Evaluation System

Grading Scale & Review Sessions

Grading at IE University follows the Spanish ten point grading scale. You can see on the table the equivalence with the American scale, for a better comprehension.

Students are evaluated on their participation, midterms, group works, presentations and other activities in class, and final exams. All the grades are published on Campus Online.

Every student is entitled to attend a review session with their professor, which will be scheduled no earlier than 48 hours after the final exam and at most 10 calendar days from the date of completion of an assessment instrument (including final and partial grades like quizzes, presentations, reports, team projects, midterms, finals, etc). The time, place and date for review sessions of all partial and final grades will be announced by the teacher. Participation in the review session is mandatory in case of questions or doubts, regarding any partial and final grades and a requirement for further appeal.

GPA and Honor’s Grade

Students can see their GPA at all times on their transcript, that they can download from Blackboard Ultra. They can also ask the Program Management Team to issue a certificate stating their position at their class ranking and at the entire ranking of all students.

It is up to the professor discretion whether to grant any Honor Grades or not to the best students, and up to 5% of the students of each course can potentially earn Honor Grades if their professor consider they deserve it. You can find the complete policy on the following document: Honors Distinction Policy 2024-25

The most outstanding students will obtain the academic and leadership recognition that is being part of the “Dean’s List”. Those students who, in their graduation, are among the best 10% in their class, will be included in the “Dean’s List”, recognition that they will receive on the day of their graduation and that they can reflect on their C.V. This nomination is based on the GPA accumulated during the program.

Below you can see the four chances to pass any given course through two academic years’ ordinary and extraordinary calls:

Retakes & Resits Policy

Each student has four (4) chances to pass any given course distributed over two consecutive academic years: ordinary call exams and extraordinary call exams (re-sits) in June/July.

1st Call: Ordinary; students first time taking the course.

2nd Call: Extraordinary; comprised of retake exam in June/July.

3rd Call: Ordinary; student is re-enrolled in the course as a «retaker» due to failing the first 2 calls.

4th Call: Extraordinary; comprised of retake exam in June/July; final attempt at passing the course.

Students who do not comply with the 80% attendance requirement in each subject during the semester will automatically fail both calls (ordinary and extraordinary) for that Academic Year and have to re-take and re-enroll the course during the next Academic Year, by paying the corresponding extra cost.

Evaluation criteria:

• Students failing the course in the ordinary call (during the semester) will have to re-sit the exam in June / July (except those not complying with the attendance rule, who will not have that opportunity and must directly re-enroll in the course on the next Academic Year).

• The extraordinary call (re-sit) exams in June / July (2nd or 4th call) require your physical presence at the campus you are enrolled in (Segovia or Madrid). There is no possibility to change the date, location or format of any exam, under any circumstances. Dates and location of the June / July re-sit exams will be announced in advance and must be taken into consideration before planning the summer (e.g. internships, trips, holidays, etc.)

The June / July re-sit exam will consist of a comprehensive exam. Your final grade for the course will depend on the performance in this exam only; continuous evaluation over the semester will not be taken into consideration. Students will have to achieve the minimum passing grade of 5 and can obtain a maximum grade of 8.0 (out of 10.0) – i.e., “notable” in the re-sit exam.

• Retakers: Students who failed the subject on a previous Academic Year and are now re-enrolled as re-takers in a course will be needed to check the syllabus of the assigned professor, as well as contact the professor individually, regarding the specific evaluation criteria for them as retakers in the course during that semester (ordinary call of that Academic Year). The maximum grade that may be obtained in the retake exam (3rd call) is 10.0.

After ordinary and extraordinary call exams are graded by the professor, you will have a possibility to attend a review session for that exam and course grade. Please be available to attend the session in order to clarify any concerns you might have regarding your exam. Your professor will inform you about the time and place of the review session. Any grade appeals require that the student attended the review session prior to appealing.

In case you fail or decide to skip the opportunity to re-sit for an exam during the June / July extraordinary call, you will need to enroll in that course again for the next Academic Year as a re-taker and pay the corresponding extra cost.

Students failing more than 18 ECTS credits after the June-July re-sits will be asked to leave the Program. Please, make sure to prepare yourself well for the exams in order to pass your failed subjects.

As you know, students have a total of four (4) allowed calls to pass a given course, in order to remain in the program.

Course Attendance

Attendance is an important aspect of commitment to IE University. IE University students are admitted, in part, because of the experience they bring to the classroom, as well as by the contribution they can make in classroom discussion. Without attendance, learning as a collaborative activity cannot exist.

Students who miss more than 20% of the course sessions without the authorization of the program direction will automatically receive a FAIL.

In addition to this, punctuality is expected from all students, being late to class interferes with the learning environment. Professors are encouraged to refuse class entry to latecomers.

For further information about the attendance policy, please check the Academic Requirements.

Grade Appeal

It is understood that professors have the right to determine grading policies for their classes and the expertise to evaluate student work. That said, a formal grade appeal process has been established in the case where a student believes he/she has substantive and objective evidence that demonstrates an error was committed in the evaluation.

Students that wish to formally appeal their grade can find all the information about the process on the following document.

All grade appeal requests must me made through the Virtual Help Desk (Academic Requests > Student Inquires).

Additionally, you can download the Grade Appeal Form here.