Carnegie Mellon University

Grading Information

Helpful grading information and instructions are available on the Grade Steps & Deadlines webpage, and instructors can review the Grade Timeline (pdf) for a detailed grade schedule. 

S3 Faculty Course & Grade Information is a grade submission program that allows instructors to electronically submit or change grades within a current semester. Please note that new faculty members or instructors may need to contact their teaching department to be added to the instructor database before accessing Faculty Course & Grade Information within the S3.

Grading Resources


Final Exams

Final exams occur during the designated final exam days listed on the official academic calendar. Generally, the University Registrar's Office will post the final exam schedule by the fifth week of classes.

Additionally, exam conflict guidelines have been approved by the University Education Council (UEC), the Associate Deans' Council (ADC), and the Associate Deans for Graduate Programs (ADGP) to inform the actions of students and the decisions of instructors when foreseeable or unforeseeable conflicts arise. 

 Third mini Final Exam Schedule (pdf)

Semester & Fourth mini Final Exam Schedule (pdf)

Faculty Instructions

Faculty should contact their department administrator to request a final exam during the first week of classes. All sections of the same course, as well as cross-listed courses (unless otherwise notated) are scheduled for the same exam time and room (large courses may be assigned multiple rooms).

The final exam schedule optimizer minimizes direct and 25-hour conflicts for students. Thus, students may incur exam conflicts both foreseeable and unforeseeable.

Department Instructions

Departments notify the University Registrar's Office as to which classes have final exams via S3, set when building the Schedule of Classes and during the final exam flag review period. The SDW: final exam report by dept lists all courses given during the current semester and the status of the final exam flag for each class for each department.  The Final Exam Instructions (pdf) describe the timeline and detailed final exam flag instructions.

A snapshot of all student schedules and the flagged courses are combined and analyzed. We have two priorities in scheduling final exams:

  1. Students cannot be scheduled for two exams at the same time, and
  2. Students should not be scheduled for more than two exams per day.

All sections of the same course, as well as cross-listed courses (unless otherwise notated) are scheduled for the same time and room (large courses may be assigned multiple rooms).

The exam schedule draft is first reviewed by the associate deans for any apparent conflicts. A draft is then distributed to departments so that faculty can be notified, and so that any last-minute cancellations or adds can be reported.