CAP Requirements and Policies

Effective from AY2011/12 Semester 1 (August 2011)

1. CAP review for students will be done at the end of every Semester 1 & 2 of the Academic Year (AY) after the official release of the examination results (excluding Special Term 3 & 4).

2. NGS does not practice the Best Cap Calculation policy. All modules read will be used for the computation of the students' CAP, unless the module(s) is graded as S/US or CS/CUS.

3. Students whose performance is under review by NGS are required to read at least 1 module every semester.

4. For students who fail to meet the CAP requirement of 3.80 for every semester, appropriate actions will be taken as follows:

1st academic warning:

• A warning letter will be issued via email (cc. supervisor)

2nd academic warning:

• A warning letter will be issued via email (cc. supervisor).
• Educational Allowances (EA) will be suspended.
  

3rd academic warning:

• A warning letter will be issued via email (cc. supervisor).
  
  
• Educational Allowances (EA) will be suspended.
  
  
• For students with:
  
  
  • CAP between 3.50 - 3.79
    Reduction of Research Scholarship (RS) stipend to faculty level:
    
    S$2000 per month for International Student
    S$2200 per month for Singapore Permanent Resident
    S$2300 per month for Singapore Citizen
    
    
  • CAP below 3.50
    Termination of RS and Candidature by Registrar's Office (RO).

* NGS will not consider any appeal from students under the 2^nd and 3^rd academic warnings for waiver of any penalty as stated above.

For students who have already been warned 3 times (with CAP between 3.50 to 3.79 and RS stipend at Faculty level) and achieve a CAP of less than 3.80 in the 4^th semester:

1. Termination of RS and Candidature by Registrar's Office (RO).

*RO will send a dismissal letter to student (cc to supervisor).

Notes:

1. The suspension of the EA and the reduction of RS stipend will take effect from the date of release of the exam results of the previous semester to the date of release of the next exam results in the following semester of the academic year.

2. For students who are funded by other sources - the NGS will notify the relevant funding body to recommend similar penalties.

Appeal Procedures for Re-instatement of Candidature - applicable to only dismissed/terminated students with CAP between 3.50 to 3.79

1. Students who were dismissed from their candidature due to poor academic standing and who wish to appeal for re-instatement, should submit their appeal to NGS within two calendar weeks of the last day of the release of each semester’s examination results (with support from supervisor, providing information on research performance, publications list and any other relevant information to support the appeal). NGS will not consider any appeals after that.
   
   
2. Students with potential to be considered for re-instatement will be asked to attend an interview.
   
   
3. Students will be notified of decision by NGS. RO will write to inform the student on the re-instatement of candidature and the student must accept the offer for re-instatement and reply to RO by the deadline given in the letter, failure of which will cause the offer to lapse.

Conditions for Re-instatement of Candidature

1. NGS will not provide Research Scholarship (RS) stipend.
   
   
2. NGS will not provide Tuition Fee (TF) subsidy.
   
   
3. NGS will not provide Educational Allowances (EA).
   
   
4. Students who are re-instated should still be reading course(s) in the current semester to improve on their CAP to >3.8, failure of which will result in a 2nd dismissal (with no appeal for second re-instatement). The student will have to achieve the minimum CAP required for continuation and graduation in the current semester.

* For students who have improved their CAP to >3.8, NGS will consider on a case by case basis to re-instate their RS/TF/EA.

Please click here for the Performance Review Flowchart.

Grading System and the Cumulative Average Point

Grade Points

Students receive letter grades for each module taken, except for the cases listed below.  Each grade corresponds to a grade point as shown below:

As the above table indicates, a plus (+) or minus (-) suffix added to a grade raises or lowers the grade point value, except in the case of A+, which carries the same grade points as the A grade. 

Cumulative Average Point (CAP)

Academic progress is tracked by the CAP, which is the weighted average grade point of all modules taken by a student.  Therefore, a student’s CAP is the sum of the module grade points multiplied by the number of MCs for the corresponding module, divided by the total number of MCs.  This is represented as follows:

Online CAP calculator - https://inetapps.nus.edu.sg/capcalc/cap_calculator.aspx.

Average grade simulator - https://inetapps.nus.edu.sg/capcalc/avg_grd_simulator.aspx.

Modules with no assigned MCs or grade points are excluded from the calculation of CAP.

There are a number of situations for which no grade points are assigned:

Completed Satisfactorily/Completed Unsatisfactorily (CS/CU)

A module may be graded on a ‘CS/CU’ basis, i.e., whether the module has been ‘Completed Satisfactorily’ (CS) or ‘Completed Unsatisfactorily’ (CU).  CS/CU modules are typically industrial attachment, internship or enrichment modules.  Modular credits will be given for modules that are completed satisfactorily, although no grade point will be assigned.  A module is designated ‘CS/CU’; unlike modules graded on an S/U basis, it is not an option.

Exempted (EXE)

This grade is awarded when a student is exempted from or given credit for a module under the Advanced Placement process.  This refers to transfer of credits without grade or exemption of modules.

Incomplete (IC)

The ‘IC’ grade is assigned when a student’s work is of passing quality but is incomplete for good reasons (e.g., illness during the official examination period).  However, even such good reasons will not warrant an ‘IC’ grade if the work already completed for the module is clearly not of passing quality; instead, students should note that the ‘F’ grade will be assigned in such cases.  A module assigned an ‘IC’ grade normally cannot be used to fulfil the pre-requisite of a higher-level module.  Should a student choose to repeat the module in a subsequent semester, none of the work done previously may be carried forward for assessment purposes.

In Progress (IP)

For a module that extends beyond more than one semester, evaluation of a student’s performance is deferred until the completion of the module.  The provisional grade of ‘IP’ is assigned in the intervening semesters.  This is replaced with the final grade when the student completes the module.

Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U)

Students may elect to have certain modules graded on a ‘Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory’ (S/U) basis.

Withdrawn (W)

When a student withdraws from a module between the first day of Week 3 of the instructional period and the last day of the Recess Week, a ‘W’ grade will be recorded in the transcript.  Withdrawals after this period (i.e. from the first day of Week 7 of the instructional period) will result in an ‘F’ grade, which will be included in the computation of the CAP and will not be eligible for the S/U option.