplemental (supp.) exam in the failed course

This option applies only to students who have been awarded a supplemental exam, as indicated by the code SUPA to the right of your mark on your unofficial transcript on Quest after the official fully-graded date. 

If you have successfully completed the term, but have failed a required course, then you may clear the course failure by one of two ways:

Write a Supplemental Exam:

If your course grade is between 39-49% you are permitted to write the supplemental exam for a fee of $50.00. The designation of SUPA (Supplemental Exam Allowed) will be assigned to your transcript and a Supplemental Exam Registration Form will be sent to you from the Registrar's Office.

After you receive the form, log onto The Centre’s payment website, select the Engineering Supplemental Exam Fee, and then upload the completed form with signatures and fill out the information box. If it's not possible to get the SE advisor's signature, then you must include the authorizing email in the pdf file that is uploaded to The Centre’s online form. 

You can determine if a supplemental exam is being offered by consulting the Schedule of Classes or by contacting the First Year Enginering Office for 1A and 1B courses.

If you obtain a mark of 50% or more on the supplemental exam then the designation will change to SUPS (Supplemental Exam Satisfied). If you do not pass the supplemental exam, the designation will change to SUPN (Supplemental Exam Not Satisfied) and you must retake the course or an equivalent. Only one attempt at writing a supplemental exam is permitted.

Retake the course:

If your course grade is below 39% then you must clear the course failure by retaking the course or an equivalent by obtaining a grade of 50% (or 60% if taken at another institution with a Letter of Permission). Once successfully completed "Fail Cleared" will be added to your transcript. If you obtain a grade of less than 50% then see rules 6 and 9 in the Undergraduate Studies Academic Calendar.

Note: Not all courses will offer a supplemental exam option. The conditions of the supplemental exam include an expiry date on the supplemental exam registration form. Failure to meet the deadline will result in you forfeiting the right to a supplemental exam; therefore you must retake the course or an equivalent.

Mark verification

Every attempt has been made during the processing of your course grades to ensure that your course work and exams are correctly marked and entered. However, errors may occur given the large number of marks to process. As a result, every student has the opportunity to verify that their course grades have been correctly calculated and entered.

You may contact your instructors to request your mark break-down. Verify that your course work (assignments, quizzes, labs) and midterm marks were recorded correctly. Verify that the announced marking scheme produces the overall course mark.

It is important to note that many courses advertise and enforce a deadline for verifying course work and midterm marks.

You may also contact your instructors to ask them to check your final exams for marking errors (unmarked questions and incorrect addition). You have the right to view a copy of your final examination paper under the supervision of your instructor (or a course, department, or faculty representative). Some instructors will insist that you view the exam in person, and others will check it in your absence. Exam marks can go up or down during the verification.

The purpose of mark verification is to address concerns of a gross error in a course mark. It is not intended to be a debate on marking schemes or a forum to get marks based on extenuating circumstances (e.g., "please give me X marks so I can be promoted", or "pass me because I was sick", etc.). Extenuating circumstances must be evaluated by the SE associate director and/or the Faculty of Engineering Examinations and Promotions Committee. Your course instructor is responsible for assigning a grade based on academic merit. Again, it is important to note that course marks can go up or down during the verification.

If following these steps you discover that you have been treated unfairly and have been unable to informally resolve this with the instructor and the SE associate director, then you may contact the Associate Dean of Engineering Undergraduate Studies to discuss a formal review or an appeal.