The Registrar’s Office is the official steward of records of academic work completed at the university. This policy governs the creation and maintenance of student academic records.

A credit hour is an amount of work represented in intended learning outcomes and verified by evidence of student achievement. One hour of credit generally includes a minimum of one hour of instruction per week in a semester or two hours of instruction per week in a term. See Credit Hour Policy.

Earning Credit Hours

Students earn approved university credit in the following ways:

Regular Course Work

Students may complete work in regular courses offered by BYU or may complete college-level courses through the university’s Independent Study, evening classes, or other Continuing Education programs.

Transfer Work

Students may complete college-level courses at an accredited college and receive credit for the transfer work accepted by BYU.

Advanced Placement (AP) Exam

Students may complete an AP Exam with a score of 3, 4, or 5 (credit varies based on subject and score).

Exemption and Challenge Examinations

Some requirements can be fulfilled by successfully passing an examination. Two types of examinations are available—exemption exams and challenge exams.

Exemption exams, available for a limited number of general education courses, result in the fulfillment of those general education graduation requirements. They do not result in academic credit or grades. Exemption examinations are offered at the testing center.

Challenge exams, available for select courses determined by departments, result in graded academic credit. The student’s transcript and grade point average reflect the grade earned on the exam.

Academic units reserve the right to decide which courses may be challenged by examination. Religion, internship, and activity courses such as dance, music, experience design and management, and ROTC, may not be challenged. Academic units reserve the right to make individual exceptions under unique circumstances.

Only under exceptional circumstances, such as the foreign language challenge examination, can a course completed earlier be repeated by the challenge procedure.

The challenge examination is not meant to certify that a student has attended the class and completed all course requirements. The challenge examination credit merely shows that the student’s skill and knowledge is sufficient to pass a challenge examination for the course.

Only students who have completed at least one course at BYU through day or evening school or the Salt Lake Center are eligible for the challenge examination option. Currently enrolled students are eligible to take the exam, but the credit will not be posted to the transcript until other BYU credit with a final grade is posted.

Students who are suspended or dismissed from the university are not eligible to challenge courses.

Once students have graduated, they are not eligible to challenge any additional credit at BYU unless it is specific to the BYU graduate program to which they have been admitted.

Military Credits

The Registrar’s Office evaluates military courses using the recommendation from the Joint Services Transcript made by the American Council on Education (ACE). Courses are determined by ACE to be either upper- or lower-division, and BYU accepts only courses that have been recommended as upper-division.

International Baccalaureate (IB) Credit

Students who complete the International Baccalaureate examinations with a score of 5, 6, or 7 may receive college credit based on the higher level (HL) subject and score.

Earning BYU Credit While on Suspension

Students who have been academically suspended from BYU are not eligible to enroll in courses through day school, evening school, or Continuing Education programs offered by the university except those courses offered through Independent Study.

Class Standing by Credit Hour

At the beginning of each semester, students are classified as follows:

After the semester or term has ended and all grades have been submitted by the faculty, students may access their grades online. Grade point averages are computed by assigning numeric values to the letter grades. The grade given in a course is the instructor’s evaluation of the student’s performance, achievement, and understanding in that subject as covered in the class. Hence, the grade A means that the student’s performance, achievement, and understanding were excellent in the material covered in that class.

Additional grade designations are as follows:

1. If a student drops a class by the add/drop deadline, the transcript will not show any registration for that class. If the student officially withdraws from a class after the add/drop deadline but before or on the withdraw deadline, the record will be marked W (official withdrawal). A W is not calculated into the grade point average (GPA).
   
   
2. A grade of WE (withdrawal failure) will be given if a student petitions to withdraw from a class after the withdraw deadline and he or she is failing the class at that time. A WE is calculated into the GPA.
   
   
3. A grade of P (passing) indicates a passing grade. It has no effect on the GPA.
   
   
4. A grade of I (incomplete) is given on a contractual basis with the instructor to students who are unable to complete the work by the end of the semester or term. An incomplete grade may be given for nonacademic extenuating circumstances (e.g., serious illness, personal injury, death in the immediate family) that arise after the discontinuance deadline (the twelfth week of a semester or sixth week of a term). To be eligible for an Incomplete Contract, the student must be attending and passing the class through the discontinuance deadline. If extenuating circumstances arise before the discontinuance deadline, the student should discontinue or petition through the Registrar’s Office to be officially withdrawn from the class(es). An Incomplete Contract should be requested by the student and approved by the instructor no later than 30 days after the grade submission deadline. As soon as the contract is completed, an I grade will post to the student’s record. (An I does not factor into GPA calculation.) The instructor may designate the specific length of time the student has to complete the course requirements, not to exceed one year. Class attendance in a subsequent semester or reregistration is not permitted to fulfill the Incomplete Contract. In some special instances, such as a lab class, attendance may be required for the portion of the class or lab section missed. If the work is not completed and a new grade is not submitted by the instructor within the agreed upon deadline, the I grade will be changed to IE. The instructor and student may agree upon a new deadline at any time if still within one year beyond the semester.
   
   
5. A grade of IE (incomplete failure) is considered and calculated as a failing grade.
   
   
6. A grade of T indicates course work in progress and is used only in certain approved courses in which work may extend beyond the semester. It is not calculated into the GPA. The T grade may be changed to A, B, C, D, E, or P (depending on the grade rule for the course) when the work is completed.
   
   
7. A grade of NS (not submitted) is placed on the student record when a grade roll has not been submitted to the Registrar’s Office by the grade submission deadline. After the deadline, an official grade change must be submitted by the instructor, either online through the grade roll or with a Grade Change Authorization form. An NS is not calculated into the GPA.

Law School Numeric Grade Values

The Law School uses the numeric grading scale below.

Grade Changes

After the final grade submission deadline, grades may be changed for the following reasons only:

• making a calculating error in computing the grade
• posting the wrong grade to the grade roll
• changing a T grade after the course work is completed
• posting a grade if no grade was submitted
• reevaluating the previous grade with no additional work submitted

When such corrections need to be made, an official grade change must be submitted by the instructor.

If a student completes any additional work beyond the end of the semester or term (original T grades excluded), grade changes should not be made. For nonacademic extenuating circumstances that arise after the discontinuance deadline, the student should request to have an Incomplete Contract.

An instructor cannot change a previous grade to a W (official withdrawal). In case of a nonacademic emergency, the student should file a petition for withdrawal with the Registrar’s Office.

Repeating Courses

Students may repeat any course taken at BYU if the course is still being taught or an equivalent course exists. However, all grades are calculated into the GPA and all credit counts in the total hours. BYU does not remove the previous credit or grade from the transcript. Prior to fall 2011, classes that were later repeated were marked “RPT” on the transcript and were not calculated into the GPA.

Dean’s List Scholastic Recognition

At the close of each semester and term the dean of each academic college receives a list of undergraduate students who are ranked in the top 5 percent of their college for the given semester, who have earned a minimum of 14 credit hours, and who have earned a minimum grade point average of at least 3.5 for the semester. College deans’ offices retain records of dean’s lists.

Transcripts

The Registrar’s Office is responsible for issuing official transcripts of credit. Official transcripts include only credit completed through BYU.

Transcript Record Holds

A hold will be placed on a student’s record for failure to meet certain university obligations (outstanding fees, etc.). Unless prohibited by state law, no copy of the academic record or diploma will be released until the obligation is fulfilled. Transcripts can be issued to students and alumni who do not have a current ecclesiastical endorsement.

Access to Student Records

For FERPA-related information, see Access to Student Records Policy.

Academic Unit Student Records Retention

Each academic unit maintaining student records is responsible to establish a Department Retention Schedule in collaboration with University Records and Information Management.