Using the Spring 2021 Alternative Grade Calculator & Request Tool

The Alternative Grade Calculator & Request tool, accessed through LionPATH, is for undergraduate students to investigate GPA implications of selecting alternative grades for courses and, if choosing alternative grades, to finalize their selections. Students are strongly encouraged to discuss the implications of these decisions with their advisers prior to finalizing their selections.

The tool will be available from May 12, when grades will be finalized, until May 21, at 11:59 PM EDT. Students will be able to access the tool to explore options but will need to submit their selections to make them permanent. Students can finalize the selection of alternative grading for a particular course and return to the tool to select this for another course. However, once alternative grading has been selected for a specific course, this decision cannot be reversed within the tool.

The following instructions detail how to use the tool in LionPATH.

one Step 1

To access the Spring 2021 Alternative Grade Calculator & Request tool, log into LionPATH and click the link in the Grades section.

Screenshot of the Alternative Grade Calculator link in the LionPATH menu.

two Step 2

When you first open the Alternative Grade Calculator & Request tool, you will see, under "Current Information" information about your GPA, as well as grades that have been posted to your record. From here you can calculate impacts of choosing alternative grades. Alternative Grades are displayed based upon your current recorded grade.

See below for a view of what you will see on this page in LionPATH.

Screenshot of the Alternative Grade Calculator & Request tool.

three Step 3

To explore the effect of selecting alternative grading for a course on your list, select the "Alternative Grade" and click the "Calculate" button. In this example, detailed below, the student is choosing to explore the changes for CMLIT 400Y (F grade to a Z grade).

Screenshot highlighting how to test the effect of choosing alternative grades.

four Step 4

In this example, by choosing the alternative grades, the student would have a Term GPA change from a 2.27 to a 2.83 and a Cumulative GPA change from a 3.04 to a 3.13. In addition, they have 110.0 total credits towards their GPA. The picture below shows where the newly calculated information appears on the screen.

Screenshot highlighting the output of GPA calculation in the Alternative Grade Calculator.

five Step 5

A student can continue to choose different courses and calculate the effects of alternative grading on their GPA. In the example below, the student chose additional alternative grades for APLNG 200.

Screenshot highlighting how to choose additional courses for alternative grading in the Alternative Grade Calculator.

six Step 6

When clicking calculate, changes can be seen to the Term GPA, Cumulative GPA, and Total Units Toward GPA. As detailed below, the Term GPA changes from a 2.27 to a 3.44 and the Cumulative GPA changes from a 3.04 to a 3.19.

Screenshot highlighting the output of GPA calculation in the Alternative Grade Calculator.

seven Step 7

When the final decision has been made to change a course grade to an alternative grade, click the alternative grade(s) and click the "Submit Request" button, as highlighted below.

Screenshot showing how to submit alternative grade request in the Alternative Grade Calculator.

eight Step 8

The confirmation page will display the submitted requests. After reviewing the information, you will need to confirm your request by clicking the "Process Request" button. If you chose to not make the changes, click "Cancel".

Some students may wish to consider keeping their letter grades for future applications to graduate, law or medical school, or for professional licensing reasons. Students are strongly encouraged to consult with an academic adviser to discuss these or other concerns when electing to request an alternative grade.

Screenshot showing the confirmation screen in the Alternative Grade Calculator.

nine Step 9

After clicking on the "Process Request" button, you will receive a results notification.

Click "Return" to see the changes, as detailed below.

Screenshot showing the results notification in the Alternative Grade Calculator.

ten Step 10

When you click "Return", you will see that your official grade has been changed to the alternative grade and you can no longer make any changes to those specific courses. Your current information reflects your submitted changes to alternative grades. You can continue to change additional courses to alternative grades through May 21.

Below is a detail of how information will appear after changes have been submitted and saved to the Alternative Grade Calculator & Request tool.

Screenshot showing how information appears once alternative grade selections are submitted in the Alternative Grade Calculator.

NOTE: If you have an Academic Integrity violation for any course this semester, your selections will be reviewed manually, as these courses will be put on hold. Course unaffected by these holds will be processed as you requested.