In accordance with the precautionary measures recommended by the Ministry of Health to prevent and control the spread of the Corona pandemic (COVID 19); and based on the resolution of His Excellency the Minister of Education No. 79305 dated  08 Mar 2020, stipulating the suspension of study in all public and private education institutions and universities, and the public and private technical and vocational training corporation beginning on Monday  08 Mar 2020 with the activation of virtual classes and distance education. The University Council, at its seventh session, held on 22 Mar 2020, and the eighth session, held on 21 Apr 2020, adopted a package of decisions and procedures in line with the instructions of the Ministry of Education under the exceptional circumstances, as follows:

First: Academic procedures for undergraduate students:

1. Continuing the educational process by fully activating virtual classes and distance education.
2. Unconditional exemption from courses’ deprivation for this semester.
3. The academic GPA of this semester is not included in the academic warning calculation.
4. Exemption from the regulations of semester’s withdrawal as well as one or more courses’ withdrawal in the semester.
5. Excluding the number of times of the student’s course withdrawals in this semester within his/her career at the university
6. Excluding this semester’s withdrawal within the maximum period for obtaining the stipend and honors degree and taking them into consideration in the maximum duration, for the student’s benefit, to complete the graduation requirements.
7.  Protraction academic requests deadline, such as course or semester withdrawal, until Thursday 23 Apr 2020.

 

Second: Academic procedures for graduate students:

1.  Approval to dropping of supplementary courses and exclude this semester from the period approved for the study of supplementary courses.
2.  Approval to dropping of the study plan’s courses without considering the minimum required hours remaining.
3.  Excluding the second semester of the academic year 2019/2020 from the academic opportunities granted to the student.
4. Excluding academic requests for the second semester of the academic year 2019/2020 from the number of academic requests permitted for the student during his academic career at the university.
5. Excluding the second semester of the academic year 2019/2020 from the specific time periods related to scientific theses.
6. Allow postponement of taking the comprehensive exam scheduled in the second semester of the academic year 2019/2020 to the first semester of the academic year 2020/2021, without counting this delay as one of the available postponement opportunities.
7.  Protraction academic requests periods, such as course withdrawal or semester withdrawal, until Thursday 23 Apr 2020.

 

Third: Mechanism of courses evaluation and calculation of GPA in the second semester of 2019/2020 at King Saud University:

1. The assigned course marks to the semester work is 80 and for the final evaluation is 20.
2.  Record the combined grade for the second semester of the academic year 2019/2020, which is the grade that combines the grading system with the system of no grade pass (NP) or no grade fail (NF), which appears in the academic record and is not calculated in the GPA.
3. The grades earned by students in each course are calculated as follows:

 

 

Mark out of 100	Grade	Weigh
95 - 100	A+	5.00
90 less than 95	A	4.75
85 less than 90	B+	4.50
80 less than 85	B	4.00
75 less than 80	C+	3.50
70 less than 75	C	3.00
65 less than 70	D+	2.50
60 less than 65	D	2.00

4. Calculating the semester GPA by comparing the weight of the grade obtained by the student in each course with the current cumulative GPA. The combined grade of the student is recorded as follows:

           •  Record the grade obtained by the student in the course and include it in calculation of the new GPA if the weight of the grade is greater than or equal to the GPA.

           •  Record the grade (pass without a grade) in the course and it does not record in calculating the new GPA if the weight of the grade is less than the student's GPA.

           • If a diploma, an associate, or a bachelor degree student earned a final mark less than 60, a grade of (fail without a grade) is recorded and the grade does not record into the calculation

               of the new GPA.

           • If a higher diploma, a master or a doctorate student earned a final mark less than 70, a grade of (fail without a grade) is recorded and the grade does not record into the calculation

               of the new GPA.

     5. All courses of the first common year are recorded by a system (pass without a grade / fail without a grade).

     6. A student who does not have a GPA will be subjected according to the grading system (pass without a grade / fail without a grade).

     7. The recorded courses results for the student (pass without a grade / fail without a grade) will not be calculated in the student's GPA until graduation; and it will not affect the student's

          eligibility for honors degree.

     Example (1): At the end of the first semester in 2019/2020, a student claimed 3.24 as a GPA (60 acquired hours) and obtained the following marks in some of the courses, grades are recorded as follows:

Course	Hours	Mark out of 100	Current Grade	Combined Grade
PS 234	3	77	C+	C+
PS 321	3	73	C	NP
PS 323	3	90	A	A
PS 331	3	57	F	NF
PS 355	3	62	D	NP
Semester GPA			2.85	4.13
Cumulative  GPA			3.16	3.32

 

 

Frequent Asked Questions:

Question: How was the student’s combined grade calculated for course PS 234?

Answer: The grade is calculated by comparing the weight of the grade that the student earned in the course (which is 3.5) with the GPA (which is 3.24); As the weight of the estimate is greater than the GPA, the approved grade (C +) was recorded.

Question: How was the student’s combined grade calculated for course PS 321?

Answer: The weight of the grade earned by the student in the course (which is 3) was compared to the GPA (which is 3.24), and since the weight of the earned grade is less than the GPA, the grade was not recorded and a pass without a grade (NP) is recorded.

Question: How was the student's semester and cumulative GPAs calculated in the combined system?

Answer: Since the grades were not recorded for the student except in two courses (PS 234 and PS 323), then the semester average is calculated as follows:

Combined semester average = (3.5 * 3 + 4.75 * 3) / (3 + 3) = 24.75 / 6 = 4.13

Combined GPA = (3.24 * 60 + 24.75) / (60 + 6) = 219.15 / 66 = 3.32

 

Example (2): A student has a GPA (3.90) at the end of the first semester 2019/2020 (87 acquired hours) and he has earned the following marks in a number of courses. grades are recorded as follows:

Course	Hours	Mark out of 100	Current Grade	Combined Grade
101 MATH	3	85	4.50	B+
205 EE	3	77	3.50	NP
307 CHEM	3	83	4.00	B
109 ENGL	6	90	4.75	A
306 PHYS	4	58	1.00	NF
Semester GPA			3.61	4.5
Cumulative  GPA			3.85	3.97

 

Example (3): A student who does not have a GPA and earned the following marks in a number of courses. Grades are recorded as follows:

Course	Hours	Mark out of 100	Current Grade	Combined Grade
ENGL 1101	9	85	4.50	NP
LAW 1234	3	77	3.50	NP
LAW 1232	3	83	4.00	NP
LAW 1101	3	90	4.75	NP
COM 1101	2	58	1.00	NF
Semester GPA			3.96
Cumulative  GPA			3.96

 

Example (4): The GPA for a graduate student at the end of the first semester of the academic year 2019/2020 is 4.31 and the number of acquired hours is 26 hours, and he earned the following marks in a number of courses. Grades are recorded as follows:

Course	Hours	Mark out of 100	Current Grade	Combined Grade
ED 500	3	83	4	NP
ED 508	2	85	4.50	B+
ED 555	2	91	4.75	A
ED 558	2	68	2.50	NF
Semester GPA			3.94	4.63
Cumulative  GP			4.22	4.35