Grading Policy

The following grading policy, promulgated by the Faculty of the School of Law, is subject to amendment only by vote of the faculty.

GRADE DEFINITIONS

'A+’ — truly exceptional understanding of subject matter and mastery of skills of the course (a rare grade, it is not the case that the top student in each class is to be given this grade);

‘A’ — excellent understanding of subject matter and mastery of the skills of the course;

‘A-’

‘B+’

‘B’ — good understanding of the subject matter and good deployment of the skills of the course;

‘B-’

‘C+’

‘C’ — minimally satisfactory understanding of the subject matter and deployment of the skills of the course;

‘D’ — less than satisfactory understanding of the subject matter or less than satisfactory deployment of skills of the course;

‘F’ — basic failure in understanding of the subject matter or basic inability to deploy the skills of the course.

FIRST YEAR GRADING STANDARDS

Mean grades for all First Year courses should be between 2.5 and 2.7 (F’s excluded)

The aggregate number of A+, A and A- grades for First Year courses should not be fewer than 5% for the class nor more than 10% of the class.

UPPER DIVISION GRADING STANDARDS

Mean grades for seminars, for courses for which more than 50% of the grade is based on one-to-one student-teacher contact, and for courses with fifteen or fewer students should be between 2.60 and 3.40 (F’s excluded). Mean grades for all other Upper Division courses should between 2.75 and 3.25 (F’s excluded).

The aggregate number of A+, A, and A- grades for seminars, for course for which more than 50% of the grade is based on one-to-one student-teacher contact, and for courses with fifteen of fewer students may be as many as 25% of the class. The aggregate number of A+, A, and A- grades for Upper Division courses subject to the 2.75 and 3.25 mean grade range should not be fewer than 5% of the class nor more than 15% of the class.