The purpose of this procedure is to give specific guidance to assist the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (WVSOM) with implementation of, and ensure institutional compliance with, WVSOM’s Institutional Policy DO-04: Grading Scale in regards to the removal of Incomplete (I) grades and the Reassessment (R) category, as those terms are defined in Institutional Policy DO-04.
This procedure applies to any situation where Incomplete grades are assigned or the Reassessment category of Institutional Policy DO-04 is triggered
WVSOM reserves the right to amend this procedure at any time.
"Lab course" means a course where a preponderance of the assessment is derived from skill-based exams (i.e., OPP1, OPP2, CS1, and CS2).
For purposes of this procedure, Incomplete and Reassessment have the same meaning as assigned to them in Institutional Policy DO-04.
The requirements for the removal of an Incomplete (I) should be obtained from the Associate Dean that assigned the course grade. A grade of “I” must be removed within the time period specified in Institutional Policy DO-04.
When the student receives an “I” due to an excused absence from the final exam, the “I” will be removed upon completion of the make-up exam.
If the grade of “I” is not removed within the appropriate time period, a grade of “F” will be recorded for the course as specified in Institutional Policy DO-04 and a grade of 65 will be entered by the Registrar in place of the “I” grade.
Students are eligible for a Reassessment (R) designation when:
their grade at the end of a Year 1, Year 2, or Year 3 course is less than 70% (excluding lab courses, Prep Tracks and OSCEs);
they have received an initial score below 70% in a Year 1 or Year 2 course or less than the set standard score for a Year 3 COMAT test. For Year 1 or Year 2 courses, the Reassessment may cover all course material and the material to be covered will be designated by the course director. The Reassessment will be at a similar level of difficulty as the original assessment, but may be in the form of a multiple-choice exam, fill in the blank, oral, or any other format chosen by the course director after consultation with the teaching faculty;
had they received a score equal to the set standard score on the Year 3 COMAT exam, they would have received a grade of 70% or greater for the course; and
they have no other current R grades.
If a student is eligible for a Reassessment designation, a grade of R must be submitted to the Registrar at the end of the course by the appropriate Associate Dean. The time allotted for preparation and reexamination will be included in detail in the course syllabus and must occur within its scheduled time period.
Reexamination consists of student self-guided, independent study of the course material, followed by an examination requiring a grade of 70.0% or greater in Year 1 or Year 2 or a score equal to or greater than the set standard score on the Year 3 COMAT exam. Failure to achieve a 70.0% or greater in Year 1 or Year 2 or a score equal to or greater than the set standard score on the Year 3 COMAT exam results in the original course grade being entered by the Registrar in place of the R grade.
A student who is successful on the reassessment in achieving a 70.0% or greater in Year 1 or Year 2 or a score equal to or greater than the set standard score on the Year 3 COMAT exam will have their R grade converted to a course grade of 70% that will be recorded on the student’s transcript. The original course grade will not appear on the student’s transcript. A student who is unable to reassess at the scheduled time for any reason will have their R grade reverted to the original course grade.
A student may have only one course grade of R at any one time. Only one R grade is allowed per academic year in Year 3. If a student has an R grade for a course that has not been removed, any subsequent course grade of <70% will be considered a course failure and may not be reassessed. An R grade cannot be assigned if a course ends after the last reassessment period of the academic year.
A student is not eligible for assignment of an R grade if the initial course failure was due to a violation of WVSOM’s standards of academic integrity (cheating, plagiarism, etc.) or other professionalism issue.
A student may only reassess one course per reassessment period and may remediate only one course per academic year. A course must be reassessed in the same semester in which it occurred. A student with one course failure at the end of the first semester who then receives an R grade during the second semester must successfully remove the R grade before being allowed to remediate the failed course. If that student does not successfully remove the R grade they will be remanded to the Student Promotions Committee and viewed as having two course failures.