Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Audits and Pass-Not Pass

Audits and Pass-Not Pass give you the option of learning the material in a course without the pressure of a grade affecting your GPA. There are some important differences between taking a course as an audit and taking it pass-not pass, so please read the description of each carefully.

Audits

Auditing means you are enrolling in a course without receiving a grade or credit for that course. An audit counts for credit in terms of ISU billing, but does not count towards maintaining full-time status.

This option should generally be used only to take a course for which you have some interest, but that has no impact on your degree plan, or you are totally unfamiliar with the subject area and want a "trial run."

Audits do not count towards your degree program, and the course can be taken again for credit. They do not appear on your permanent record, unless you make a special request through your advisor and can demonstrate active participation in the course. Audits do give you the same rights and privileges of any other student taking the course.

Audits cannot be added through AccessPlus; you must have the instructor's signature on an add/drop slip. Audits must be declared within the first ten days of class (see the Academic Calendar for deadlines).

If you change a class from credit to audit, you are officially dropping the class and adding it as an audit. This means you will use one of your drops if you change to an audit after the first week of the semester.

Pass-Not Pass (P-NP)

Pass-Not Pass (not to be confused with Satisfactory/Fail) means you are enrolled in a course for credit, but are being graded on a P-NP basis instead of a normal letter grade. P-NP counts as credit for both ISU billing and for maintaining full-time status.

This option should be used only to take a course for which you have some interest, but you do not intend on using it for your degree program.

There are many rules governing taking courses P-NP, but most students can decide whether or not to even consider this option by asking themselves two questions:

  • Do I want to apply this course to my degree program? The ECpE department does not allow P-NP credit to apply toward a student's degree program.
  • Is this class required for my major? Once you have taken a course P-NP, you can never retake it for credit. This means you can't take any required courses on a P-NP basis.

If you answered no to both of those questions, then you should consult with your advisor about taking a course P-NP. Courses can be changed to P-NP until the drop deadline (see the Academic Calendar), and you only need your advisor's signature.

Your instructor does not know that you are taking the course P-NP; they will still consider you a student taking the course for credit.

Once final grades are submitted, the registrar's office will change your letter grade to P or NP, and a D- or higher is required to receive a P.

P-NP courses do appear on your permanent record.

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