The faculty has adopted a four-point grading system with 12 levels as follows:

Bethel strives to maintain a grading system that accurately reflects the quality of a student’s work and capacity for advanced study. Students are expected to demonstrate graduate-level writing skills, including correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation in all coursework, and to fulfill course requirements as listed in the course syllabus. Professors are encouraged to define their grading criteria and policy on late work and incompletes in the course syllabus. Grades will be assigned using the full range of letter grades (A-F), representing the following levels of performance:

A: Excellent work submitted, evidence of outstanding ability to synthesize and use course knowledge, consistent evidence of creativity and originality, insightful contributions in class, consistent demonstration of integrative and critical thinking skills, regular class attendance, and respectful interaction.

B: Good work submitted, evidence of substantial ability to analyze and use course knowledge, evidence of creativity and originality, thoughtful contributions in class, demonstration of integrative and critical thinking skills, regular class attendance, and respectful interaction.

C: Acceptable work submitted, evidence of adequate ability to analyze and use course knowledge, appropriate contributions in class, attempts at integration and critique, regular class attendance, and respectful interaction. A grade of C represents satisfactory performance. Students are required to hold a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 or higher (C average) to graduate with a degree from Bethel.

D: Poor work submitted, little evidence of ability to analyze and use course knowledge, inconsistent evidence of mastery of course content, few contributions in class, no attempts at integration and critique, inconsistent class attendance, and respectful interaction.

F: Inadequate work submitted, insufficient evidence of ability to analyze and use course knowledge, inappropriate and/or disrespectful contributions in class, poor class attendance, or failure to complete course requirements. The grade of F may be superseded by a second grade when the student retakes the course. The first F remains on the transcript but is removed from computation of the grade point average.

AU: Audit   See the Auditing Courses section of this catalog for requirements. Students who do not meet the requirements will be graded WZ.

I or IN: Incomplete   See the Incomplete section of this catalog for details.

P: Pass. C work or above in a course without grade points. 

The following stipulations apply to P/F courses: 

• Students are typically allowed to take no more than three advanced-level courses on a Pass/Fail basis. However, students may take more than three Pass/Fail courses if they take more than the minimum number of courses required for graduation in that degree program.
• No core courses may be taken on a Pass/Fail basis.
• Students taking a concentration in the Master of Arts or the Master of Divinity program may not take P/F courses in that concentration.
• If Pass/Fail is an option for a course, the decision to take a course Pass/Fail must be made within the first two weeks of the term. Students should contact their student success advisor to complete a request form for this purpose. 
• The work in a Pass/Fail course must be at least C level for a grade of Pass.
• The professor has the prerogative to require a letter grade if he or she feels that the material involved demands such evaluation.  

W: The grade W is given to a student who officially withdraws from a course by the withdrawal deadline, which is approximately 60% of the total course length.  After the withdrawal deadline, students will receive the grade they have earned. Grades of W do not affect the Grade Point Average (GPA).  

S/U: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory.

IP, NR, and N: the grades of IP (In Progress), NR (Not Reported), and N (Not Graded) are generated for administrative use only.