Policies & Procedures

Policies and Procedures

 

Placement

Most university students will take English 1101 and 1102 during their first year at UGA. However, some students will receive credit for these courses based on the following tests. Complete information about Placement is available on the "Credit from Testing" page on the Registrar’s website.

1. The Advanced Placement Test: Students will need to wait for their test scores to be received by UGA Admissions and properly processed before moving forward with registration. Students who earn a score of 3 or 4 on the National Advanced Language Placement Test in Literature receive three hours of credit for English 1101; those who earn a score of 5 receive six hours of credit for English 1101 and 1102. All AP equivalencies are available on the Registrar’s website.

2. The International Baccalaureate (IB) Program: Students who earn a score of 4, 5, or 6 on the International Baccalaureate Exam at the High Level (HL) in English receive three hours of credit for English 1101; those who earn a score of 7 on the International Baccalaureate Exam at the High Level (HL) receive six hours of credit for English 1101 and 1102. Students who earn a score of 5, 6, or 7 on the Standard Level (SL) test receive three hours of credit for English 1101. All IB equivalencies are available on the Registrar’s website.

3. The Departmental Placement Exam: Beginning in Fall 2003, students not placed by a national placement test will fall into two groups. Students with an Evidence Based Reading & Writing (formerly known as SATV) score of 590 and above or an ACT score of 26 or above will place automatically in ENGL 1101 and may register for that class without any further testing; if these students choose to do so, they may take the Departmental Placement Exam voluntarily with an eye to exempting ENGL 1101 with three hours of credit. Students with an EBRW (formerly known as SATV) score of 580 or below are required to take the Departmental Placement Exam before registering for a First-year Writing class. Specific information about the Departmental English Placement Exam can be found at the Testing Services Website's page on the exam.

4. Incoming dual enrollment students who already have credit for First-year Writing courses will not need to take the placement exam. Please be sure that all official transcripts are sent and received by UGA Admissions for proper processing. 

5. Students with an SAT score of 580 or below who have no other form of placement from a national test are required to take the English Departmental Placement Exam before registering for any FYW courses.

The Departmental English Placement Test consists of two parts, mechanics and rhetoric. A score of 22 (part 1) and 20 (part 2) will place students in English 1102 and give them three hours of credit for English 1101. Students whose test scores indicate that they might have trouble in English 1101 will write an essay to determine whether they will be advised to take English 1101 or an Academic Enhancement class.

Students should take the test at a First-year Orientation Session. Those who miss the test at Orientation may take it later at University Testing Services in Clark Howell Hall. However, the test is not open to students who have taken or are currently enrolled in First-year Writing here or elsewhere. For more information, please call (706) 542-3183 or visit the University Testing Service Website.

 

Absences (updated Spring 2024)

Because writing skills develop slowly over time and because in-class activities are crucial to the discussion-based format of the class and its community-building mission, students’ regular attendance is important in First-year Writing. It should be emphasized that when students miss class, regardless of whether the absence is excused or not, it is the responsibility of the student to keep up with the course. Instructors are neither required nor expected to re-teach material covered in class to students who were absent.

Students who encounter a severe situation will only have those absences excused if the instructor receives notification of the situation from UGA’s office of Student Care and Outreach at the time of the situation. It is the responsibility of the student to have SCO send a message to their instructor verifying the severity of the situation.

Beyond what is described above, the only other excused absences are those listed under UGA policy 4.06, jury duty, military service, and religious observances.

Upon a student’s seventh un-excused absence (for classes that meet MWF) or upon the fifth absence (for MW and TTH classes), students will begin to incur grade penalties. Students incur no grade penalties for un-excused absences 1-6 (for classes that meet MWF) or un-excused absences 1-4 (for MW and TTH classes). For each unexcused absence in excess of six (for MWF classes) or in excess of four (for MW and TTH classes), three points will be deducted from the student’s final grade in the course.

 

Grade Appeals

It is the instructor’s responsibility to judge work and assign grades. Consequently, students with questions about final grades should first discuss those questions with their instructors. If the problem cannot be resolved in discussion, students may prepare a grade appeal in writing according to the new guidelines established by the Franklin College Bylaws, Article V. You may view the Franklin College Bylaws on the College website.

1) Students considering an appeal regarding a final grade in an FYW course should first read UGA's guidance on the academic appeals process, available on the UGA Honesty site's Grade Appeals page.

2) After final grades have been recorded, the student should first appeal to the course instructor. The appeal to the instructor should contain a cover letter explaining the grounds for the appeal, and providing all relevant supporting documentation.

3) If, after appealing to the instructor, the student is not satisfied, they may appeal to the FYW Program Director, per Department of English bylaws. In the appeal to the FYW Program Director the student should include: a) a cover letter explaining the grounds for the appeal; b) all relevant supporting documentation; c) copies of all appeal materials that were submitted to the course instructor in Step 2. The FYW Program Director will not consider appeals received more than 30 days after final grades were recorded.

 

Incompletes 

The University assigns certain grades that are not computed in the grade point average. The Incomplete (“I”) is one of these. It indicates that students have completed almost all of the course work satisfactorily but were unable to meet the full requirements of the course for reasons beyond their control.

FYW teachers must obtain permission from the FYW office before assigning an "I." When assigning Incompletes, instructors will explain in writing what students must do to finish the course. A copy of this document must be filed in the FYW office along with a signed grade change from. Students who receive Incompletes may have no longer than three semesters to complete all remaining work satisfactorily. Instructors can require that students complete work in a shorter period of time. If an “I” is not removed after three terms (including Summer), it changes to an “F.” Incompletes are assigned sparingly and at the discretion of the instructor and the Director of the First-year Writing Program when a small amount of essential work remains. An “I” is never assigned prior to mid-semester or for the purpose of allowing students to repeat courses.

 

Plus/Minus Grading

Plus and minus grades are assigned only to a student’s final average for the course. For the final course grade, the numerical range for each plus/minus grade is as follows:

 

A	4.0	(92-100)
A-	3.7	(90-91)
B+	3.3	(88-89)
B	3.0	(82-87)
B-	2.7	(80-81)
C+	2.3	(78-79)
C	2.0	(70-77)
C-	1.7	(68-69)
D	1.0	(60-67)
F	0.0	(<60)