Grading and Exams

MIT Sloan MBA Program students are competitive in their desire to excel academically and professionally. While this spirit can be a strong motivating force, a desire to learn and to maintain standards of integrity is equally important. Many students find that they must work harder at MIT Sloan to earn A or even B grades than they have in the past. Developing good time management skills can be crucial to success, not only in the MBA Program, but also in professional life.

MIT Sloan policy dictates that only the student may release their own academic record to a third party. MIT Sloan neither requires nor prohibits students from releasing grades to a prospective employer.

Graduate student P/D/F Grading Option

MBA students have the option once each elective semester to designate one letter graded course as Pass/D/Fail grading. The motivation for creating this option was primarily to encourage students to explore new subjects and broaden their educational experience, particularly along interdisciplinary lines. The parameters for the graduate P/D/F grading option are:

  • Any faculty member can refuse to allow graduate students in their class to take the class P/D/F (Faculty should announce their decision on the first day of class and include it in their syllabus.)
  • Students can only use the P/D/F option once per term
  • Students can only use the P/D/F option for classes that are not used to fulfill any program requirements, including unit requirements
  • Courses graded with the P/D/F option will not count toward the 144 graduate elective unit requirement but will count toward the semester unit limit

This policy only affects those graduate courses in which the established grading scheme is a letter grade. If a course is cataloged as P/D/F grading only, the above restrictions do not apply. Students may take as many catalogued P/D/F courses as they wish, and those courses will count toward their MBA program as graduate elective units.

Grades at MIT are not rigidly related to any numerical scores or distribution functions; that is, grades are not awarded solely according to predetermined percentages. In determining a student’s grade, consideration is given for elegance of presentation, creativity, imagination, and originality, where these may appropriately be called for.

Passing grades

Graduate students who satisfactorily complete the work of a subject by the end of the term receive one of the following grades:

  • A Exceptionally good performance demonstrating a superior understanding of the subject matter, a foundation of extensive knowledge, and a skillful use of concepts and/or materials.
  • B Good performance demonstrating capacity to use the appropriate concepts, a good understanding of the subject matter, and an ability to handle the problems and materials encountered in the subject.
  • C Adequate performance demonstrating an adequate understanding of the subject matter, an ability to handle relatively simple problems, and adequate preparation for moving on to more advanced work in the field.
  • D Minimally acceptable performance demonstrating at least partial familiarity with the subject matter and some capacity to deal with relatively simple problems, but also demonstrating deficiencies serious enough to make it inadvisable to proceed further in the field without additional work. Some departments require students with D-level performance in certain prerequisite subjects within the departmental program to do additional work, or to retake the prerequisite, before proceeding with the follow-on subject.
  • P When use of the passing grade P is authorized, it reflects performance at the level A, B, or C, (A+ to C- with modifiers used within MIT*) with the student graded on a P/D/F basis.

*Note that the MIT internal grading system includes plus (+) and minus (-) modifiers for use with the letter grades A, B, and C for all academic subjects (except advanced standing exams). These modifiers appear only on internal grade reports. They do not appear on transcripts and are not used in calculating term or cumulative grade-point averages. The MIT grading system for external purposes does not include modifiers.

Non-Passing Grades

The grades and notations used for subjects not passed or not completed by the end of the term are as follows:

  • F Failed. This grade also signifies that the student must repeat the subject to receive credit.
  • O Absent. This grade indicates that the student was progressing satisfactorily during the subject but was either (a) absent from the final examination or (b) absent during the last two weeks of the term (for a full-term subject) or the last week of the term (for a half-term subject), or both (a) and (b). An O grade carries no credit for the subject. Unsatisfactory performance because of absence throughout the term should be recorded as F.
  • OX Absence satisfactorily explained to and excused by the Office for Graduate Education in the case of a graduate student. The Faculty member in charge of the subject will be notified when an O is changed to an OX. An OX carries no credit for the subject. However, the Faculty member in charge must provide the student the opportunity to receive a credit-carrying grade. This may be done with or without the instructor requiring a postponed final examination or other additional evaluation procedure.
  • I Incomplete. The grade I indicates that a minor part of the subject requirements has not been fulfilled and that a passing grade is to be expected when the work is completed. The grade I for the term remains permanently on the student's record even when the subject is completed. The work should normally be completed before Add Date of the succeeding term of the regular academic year; however, the faculty member in charge, in negotiation with the student, has the right to set an earlier or later date for pedagogical reasons or extenuating circumstances. Graduate students may extend the five-week deadline with the explicit approval of the faculty member in charge.
  • J Notation assigned for work such as thesis, UROP, Special Subjects, or At Plant registration (internship or industrial practice), which has progressed satisfactorily, but has not been completed. Grade given upon completion of the work in a later term also covers this term. Faculty members must obtain approval from the Committee on Curricula or the Graduate Academic Performance Group to use the grade of J in subjects other than those mentioned above.
  • U Notation for thesis work that has not been completed and in which progress has been unsatisfactory. Grade given upon completion of the work in a later term also covers this term. Unless a student's progress improves significantly, the student may expect that grade to be failing.
  • T Temporary notation. Used for subjects which cover the equivalent of one term's work, but are scheduled over parts of two normal grading periods. Prior approval must have been obtained from the Committee on Curricula for undergraduate subjects or the Committee on Graduate Programs for graduate subjects. This notation is recorded only on the student's internal record. A permanent grade must be assigned when the subject is finished.

Other Notations

The following notations are also used on the academic record:

  • S Notation for credit awarded for work done elsewhere.
  • SA Notation for satisfactorily completed doctoral thesis. Doctoral theses are not graded.
  • DR Notation used only on the student's internal record for a subject dropped after the fifth week of the regular term for full-term subjects, or after the second week of instruction for half-term subjects.
  • LIS Notation to be used on the student’s internal record for a subject the student registered for as a listener

Alternate Grades

When a significant disruption of academic activities is declared, as described in the Rules and Regulations of the Faculty, the use of the grades below may be authorized. These grades are not included in the calculations of grade point averages.

  • PE Performance at any of the levels A, B, or C, under the circumstance of an Institute emergency closure.
  • NE Performance at the level of D or F for which no record will appear on the external transcript.
  • IE Incomplete. Indicates that a portion of the subject requirements has not been fulfilled, due to a major disruption of the Institute’s academic activities. A letter grade may be assigned if the work is subsequently completed. The grade IE remains permanently on the student’s record even when the subject is completed. To receive a letter grade, the work must be completed prior to a date set by the Chair of the Faculty. If the work is not completed prior to the established completion date, the grade will remain an IE on the student’s record and transcript. A grade of IE does not carry credit but need not be resolved prior to graduation.

Examinations