Got Grades? Got Questions? Get Answers . . .

So if you're new to Nassau--completing your first semester--you're on the verge of getting your first set of final grades.  Excited to see how you did?  You can find out over the next few days by logging on to the MyNCC portal.  Chances are your grades won't all appear at the same time, but over the course of a week or so they should all be there.

Since your college grades will follow you for life, it's important you know how the grading "system" at NCC works.

By far the most complete discussion of grades and grading policies can be found in the "Policies and Procedures" section of the NCC catalog, which you can access online through the College's homepage (http://collegecatalog.ncc.edu/current/policiesandprocedures).  Look under "Grading System" in that section and you'll find pretty much everything you need to know.

But if you don't have time to review that entire section just now, here's a quick list of some grade "facts" worth filing away:

Grades (Credit and Noncredit Courses)

• NCC's grading system is similar to that of many other colleges.  For credit courses: A = Excellent; B =Very Good; C = Satisfactory; D = Minimum Passing; F = Failure.  For noncredit courses: S = Satisfactory; U = Unsatisfactory.  
• You can earn a final grade of A in a credit course at NCC, but you can't get an A+ (no such grade).  You can, however, get a B+, a C+ or a D+. 
• You can get a minus grade (A-, B-, etc.) on a test, paper, or project, but not as a final grade. 

Withdrawals, Incompletes, Never Attended, and Repeated Courses

• A W grade appears on your transcript (your official academic record--a list of the courses you've taken and the grades you've received in them) if you have officially withdrawn from a credit course.  To officially withdraw, you need to file a "Drop" form with the registrar's office.  Depending upon when you start the withdrawal process, you may need your professor's signature. 
• A UW grade appears on your transcript if you stop attending a credit course but never officially withdraw.  A UW counts in your grade-point average (your academic average) as an F.
• If you register for a course but never attend, you'll receive a grade of NA ("Never Attended") on your transcript.
• If you repeat a course that you have already taken, the second grade replaces the first in your grade-point average.  But both grades stay on your transcript.
• If you request and receive an Incomplete (INC) (a temporary grade granting you an extension to finish work in a credit course), you have until the end of the following semester to complete the missing work.  If the incomplete isn't made up by that date, it changes to an F,
• If you stop attending a noncredit course, you'll receive a grade of UU.  

Transcripts and Grade-Point Averages

• All of the courses you've taken at NCC, along with the grades you've received in them, are listed on your NCC transcript--your official academic record. 
• Credits you have transferred from other colleges are also listed on your transcript.
• Besides courses and grades, your transcript contains your grade-point average (aka GPA), the numerical average of the grades you have received at Nassau. 
• The grade-point average is cumulative, which means that it reflects changes each time you earn new grades during a semester--or whenever else (summer or winterim) you enroll in courses.

You can find more details about grades in the catalog as well as in the daily planner, which also illustrates how a grade-point average is calculated.  But no matter where you get your information, it's important that you know what's what in the grade department.  This is, after all, your transcript--and your future!