• exams,  important dates

    exam dates are a total buzzkill

    Hi,

    I’m an incoming exchange student and I’ll only be studying at UofT for the upcoming fall semester. I wanted to know how early the university releases its final exam timetable.

    ———————————————

    According to the Calendar, the University will release its final exam timetable for “F” code courses for the first semester on OCTOBER 15TH. Exams will run from December 10th to 21st. (This period also includes midterm tests for “Y” courses.) Exams in the second semester for “S” and “Y” code courses will take place between April 12th and 29th.

    Wicked good times, right?

    xoxo, Askastudent

  • exams,  failing,  grades,  late withdrawal

    Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies.

    i really need help figuring out about this new policy about dropping courses after you’ve sat for their exam… apparently you can drop 2 credits worth of courses and the grade you recieved in them will not appear on your transcript nor will the effect your CGPA the catch is that the course will still show up on your transcript showing that you did take that course and that you have dropped it.
    now alot of people have told me there is no such policy but i clearly rememebr one of my professors telling us about it before a lecture.
    ANY ONE WHO KNOW’S FOR SURE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!

     

    I hate to be considered part of “a lot of people” (sounds too commonplace for Aska). However, dear asker, I am about to tell you the same thing everyone else has: NO, that policy does not exist.

    Now, I wasn’t satisfied with simply telling you no. So, I’ve been investigating with ‘the authorities’ on what actual policies the Prof/you may be misinterpreting. I feel like a much less cool Sherlock Holmes.

     

    1) What you are describing sounds a lot like the NEW policy for “Late Withdrawal.”

    You may classify up to 3.0 credits as Late Withdrawal. This means that the course will appear on your transcript with LWD in lieu of a grade. As such, it will not affect your CGPA. In order to classify a course as LWD, you must get this approved by your College Registrar’s Office by the last day of classes. Yes, I said APPROVED. This means that you can’t just bail on a course because you don’t want that nasty A- on your transcript (nerd), or because the exam is on the same evening as the American Idol finale. You will have to demonstrate that you may fail the course, or that it will significantly degrade your CGPA. It is intended for scenarios in which students are seriously overwhelmed by their coursework.

     

    2) Secondly, your inquiry has hints of a “Petition for Late Withdrawal” without academic penalty.

    This is a formal petition process reviewed by the Faculty of Arts & Science. You may be granted withdrawal from a course after the final drop date, and technically for 6 months after the course has finished. If this is approved, WDR will appear on your transcript in lieu of the grade. These do not count against the 3.0 LWD credits that you are entitled. Obviously, the grounds for getting a petition approved are MUCH stricter than Option 1. We’re talking about serious unforeseen issues (e.g. medical). Petitioning for a WDR after you have sat through the exam is even tougher – because you made the decision not to take advantage of the LWD previously. I suppose you would need to demonstrate that your judgment in deciding to stay in the course and sit through the exam was, in the first place, compromised or something like that.

     

    Make sense???

     

    Although this query-response combo is a bit of a dud, there is an important lesson to be learned here. Our Western pedagogical structure inflates students’ perceptions of their Professors to the highest tier of wisdom and significance. Profs deliver their knowledge, through one-way means, down to students. This allows an imbalanced power dynamic to permeate the University. It is a social norm that denies opportunities for dialogical and experiential learning. It also precludes the idea of Professors as students themselves, and their ability to learn from students.

     

    So, what’s the point of my rant? Believe it or not, I’m not just typing to read myself write. Rather, I’m trying to illustrate that Profs don’t know everything, they are often out of touch with academic policies and make things up, and just because they said it – doesn’t mean that it’s right.

     

    P.s. Vive la revolution!!

    P.p.s. Aska is still known to gaze, enamored and starry-eyed, at a Prof from time to time.

  • exams,  petition

    the gods are in a good mood. hurry!

    So I accidentally missed an exam because I remembered the exam date wrong. My professor told me to visit my registrar’s office to see what options I have available to me, but I checked the UofT website and remembering the wrong date is not an accepted reason, and I understand that. What I want to ask is: “Do I have any options?” If not, then there’s no point in visiting the registrar’s office at all.

  • commerce,  exams,  grades,  graduation

    You Can Stuff Your Sorries in a Sack!

    Hi Askastudent,I am a Commerce student. I have a few questions regarding to my November graduation.

    I am not doing so well in my program that I only have CGPA of 1.82. In order to graduate, I need at least 1.85. I know that I have to pull up my CGPA. But what would happen if my CGPA is still lower than 1.85?? Can I still graduate?

    Another thing is that I am leaving the country by the end of August and I want to take my graduation photo before that. Do you know where and to whom I could contact for graduation photo taking?? Also, after I have taken the graduation photo, is it possible to ask UT to send it to me to the place I live in?? By the way, I live in China.

    The last question is that I need to know all my marks before I leave the country. So do you know when is the earliest time I could check my mark on ROSI?? Is it a week after exam? or two weeks? If there is any mistake on the course mark, when is the earliest time I could get it corrected?

    By the way, does school close immediately after all summer exams are done??

    I am really sorry for leaving you a whole bunch of stupid questions, but I desperately need their answers so…

    Many many thanks and I will appreciate for your answers.

    Best,
    Natalie

  • exams,  philosophy,  profs

    Gloria and Eteri, this one is for you.

    ?Hey Mr. or Mrs. Askabout…you cyber person you,

    Anyways…so Kingwell hinted that there were past exams to get our hands on and they would be extremely beneficial…if we could find them…that bugger! If you know Kingwell, which I’m sure you do, or have heard about him, it’s not going to be easy to find his past tests. I checked out the libraries stash, and there are past exams for Philosophy 100, however I’m not sure if they are his for sure as there is no instructor name (and I don’t think he would make it that easy). I tried looking through your archive, but my god…its endless. Anyways, yah if you have any insider info’ you would be willing to share, that would be bomb!

    Thanx :).

    ?

  • exams,  petition

    university of bureaucracy…y’know, for bureaucrats

    Hi aska… I’m in the faculty of arts and science at the st. george campus and I wanted to get one of my exams back from a half credit course I took last semester. My mark in the course sucked but I really thought I did pretty well on the exam so I’d like to see where I went wrong or if someone made a mistake marking it. I’ve heard something about petitioning the faculty..? can you fill me in on what I have to do to see the marked copy of my exam?