5.1 Grading System for all Courses

Courses at CUNY School of Law (except Individual Skills Development, Moot Court, Academic Legal Writing, Law Review Editing, and other specifically designated courses) use the following grading scale: A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D, and F. These grades will be used to determine a student’s academic status as set forth in the Academic Standing Policy below.

All courses (including Lawyering Seminars) are credit-bearing, and the grades for all courses will appear on the student’s official transcript, except: Individual Skills Development, Moot Court, Academic Legal Writing, and Law Review Editing, which are graded on a Credit/No Credit basis.

All first-year, first-semester grades are recorded on the transcript as “CR” (Credit) or “NC ” (No Credit). Where a student has timely elected the Credit/No Credit option (described below) all letter grades of A through C+ will be recorded as “CR” (Credit), and grades of C or lower will be recorded as “NCL” (No Credit).

In addition to the grades of A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D, and F, the faculty member may, in certain circumstances as described below, use the grade “INC” (Incomplete). Other official transcript grade notations include “W” (Withdrawal), “WN” (Withdrawal, never attended), “WU” (Unofficial Withdrawal), “FIN” (an Incomplete which has converted to a Fail by lapse of time), and “Z” (no grade submitted by the faculty member).

Academic standing and referrals to academic support will be based on the grades assigned using this grading system. The Office of Academic Affairs will do the calculations necessary for academic standing determinations and academic counseling.

Teachers in all courses (whether a large or small number of students are enrolled in the course) should give as much feedback to students as possible, and should do so as promptly as possible, so that students understand the basis for their grades and what they can do to improve their performance.

Grades should be based on the student’s total course performance. This performance must be measured by at least two evaluative devices, which may include a midterm examination, a written final examination, a paper or other written or oral assignment, attendance, participation, a simulation component, or any combination of those or other performance measures.

Provision of syllabus, course-specific learning outcomes, and written explanation of how course grades will be determined.

Each faculty member will provide a written syllabus for each class taught at the Law School. The syllabus should include course- specific learning outcomes indicating what students should be able to do after successfully completing the course. These outcomes may include knowledge, analytic, and problem-solving based, as well as lawyering or experiential based learning outcomes. In addition, each faculty member must provide a written explanation of how course grades will be determined. Any change to this grading process must also be provided to students in the class in writing.