Aegrotat (ungraded) pass

You can apply for an aegrotat if you were likely to pass a course, but couldn’t complete your final assessment(s) due to special personal circumstances.

Applying for an aegrotat pass should be a ‘last resort option’ for when:

  • you were otherwise on track to pass a course, and
  • due to special personal circumstances—such as illness, injury, sudden hardship, bereavement or other trauma—you are unable to either:
    1. take or prepare for a final test/exam, or
    2. complete a piece of assessment due in the last three weeks of teaching or during the final exam/assessment period.

If your special personal circumstances allow, you should sit your exams or tests and do as much as you can towards your assessments. Apply in advance for an aegrotat if you suspect your seriously impaired performance will cause you to fail a course that you were expected to pass.

Talk to your Student Success Adviser as they can provide support and help you to explore your options before you apply for an aegrotat. These options might include asking your course coordinator if an alternative assessment could replace the one you were unable to complete or one that you failed due to impaired performance.

An aegrotat pass for a course will appear on your academic transcript as a 'G', an ungraded pass. Find out how this will affect the calculation of your GPA.

On this page:

Before you apply

In the first instance, you should talk to your course coordinator before you apply for an aegrotat pass. In general, you should only apply if:

  • You were on track to pass the course, as estimated by your course coordinator, before you experienced special personal circumstances.
  • You aren’t able to complete an alternative assessment as provided by your course coordinator or there aren’t any options for alternative assessment.
  • Your course coordinator is unable to re-weight your previous assessment items in line with the regulations set out in the University’s Assessment Handbook.

If you weren’t likely to have passed the course—for example, if you haven’t handed in many assignments—you are unlikely to be successful in your application for an aegrotat pass.

Applying to make a late withdrawal from the course might be an alternative to applying for an aegrotat if you were making satisfactory academic progress during the trimester. Your application will be considered by your faculty’s Associate Dean and you will need to provide proof that you were experiencing personal circumstances that impaired your ability to complete the course.

Contact your Student Success Adviser for advice. They may be able to assist you with your application for a late withdrawal.

Teacher education exception

You can apply for an aegrotat pass for most courses, but teacher education students cannot apply for an aegrotat pass for any course that is part of a teacher education programme. There is an alternative process available—contact the Faculty of Education office for further information.

Assessments covered by the aegrotat process

You can apply for an aegrotat pass for a course when your special personal circumstances have had an impact on your ability to sit or complete assessments that are due or take place within the last three teaching weeks or within the final exam/assessment period.

You can’t apply for an aegrotat pass if your assessment is due before the start of this time period. The table below lists the time periods for each trimester.

If your course is...You can apply for an aegrotat pass relating to assessment(s)...
In Trimester 1 within the last three weeks of teaching or during an exam/assessment period
In Trimester 2 within the last three weeks of teaching or during an exam/assessment period
Full year within the last three weeks of teaching or during the final exam/assessment period
In Trimester 3 within the last three weeks of teaching

How to apply for an aegrotat pass

First, check that all of these statements are true:

  • You've read the information on this page.
  • You've discussed your situation with your course coordinator.
  • You've decided that applying for an aegrotat pass for the course is your best option.

When to apply

You can apply as soon as you experience special personal circumstances and you've explored all your other options. You don't have to wait until after the last test, exam, or assessment has taken place.

The last day you can submit an aegrotat application is 10 working days after your last test, exam, or assessment submission date.

Late applications may be considered in some circumstances. Check with your Student Success Adviser. You will need to provide a reason why your application is late.

Email your application

To apply for an aegrotat, you need to provide:

  • your name and ID number
  • the name and number of your course(s)
  • the name of the coordinator for the course(s)
  • the item(s) of assessment that have been affected—the assessment needs to have been due in the last three weeks of teaching or during the final exam/assessment period
  • your reason for applying—you need to describe the special personal circumstances that have (or will) impair your ability to complete the assessment(s)
  • an explanation of why completing an alternative assessment wasn't possible—summarise the discussion you had with your course coordinator
  • evidence or documentation supporting your special personal circumstances.

Once you've assembled all this information, email it to aegrotats@vuw.ac.nz. If you're applying for an aegrotat for more than one course, it's helpful if you send a separate email for each application. You'll receive a confirmation email once your application is received.

Evidence of impairment

You'll need to provide appropriate evidence of the impairment that has affected your ability to complete the assessment.

If your special personal circumstances involve illness, a medical certificate from a registered health professional would be appropriate.

You can either make an appointment at Mauri Ora—Student Health and Student Counselling or choose a relevant external health professional, for example, a general practitioner (GP) or other doctor, nurse, physiotherapist, or midwife. If you choose an external health professional you'll need to ask them to fill in the Aegrotat Certificate of Impairment form and email it to you.

How we assess your application

To consider your application, the University needs to be sure you have largely met the learning outcomes for your course. We look at:

  • The assessments you have completed so far in the course. If you have missed much of the course or haven't participated in previous assessments, your application is likely to be declined.
  • Your achievements relative to others in your class.
  • Whether there is evidence of the circumstances of your impairment, for example, a medical certificate.

You can find the full details in the University’s Assessment Handbook.

When applications are processed

The Aegrotats Processing team will hold your application until final grades are released.

During the time between the release of final grades and a decision being made, your record for the course(s) will either display a fail grade or ‘GP’ (grade pending).

  • If you passed the course despite your impairment, your aegrotat application will stop. Your record will be updated with your grade.
  • If you failed the course, your aegrotat application will proceed, and be assessed as described below.

Who makes the decisions

The main decision-maker for each aegrotat application is an Associate Dean from the relevant faculty. The Associate Dean will receive information and a recommendation from the coordinator for each course.

Your health provider can’t approve your application for an aegrotat pass. Their role is to assess whether your illness, injury, or other special circumstances during the relevant period warrants the University to consider your application. Beyond this threshold, the severity of your condition will not have an impact on the outcome of your application.

How the decision making process works

  1. Your application is reviewed by the Associate Dean. They will look at your reasons for applying and the evidence of impairment that you've supplied.
  2. If the Associate Dean judges that your application should proceed, they will inform your course coordinator. The Associate Dean won't share your reasons for applying or the evidence you supplied.
  3. Your course coordinator will then look at the final results of classmates whose performance was comparable to yours during the trimester. The course coordinator will develop an 'academic profile' that details the rationale for their decision, and will make a recommendation to either grant or deny an aegrotat pass.
  4. The Associate Dean then reviews all the evidence and makes a final decision. In boundary cases, the Associate Dean will get input from a second Associate Dean to ensure decision making is consistent across the faculties.

Decisions are usually made within four weeks. You will receive an email as soon as a decision is made on your application.

Appeals and prerequisites

Appealing a decision

If your application is declined, you may appeal the decision. The appeal process is outlined in the email advising you of the result of your application.

The appeal process will review your case to ensure that appropriate criteria for decision making have been applied. Additional medical information is not required and will not affect the appeal decision.

Prerequisite courses

Sometimes the course for which you’ve applied for an aegrotat pass may be a prerequisite for another course. If that course is starting soon and you haven’t yet received a decision, contact your Student Success Adviser for help. You may be able to start the next course (and attend associated tutorials and labs) while the decision is pending.

Aegrotats, grades, and GPA calculations

Aegrotat passes are ungraded

When you get an aegrotat pass, you will see a ‘G’ on your transcript instead of a normal passing grade in the C- to A+ range. An aegrotat pass is treated as a pass in all other respects. You won’t need to repeat the course and you will be eligible for any courses for which the course was a prerequisite (as long as you meet all other requirements).

Aegrotat and GPA

A course for which you have an aegrotat pass will have a value of 0 if it is included in a GPA calculation, and could therefore reduce your GPA score.

The University typically excludes courses passed via aegrotat when it calculates your GPA, so you are unlikely to be disadvantaged when applying for limited entry courses or programmes. Talk to your Student Success Adviser if you are concerned.

More about grades and GPA calculations

Passing grades and aegrotat passes

If you applied for an aegrotat pass but still managed to pass your course anyway, your aegrotat application will not proceed. The passing grade will be recorded on your academic transcript.

You may feel that the passing grade does not reflect your ability in the course. In that case, you have the option of having your passing grade changed to an ungraded pass (G), provided your aegrotat application included supporting documentation with evidence that your illness or special personal circumstances warranted an aegrotat review.

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