Table of Contents
Calculating Waived Prerequisite Credits
A student can be placed into a course without taking the prerequisite courses. Upon successfully passing the course, a student may be eligible for Waived Prerequisite Credits (WPC) for previous course(s) in the course sequence.
For example, when a student passes Mathematics 30-1, the student may be eligible for WPC in Mathematics 20-1 and Mathematics 10C.
The Official Mark Calculator will assess each first pass Official Mark to determine if that mark results in the student earning WPC. In order to process WPC correctly, first pass marks must be processed in order based on the Official Mark School Year, Achievement Date, and the lowest version of the selected marks of the Official Mark. This is because earning credits based on one first pass official mark may impact eligibility for WPC based on another first pass official mark.
For each first pass official mark being assessed:
| Confirm the student has achieved the course. | This means the 1st pass Official Mark Is Achieved. |
|---|---|
| Confirm the student completed the course via course work. | This means the student has:
|
| Confirm the higher level course is not an Locally Developed Course that should be excluded from WPC processing. | This means that the first pass official mark is for a course that is either:
|
| Confirm the course has a typical prerequisite course defined. | This means there is a Course Relationship with a Relationship Type (Course) = “TYP” defined for the course code. The prerequisite course is included as the Related Course value on the relationship. |
| Confirm the prerequisite course is a course that is eligible to receive WPC. | See Confirming the WPC Completion Method below. |
| Confirm the student has not already earned credit in the prerequisite course. | This means the student does have a calculated official mark that has already been assigned credit for the prerequisite course. This credit could have been assigned as part of awarding first pass credits, RAC, MPC, or WPC for a previously processed course. |
| Confirm the student has not already earned credit in a course that is equivalent to the previous course. | This means the student does not have a calculated official mark that has already been assigned credit for a course code that is “equivalent” to the previous course. Course equivalents are determined by looking at the Related Course(s) on any Course Relationships for the previous course with a Relationship Type (Course) = “REG”.1) |
| Confirm the student has not already earned credit in a course that is deemed to be a WPC equivalent to the Prerequisite Course in Sequence. | See Identifying WPC Equivalencies for more information. This means, if the prerequisite course being considered for WPC is deemed to have WPC equivalent courses, the student must not have already been awarded credits one of these equivalent courses. |
Confirming the WPC Completion Method
In order for PASI to award WPC credits for the lower level course, the lower level course must be defined to allow WPC. This is done by validating that the lower level course includes the Waived Prerequisite Credit (WPC) Completion Method during the timeframe in which the student successfully completed course work for the higher level course.
The years in which a student 'successfully completes' a course will includes both the school year in which the student achieved the higher level course (based on the Achievement School Year), and any following school year in which they have:
- An approved Course Enrolment for the course with a passing mark value (based on the Section School Year of the associated Section), or
- An approved Evaluated Mark with an Evaluated Mark Evaluation Method of Course Challenge (CHA) or Music Evaluation (MUS) for the course with a passing mark value (based on the Evaluated Mark School Year on the Evaluated Mark), or
- A Diploma Exam Mark for the course with a passing mark value (based on the School Year (Diploma Exam) from the associated Diploma Exam record)
For example:
- The student successfully passed the higher level course (L20) during the 2018/2019 school year.
- If the lower level course (L10) includes the WPC completion method for the 2018/2019 school year, the WPC Completion Method is considered valid.
- If the L10 course does not include the WPC completion method for the 2018/2019 school year, the student is not eligible for WPC. This could mean:
- The L10 course does not include the WPC Completion Method at all.
- The L10 course includes the WPC completion method, but it has a Last School Year prior to the 2018/2019 school year.
- The L10 course includes the WPC completion method, but it has a First School Year after the 2018/2019 school year.
In the event that the student has successfully completed course work for the higher level course multiple times, as long as the lower level course includes the WPC completion method for any of the course work, the WPC completion method is valid.
For example:
- The student successfully passed the L20 course during the 2018/2019 and the 2019/2020 school years.
- If the L10 course includes the WPC completion method for the 2018/2019 or the 2019/2020 school year, the WPC Completion Method is considered valid.
- If the L10 course does not include the WPC completion method for either year, the student is not eligible for WPC. This could mean:
- The L10 course does not include the WPC completion method at all.
- The L10 course includes the WPC completion method, but it has a Last School Year prior to the 2018/2019 school year.
- The L10 course includes the WPC completion method, but it has a First School Year after the 2019/2020 school year.
When assessing eligibility for WPC as a result of a higher level course being awarded WPC, it is the course work that applies to the top level course that is considered.
For example:
- Consider the following typical course progression: L10 –> L20 –> L30
- The student successfully passed the L30 course during the 2018/2019 school year.
- PASI already determined that the student was eligible for WPC for the L20 course.
- If the L10 course includes the WPC Completion Method for the 2018/2019 school year (as that is the year in which the student successfully passed the L30 course), the WPC Completion Method is considered valid.
- If the L10 course does not include the WPC Completion Method for the 2018/2019 school year, the student is not eligible for WPC for the L10 course.
It is possible that the timeframe of the WPC Completion Methods for the L10 and L20 courses do not align. In this case, in order to be awarded WPC for the L10 course, the student must successfully passs the L30 course during a year in which the WPC Completion Method applies to both the L10 and L20 courses.
For example:
- The student successfully passed the L30 course during the 2017/2018, 2018/2019, and the 2019/2020 school years.
- The L20 course has the WPC Completion Method with a First School Year of 2018/2019.
- The L10 course has the WPC Completion Method with a Last School Year of 2017/2018.
- In this situation:
- The WPC Completion Method is valid for the L20 course as the student successfully passed the L30 course in the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 school year.
- The WPC Completion Method for L10 is not valid.
- While the student did successfully pass the L30 course in the 2017/2018 school year (a year that the L10 course does include the WPC Completion Method), the 2017/2018 is not a valid year for the L20 course.
- Therefore, the student in this situation would not be eligible for WPC for the L10 course.
It is not the same case in this example:
- The student successfully passed the L30 course during the 2017/2018, 2018/2019, and the 2019/2020 school years.
- The L20 course has the WPC Completion Method with a First School Year of 2018/2019.
- The L10 course has the WPC Completion Method with a First School Year of 2019/2020.
- In this situation:
- The WPC Completion Method is valid for the L20 course as the student successfully passed the L30 course in the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 school year.
- The WPC Completion Method is also valid for the L10 course as the student successfully passed the L30 course in the 2019/2020 school year - a year for which both the L20 and L10 completion methods are valid.
Creating the WPC Official Mark
If the student is eligible for the WPC, the Official Mark created will be created with the following values:
| Official Mark Course Code | The Previous Course in Sequence |
|---|---|
| Achievement Date | Normally, the Achievement School Year will be the same as the Achievement School Year from the Official Mark of the higher level course. However, that Achievement School Year must also be a school year for which the previous course is eligible to receive WPC (see Confirming the WPC Completion Method). When the Achievement School Year from the Official Mark of the higher level course does not align with the the WPC Completion Method of the previous course, the Achievement School Year is adjusted to the next school year in which the student successfully passed coursework for the higher level course, that aligns with WPC Completion Method timeframe of the previous course. When creating a WPC Official Mark for a course based on the student receiving a WPC in the higher level course, the course work considered is the course work from the highest level course that was used to valid the WPC Completion Method. |
| Achievement School Year | Normally, the Achievement Date will be the same as the Achievement Date from the Official Mark of the higher level course. But, if the Achievement School Year had to be adjusted, the Achievement Date will also need to be adjusted to align with the Achievement School Year. In this case, the Achievement Date will be the earliest course mark date from the course work the student successfully passed in the adjusted Achievement School Year. When creating a WPC Official Mark for a course based on the student receiving a WPC in the higher level course, the course work considered is the course work from the highest level course that was used to valid the WPC Completion Method. |
| Mark Calculation Method | Waived Prerequisite Credits |
| Official Mark Format | Pass/Fail |
| Official Mark Value | P |
| Official Mark School Year | School Year from the Official Mark |
| Credits Awarded | If the number of credits awarded on the higher level Official Mark is also an authorized credit level for the Previous Course in Sequence, the Credits Awarded for the WPC will be the same as the Credits Awarded on the higher level Official Mark. If the number of credits awarded on the higher level Official Mark is not an authorized credit level for the Previous Course in Sequence, the Credits Awarded will be the highest credit level authorized for the Previous Couse in Sequence that is less than the number of credits awarded on the higher level Official Mark. If there are no authorized credit levels for the Previous Course in Sequence that are the same as or less than the credits awarded on the higher level Official Mark, a WPC Official Mark is not created. |
Selected Marks include:
- The selected mark(s) from the official mark being processed that were used to calculate the Official Mark Value:
- This will be up to 2 selected marks if the Official Mark being processed is a Diploma Course
- Otherwise, this should be a single selected mark.
- The selected mark(s) will have a Mark Selection Reason of Higher Level Course
Merging Calculated WPC Official Marks with Existing Official Marks
Each calculated Official Mark needs to be compared against existing official marks to determine if the calculated official mark or the existing official mark should be included in the final set of official marks.
The existing official mark will be used instead of the calculated official mark when:
- The calculated official mark is not considered to be one of the related courses,
- The calculated official mark is deemed to be a detriment to the student.
Related Courses
The calculated official mark is considered related when:
- The higher level course passed by the student is one of the Identifying Related Courses, or
- The calculated official mark is for a course that is one of the Identifying Related Courses
Detriments
The calculated official mark is deemed to be a detriment to the student when:
- Either:
- The higher level course passed by the student is a related course, or
- The calculated official mark is for a related course, and
- The selected marks in the existing official mark have not been updated,
- The selected marks in the existing official mark are not impacted by a change in student Maturity Date, and
- The existing official mark and the calculated official mark are compared2) and are not deemed to be identical.
- A comparison of the existing official mark and the calculated official mark3) is deemed to be a detriment,
- The selected marks in the existing official marks are not identical to the selected marks in the calculated official mark, and
- None of selected marks in the calculated official mark were impacted by a change in student Maturity Date.
Recursive Processing
If the calculated WPC is included in the student’s official marks, the student may also be eligible for another WPC official mark based on the new one.
For example, if a WPC official mark was created for English 20 (based on the student passing English 30), then this same process is used to determine if the student is eligible for a WPC official mark in English 10 (the previous course in the sequence for English 20).