Credit & Grade

Credit Structure

In university, academic terminology and concepts that you may not be familiar with during high school are used. First, credits are the unit that the university uses to calculate the courses taken by a student. Lectures of 15 hours or more over a semester is recognized as 1 credit and generally, a course is 1~3 credits. Students can enroll in a maximum of 18~21 credits per semester.

One course usually carries 3 credits, which means one course is taught for 45 hours per semester. This number of hours counts only teaching hours, not any hours used for self-study and preparation. For each course, Cred(it) - Lec(ture hour per week) - Lab (hour per week) specifies the number of credits, lecture hours per week and lab hours per week that the course is taught for. For example, if it's "3-3-0", then the course carries 3 credits and is taught for 3 hours for lecture and 0 hour for lab per week.

Credit Acquisition Policy

The maximum number of credits that exchange/visiting students at SNU can take is 18. While there is no requirement from SNU on the minimum number of credits to be completed, exchange/visiting students are generally advised to take at least 6 credits per semester. Contact SNU OIA if your home university requires you to take more than the maximum 18 credits. Credit acquisition and transfer is 100% up to your home university's discretion. Therefore, you must contact your home university to check the criteria. SNU does not suggest any official credit conversion criteria. 

Attendance and Exam

Course syllabus of each class states its attendance policy, exam schedules and grading policy. In Korean universities, it is in general highly important that you be present to the class activities punctually. Normally, more than 5 absences automatically leads to fail. Some large-sized in-person classes use e-attendance system to check attendances and you must make sure to claim your presence accordingly.

How to?
Mobile: Login to SNU mobile app and turn on the Bluetooth and GPS Location. Your attendance will automatically be checked, or click the e-attendance beacon.

Web: Access http://scar1.snu.ac.kr and login with your mySNU ID. Click on "출결변경신청(Request for Attendance Status Change)" and select the class/time and fill out the form. When your instructor verifies it, your presence will be recorded. For courses offered on a virtual class, they have their own attendance policy and you must fully comply with it. In case you inevitably have to make absences, contact your instructor or teaching assistant, if possible, in advance. 

Types and number of exams may vary by instructors and you must check the details through the syllabus. Please note that exam schedules are subject to change.

Grades

Grades and GPA (grade point average out of a maximum of 4.3) are used to show the academic performance of a student in a course. Grades are given with alphabet letters while GPA is a scale up to 4.3. Take care to not be confused when filling out paperwork such as scholarship application.

When it comes to grading, SNU uses A-F scale. Some course are assessed as S (pass) / U (fail). The academic transcript, available after each semester ends, explicates the grading policy on it as well.