Academic Office
International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad
(Deemed University)
GUIDELINES FOR FACULTY – GRADING AND EXAMS
Monsoon 2007
Objective
This document details guidelines and procedures for conducting examinations
and for grading students in courses.
Grading System
IIIT, Hyderabad follows a grade assignment scheme for evaluating a student’s
performance in a course. The total mark secured by a student in a course is
mapped to a grade.
Grades (taken from Academic Regulations)
There are five grades that reflect performance and are used in computation of
grade point average (GPA):
Grade Value Description
A 10 Excellent
A- 9 Excellent
B 8 Good
B- 7 Good
C 6 Fair
C- 5 Fair
D 4 Poor
F 0 Fail
The other grades that do not carry points and are not used in computation of
GPA are:
P – Pass Grade to Human Values courses
S – Satisfactory (for thesis or R&D-apprenticeship course)
X – Unsatisfactory (for thesis/project work)
I – Incomplete (grade to be assigned later)
W – Course Withdrawal by a student within 7 weeks from the registration
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A grade is awarded to a student in a course for which he/she is registered, will
be based on his/her performance in different forms of evaluation (such as,
examinations, labs, projects, quizzes, assignments) in the course. Each course
is required to have a mid-semester exam and a final exam. For a course taken
under PCO, the instructor has to place a minimum grade requirement i.e., C-
and above for getting a (P) pass grade in the course. In exceptional cases
wherein a student could not complete all the requirements (for reasons such
as, medical problem or equipment breakdown) for securing a grade in the
course, an (I) incomplete grade can be given. An incomplete grade has to be
changed to a proper letter grade (A(-), B(-), C(-), D, and F) before the end of the
next semester. Otherwise, it will default to a (F) fail grade.
Types of Grading
There are two types of grading that can be followed for a course, namely,
absolute grading, and relative grading.
Total Marks and Absolute Grading: The instructor is free to decide the relative
weightages of the exams, quizzes, home assignments, project work, etc., while
computing the total The relative weights should be announced at the beginning
of the course, together with any other grade related policy. In case of absolute
grading, a predetermined and fixed range of marks is allotted for each grade. A
student gets the grade corresponding to the range within which his/her marks
fall. The faculty must show care in setting the exams and other assignments so
that students who do excellent will get (A) grade.
Relative Grading
In relative grading a histogram of total marks obtained by all students is taken
and ranges for assigning various grades are decided at the time of giving the
grades. These ranges for assigning grades are based on upper limit of
percentage (see grade distribution below) of students in a course that can have
a particular grade. While deciding the relative grades the course instructor may
keep in mind that an excellent performance in his/her judgment gets a ‘A’, a
good performance a ‘B’, and so on. A violation of this upper limit will require a
reassignment of grades to students.
Grade Distribution
Grade Percentage of Students
A/A- 35%
B/B- 35%
C/C- 30%
D/F as per student’s performance.
Notes:
1. The above scheme can be relaxed for small classes <15-20 students, or in
courses where in all students perform exceptionally well or exceptionally poor.
2. The faculty needs to use their judgment and expectation from students in
Academic Office
the course for grading.
3. Faculty must be very strict in the minimal expected performance from a
student in order to pass the course.
The course should have absolute cut-offs for pass or fail. Students who just
managed to pass can be given D grade.
For post-graduate courses, project work, and electives with fewer than 20
students the above grade distribution can be relaxed.
Grade Submission
The grades must be submitted to the Dean of Academics within one week of
the last final examination conducted for a semester. This grades due date will
be announced to faculty before the start of the final examinations for a
semester. If for any particular reason a faculty member cannot submit grades
by the grades due date a written permission must be sought from the Dean of
Academics. Faculty members who have not submitted grades within two weeks
after grades due date must be notified to the Director of institute for further
action.
The final grades conforming to grade distribution and uniformity in grading
across courses will be released to the students. If required a reassignment of
grades will be sought before releasing the grades to the students.
Examinations
IIIT, Hyderabad has a policy of evaluating a student through various quizzes,
assignments, project work and examinations for a course. It is required that
each course must have at least one mid-semester examination, and a final
examination. This requirement can be relaxed by seeking a written permission
with appropriate justification from Dean of Academics.
Mid-semester Examination
An examination is normally required to be conducted as per Institute
scheduling of the exam. It is required that the exam is graded and answer
sheets be distributed back to the students within two weeks after the conduct
of the exam.
Final Examination
The final examinations must be held at the stipulated time and day assigned
for the course. Before the grades are given to Dean of Academics the students
must have opportunity to view their final exam answer books. Therefore, at
least one day must be set-aside for this, and students must be notified the time
period during which they can view their final examinations. The final exam
answer books must be preserved by the teacher for six calendar months.
Faculty, if they wish, may deposit the final exam answer books with the
Manager Academics. Guest faculty and visiting faculty is required to deposit
answer books with Manager Academics.
