Class Registration & Grades

Additional Information

• Credit by Examination Examples

  Situations in which credit by examination may be approved include:

  • Cases in which credit by examination will permit students to accelerate in their major program.
  • Cases in which the course experience can be demonstrated to be redundant.
  • Cases in which credit by examination allows students to make up deficits incurred, for example, through transfer, leave of absence or change of curriculum or major.
  • Cases in which credit by examination will enable students to complete a degree program interrupted near completion for non-academic reasons. Exceptions to the senior residence requirement (all candidates for a degree are required to be in residence for a minimum of two semesters during the junior and senior years, including the final semester) will be approved by the dean only if three-quarters of the major requirements and a minimum of 16 courses in residence have been completed satisfactorily as a resident student.

   

• Regulations and Procedures

  1. In general, credit by examination is available to full-time undergraduate students; it is not available to graduate students, special students, students who have previously audited or failed the course in question, students on exchange from other universities and persons who have never attended Bucknell University.
  2. The total number of credits by examination and credits for non-conventional courses together is in no case to exceed six. A student qualifying for credit by examination will be able to complete a degree program interrupted near completion for non-academic reasons. The student will be allowed to finish degree requirements via this option by taking a maximum number of four (4) courses under Credit by Examination.
  3. While in residence, a student is expected to carry the normal course load of 3 - 4.5 courses each semester exclusive of credit for which application is made in this program.
  4. Registrations for credit by examination will be accepted the first week of the semester and for four (4) weeks following the pre-registration period. Tests shall be administered as follows:
     • For courses registered in the first week of the semester, the testing period will be the second week of the following November or April.
     • For courses registered in the weeks following preregistration, the testing period will be the first week of the following semester (September or January).
  5. Applications for credit by examination may be obtained at the Registrar's Office. They require the signatures of the student, the instructor who will administer the examination, the department chair and the student's academic dean.
  6. The student will take the approved application to the Cashier and pay a non-refundable fee of $225.00. The receipted application must be submitted to the Registrar's Office to complete registration and establish eligibility to take credit by examination.
  7. A Permit to Earn Credit by Examination will be mailed by the Registrar's Office to the student, who will present it to the instructor.
  8. A Grade Report Form will be prepared by the Registrar's Office when the Permit is issued and will be forwarded directly to the instructor. To be posted for a given semester the grade must be received in the Registrar's Office not later than two weeks before the last day of classes. A grade of A, B, C, D or F including +'s or -'s or an Incomplete will be submitted by the instructor who is assigned by the department chair. Only grades A through D will become part of the student's permanent record. The procedures for filing an Incomplete for credit by examination are the same as for the end of the semester.
  9. A Permit to Earn Credit by Examination is valid for the semester issued only and may not be extended or postponed.
  10. Courses regularly offered for credit by examination are listed below. Other courses may be approved if a course following the one in question in departmental sequence is to be taken the following semester.
  11. Exceptions to any of these regulations and procedures must be approved by the appropriate dean.

   

• Courses Available for Credit by Examination

  Arts & Sciences

  • Anthropology - 109
  • Chemistry - 201
  • Education - 101
  • Geology - 103, 104
  • German 204, by permission only
  • Greek - 101, 102; other courses only under extraordinary circumstances with the permission of the department chair
  • Latin - 101, 102; other courses only under extraordinary circumstances with the permission of the department chair
  • Mathematics - Courses numbered less than 239 only, permission of the department chair required
  • Philosophy - 103, 201
  • Psychology - by permission only
  • Russian - 101, 102, 103, 104, 201
  • Sociology - 100, only under extraordinary circumstances; permission of the instructor required

  The following departments do not offer Credit by Examination courses except under extraordinary circumstances; permission of the department chair is required:

  • Biology
  • Classics
  • Economics
  • English
  • Environmental studies
  • French
  • History
  • Japanese and East Asian studies
  • Linguistics
  • Management
  • Political science
  • Religion
  • Spanish

  Engineering

  
  Any course, by permission of the appropriate department chair. (Note: Computer Science does not offer any Credit by Examination.)