Revised June 28, 2022
BPK Grading Policy
In BPK, summative assessment of student learning fulfills many purposes:
(i) it provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate and celebrate their learning;
(ii) through the iterative process of student work and instructor feedback, it provides a learning
opportunity;
(iii) it provides a means for instructors to assess student learning, enabling the documentation and
discrimination of learning achievements, and permitting the fair assignment of course grades.
Grading should be conducted in a transparent, fair and consistent manner. Grading should be equivalent
between course sections with different instructors, across consecutive offerings of courses with the same
instructor, and across different formats for the same course (on-campus and online).
Instructors should make plain in the course outline the general means by which grades will be assigned
(assessment format, expectations, and relative weighting for final grades). Additional work will not be
considered in lieu of grading criteria as outlined.
Typical grade boundaries, mean grades and distributions for lower and upper division courses can be seen
below. It is expected that grades will approximately fit a normal distribution, with discrimination between
learners of differing ability, and that letter grades will correspond approximately to the percentage scores
provided.
However, scaling of grades may be necessary, particularly to enable instructors to incorporate novel
pedagogical approaches in their teaching and assessments that may produce unusual distributions of
percentage scores when first implemented, or to ensure equivalency between courses or instructors,
without unfair advantage or disadvantage to students. Accordingly, BPK instructors have the right to scale
grades. Additionally, grades are subject to approval by the Chair of BPK, who may require that grades be
scaled, particularly in cases where the distribution of grades is not normal, or where effective
discrimination between learners has not been achieved. For this reason, students should not assume that
a specific percentage score will be always associated with a specific letter grade. In the case of scaling of
grades, student ranking within a class will not be affected.
Instructors will consult with the Associate Chair if a significant scaling of grades is being considered. Typical
grade boundaries, mean grades and grade distribution are all important components of the BPK Grading
Policy that should be used collectively when scaling grades.
Further details on grading and the reconsideration of grades can be found in SFU Policy T20.01
(http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/teaching/t20-01.html).
Revised June 28, 2022
Sample Grade Distribution (%)
SFU Definition
Excellent
Performance
Good
Performance
Satisfactory
Performance
Marginal
Performance
Unsatisfactory
Performance
Grade
Range (%)
Numerical Equivalent Lower Division
Upper Division
A+
>=92
4.33
5
5
A
87-91
4.00
7
13
A-
82-86
3.67
10
13
B+
78-81
3.33
11
14
B
74-77
3.00
15
17
B-
70-73
2.67
15
10
C+
65-69
2.33
12
10
C
60-64
2.00
7
8
C-
55-59
1.67
7
5
D
50-54
1.00
5
3
F
<50
0.00
6
2
Table 1 Typical grade distribution in Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology All grade categories should be
considered when assigning grades. The percentage ranges provided represent those expected when
effective discrimination between learners has been achieved. Typical lower division course mean grade
~65-76% (C+/B-) with ~5-15% D/F category. Typical upper division course mean grade ~70-80% (B/B+)
with ~2-7% D/F category.