Challenge Policy

Students who wish to challenge out of a particular course at YSN must demonstrate mastery of course content either by satisfactorily passing a challenge exam or by presenting documentation of a similar graduate level course.

It is the faculty member’s individual responsibility to determine eligibility criteria, performance quality and ultimately to decide whether to offer a credit waiver or not. It is also understood that the appropriate chairperson should be consulted and informed of students who have been approved to waive a course. Finally, students who do pursue this option are encouraged to replace the waived content with other learning opportunities as tuition will not be adjusted.

Students wishing to challenge out of a course should complete the request to challenge out of a course form and submit supporting materials. All course challenges must be completed by the close of the registration period.

Challenge Exam

If a student makes a request to challenge out of a course or module because of prior mastery of content, the student meets to discuss the request with the course instructor. The faculty member may then decide to offer the student the chance to demonstrate mastery of the material by completing a challenge exam with a grade of high pass or higher. Students who successfully complete the exam will receive the grade of Pass for the course or the module. The grade of Pass on their transcript will be followed by the phrase by examination.

Approved by Executive Committee 9/16/75
Revised Executive Committee 11/82
Administrative Update 7/1/98
bpm 3/5/99
Updated by Executive Council 12/16/15 (reviewed by Academic Leadership 2/11/2016)