Section Contents

1. Numerical Grade
2. Mandatory Grading Curve
3. Alternate Grading Frameworks
4. Consequences of failing a course
5. Class Ranking
6. Miscellaneous Grading Marks
7. Grade review and adjustment; course complaints

A. Numerical Grade¹

Adopted 4/2004; amended 11/2005.

Except as otherwise provided, a numerical grade shall be assigned to each student in each course. Unless otherwise provided, this numerical grade shall be recorded in the permanent records of the University as the grade received in the course and shall be shown, together with an average of all grades received in the semester (weighted in accordance with the number of semester hours in each course) on the grade sheet given to the student.

As a norm, the highest grade awarded at the College of Law will be 4.0. A grade as high as 4.3 may be awarded, however, to reflect an extraordinary performance by a student. Performance will not be deemed sufficiently outstanding to warrant a grade above 4.0 merely because the performance is substantially better than other performances in the class.

The lowest grade awarded at the College of Law will be 1.5. No academic credit shall be given for a grade below 1.8 or a grade of “Fail.”

A numerical grade may be translated into a letter grade for purposes of comparison as follows:

• 4.3–4.2: A+
• 4.1–3.9: A
• 3.8–3.6: A-
• 3.5–3.3: B+
• 3.2–3.0: B
• 2.9–2.7: B-
• 2.6–2.4: C+
• 2.3–2.1: C
• 2.0–1.8: D
• 1.7–1.5: F

Professors may disenroll a student for cause, or reduce a student’s grade for inappropriate academic conduct (e.g., plagiarism). Any such measure would be subject to appropriate due process. See Policy on Misconduct.

B. Mandatory Grading Curve

Adopted 4/2006.

The faculty has adopted the following grading policy for all courses in the College of Law:

(a)

The following grading norms shall be followed in all courses in the College of Law, except as otherwise provided below:

The median grade in a class shall be 3.3, with the following distribution:

(b)

When awarding grades at the extremes of the scale (i.e., “A+” grades or “D/F” grades), faculty members must exercise their own judgment concerning what performances are outstanding (A+) or seriously deficient (D, F). To the extent a faculty member’s grades at the extremes are below the distributional norms, the distribution of grades at adjacent grade levels can be adjusted to achieve the overall distributional norms of 25% of grades at the A+/A/A- level and 25% of grades at “B-” or below.

(c)

For upper-level courses with fewer than 30 students in which the final grade is based primarily on a final examination, an alternative curve is mandatory. The median grade in such courses shall be between 3.2 and 3.4, with the following distribution:

(d)

The curve is not applicable in upper-level seminars and other upper-level classes in which a student’s grade is based primarily on the student’s performance on graded skills-oriented tasks (including writing) other than a final examination.

(e)

Adopted 5/2005.

The median grade in the LAWR course shall be between 3.2 and 3.4, with the following mandatory distribution:

(f)

There shall be no deviations from this policy without showing good cause to the Dean of the College of Law.

C. Alternate Grading Frameworks

Amended 11/1983; 4/1998; 3/1999; 3/2005; 12/2017; 9/2024.

1. The following are categorical exceptions to the general rule that a numerical grade shall be assigned to each student in each course.
   1. Credit-bearing activities designated as co-curricular activities, including credit hours for the Iowa Law Review, Journal of Corporation Law, Journal of Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems, the Journal of Gender, Race & Justice, Appellate Advocacy I (LAW:9010), the Van Oosterhout/Baskerville Domestic Competition (LAW:9021) and the Jessup International Moot Court Competition (LAW:9038), Moot Court Board and Trial Advocacy Board, shall be graded on a pass/fail basis.
   2. Advanced Moot Court Competition Team: Baskerville Team (LAW:9037:0001), Advanced Moot Court Competition Team: Environmental Law Team (LAW:9037:0002), and Jessup Moot Court Competition Team (LAW:9028) shall be graded on a pass/fail basis.
   3. Introduction to Law & Legal Reasoning and Tutorial for Foreign-Trained Lawyers: Introduction to US Law & Legal System shall be graded on a pass/fail basis.
   4. Advanced Legal Research courses may be graded pass/fail or numerically at the option of the instructor.
   5. Trial Advocacy courses may be graded pass/fail or numerically at the option of the instructor.
   6. The SJD Tutorial and SJD Independent Research and Writing shall be graded on an Honors/Pass/Fail basis.
   7. The field work component of a field placement shall be graded pass/fail.
   8. The 3-credit summer legal placement program shall be graded pass/fail.
2. Other courses may be offered pass-fail, but only upon approval by the Faculty. An instructor seeking to offer a course on a pass/fail basis must demonstrate to the Faculty a compelling reason for departing from the standard policy that a numerical grade shall be assigned to each student in each course at the College of Law. Courses may not be approved as pass-fail on a lay-on-the-table basis.
3. Faculty are required to award a numerical grade for a failure in a pass-fail course.
4. A course that is taken outside the College of Law for credit towards a law degree shall be graded according to the course’s standard grading practices. These grades will appear on the student’s transcript but shall not be used in computing a law student’s cumulative average. A pass or minimum grade of “C” is required for law school credit.

D. Consequences of failing a course

1. Students who fail LAWR I or LAWR II

Adopted 5/2011.

A student who earns a grade of lower than 1.8 in LAWR I or withdraws from LAWR I is not eligible to take LAWR II. A student who has not earned a grade of at least 1.8 in both LAWR I and LAWR II is referred to the Retention Committee.

2. Students who fail a required or upper division course

Amended 12/2010.

No academic credit shall be given for a grade below 1.8 or for a grade of Fail. A student who fails a required course must repeat the course, with a different professor if possible. Both enrollments and both final grades earned in the course will appear on the students’ transcript. If a student retakes a required course, both grades will be included in the calculation of the student’s GPA. A student who earns less than a grade of 2.1 in the retaken course shall be referred to the Retention Committee.

A student who fails a non-required course may repeat the course with the permission of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. The grade on the retaking, however, shall be recorded as a “Pass” or “Fail” and shall not be used in computing the student’s cumulative average. To receive a “Pass” in a course which is retaken, the student must earn a grade of 2.1 or better.

E. Class Ranking

Amended 1/2018.

Students are not ranked until they complete their first year of study. Thereafter, rankings are done at the end of every semester, once all grades are reported. The following system of ranking students by their grade point averages shall be in effect:

1. (a) The top ten percent in each class may be informed of their exact rank.
2. (b) The grade point averages at the 12.5 percentile and 37.5 percentile will be posted; and
3. (c) The above will constitute the entire ranking system.

Students will be ranked following the fall semester and spring semesters each year. Final class standing will be based on the ranking in September and will include students who completed all graduation requirements in August, May and the previous December. For purposes of ranking underclass students, the same system shall be used based upon the expected date of graduation.

F. Miscellaneous Grading Marks

The effect of marks other than Pass and Fail and numerical grades in all courses shall be as follows:

“W” equals withdrawn. This grade carries no course hours. This grade shall not be used in computing the cumulative average and shall be awarded only:

1. upon withdrawal from the College;
2. if the student remains registered in the College but is dropped from the course by the instructor; or
3. if the student remains registered in the College but withdraws from a course as permitted by these rules. Withdrawal without obtaining the requisite permission shall result in the awarding of a grade of 1.5 for the course.

“I” denotes incomplete. This grade carries no course hours toward a degree until changed to either a numerical grade or, where permitted, a pass/fail grade. This grade shall not be used in computing the cumulative average. A grade of “I” may be reported only in exceptional cases and then only if the unfinished part of the student’s work in a course is small, the work is unfinished for reasons acceptable to the instructor, and the student’s standing in the course is satisfactory. Grades of “I” which are not completed by the end of the semester following the initial entry of the “I,” not including summer, shall automatically be converted by the Registrar to a 1.5 or an “F,” depending on whether the course is graded or pass/fail, unless the supervising faculty member gives express written permission, upon a showing of good cause by the student receiving the “I,” to extend the “I” for another semester. The burden of seeking an extension of the “I” shall be on the student, and not the Registrar or the supervising faculty member. In any event, an “I” shall not be extended beyond three semesters following the initial entry of the “I,” whether or not the student is in residence. With the express written permission of the supervising faculty member, an “I” may be converted to a “W” unless doing so would be inconsistent with other rules relating to grading policy.

A mark of “R” (denoting registered, course in progress) is reported if the student is registered for a year-long course or program (such as a seminar or a journal) and has completed the first semester of the course or program satisfactorily, but a grade cannot be assigned until the second half of the course or program is completed.

G. Grade review and adjustment; course complaints

1. After final grades in a course are released, students with questions about their final exams, papers or projects are encouraged to discuss those questions with the course instructor.
2. Students may request a review of a final examination, final paper or final project. Ordinarily, the purpose of the review is for the purposes of furthering the learning objectives of the examination or other work product, helping the student improve performance on future examinations or work product and to ensure that a clerical error was not made. Student requests must be made in writing to the course instructor within 30 days of the release of the final course grade. Instructors receiving such a request must meet, either in person or electronically, with the student within a reasonable period of time, taking into account issues such as phased retirements and faculty leaves of absence.
3. In the event of a clerical error discovered after final grades are submitted that is of the magnitude as to call for a grade change, the course instructor shall adjust the grade appropriately up or down, and shall provide a written explanation of the reason for the change to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
4. Other than changes to final grades made due to the discovery of a clerical error, a final grade shall not be changed except by the instructor in extraordinary circumstances. If an instructor changes a final grade due to the existence of extraordinary circumstances, the instructor must provide a written explanation of the reason for the change to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
5. In making any change to a course grade after final grades are submitted, the instructor shall consider the effect any such change would have on the grades of the other students in the class, and seek to avoid unfairness to those students.
6. Student complaints relating to violations of College of Law or university policies, including but not limited to concerns about bias or inappropriate discrimination, should follow the procedures provided in the University of Iowa Policy Manual. (See also Section (XVII)(B), on Student Complaints about the College’s Program of Legal Education.) Students may contact the Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Dean of the College of Law, or College of Law or university ombudpersons for advice and guidance in navigating College of Law and university policies. Complaints for violations of College of Law policies relating to a course must be made in writing to the Dean within 60 days of the release of the final grade in that course.

Notes

1. Prior to 2004, the College of Law used a 55–92 point scale.  In 2004, the grading system was changed to a 1.4–4.3 point scale.  That scale was further refined in 2005 to range from 1.5–4.3 points.  The current curve was adopted in 2006.  Consistent with past practice, pre-2004/2005 grade values in pre-2005 policies have been translated to post-2005 grade values.

   On March 23, 2020, the faculty adopted the following policy: “As a result of the extraordinary circumstances resulting from the COVID-19 coronavirus, the regular grading policy of the College of Law is suspended for all courses for the Spring 2020 semester.  All spring semester College of Law courses will be graded on a pass/fail basis. This policy does not apply to intersession courses that have already been offered.”