Assessment and progression
Grades are out of 20. What decides whether a semester and a year are passed is not the overall average but the average within each block of courses: a weak result can be made up for by other courses of the same block, and by nothing else. This page sets out the reasoning; the programme’s validation and progression rules are the text that applies.
Courses, blocks, semesters
A course (unité d’enseignement) is the elementary unit of the programme and carries a number of ECTS credits. Courses are gathered into three blocks by theme, and a block carries the sum of the credits of its courses:
- Foundations of AI – the core mathematics and computer science: algebra, analysis, probability, statistics, programming, databases.
- AI-focused courses – the courses specific to the field, from Introduction to AI and Machine Learning to the specializations, the data challenge, and the internship of the third year.
- Transverse courses – all the others: sport, English, economics, law, philosophy, cognitive science, and the personal project.
Each semester comprises exactly 30 credits, and an academic year is made of two semesters. The teacher of each course sets its method of assessment, within the academic regulations in force.
Passing a course
A course is passed when its final grade is at least 10 out of 20. A grade below 6 is eliminatory. A grade between 6 and 10 can be compensated by the other grades of the same block.
Passing a block
A block is passed when the average of its courses, weighted by credits, is at least 10 out of 20 – provided no course in it has an eliminatory grade. A single grade below 6 stops the whole block, however high the average. When a block is passed, every course in it counts as passed, including those graded between 6 and 10.
| Course | Grade | Credits | Block |
|---|---|---|---|
| Algebra | 7 | 7 | Average 11: passed, since nothing is below 6 |
| Analysis | 15 | 7 | |
| Algebra | 4 | 7 | Average 12, but 4 is eliminatory: not passed |
| Analysis | 20 | 7 |
Passing a semester
A semester is passed when all of its blocks are passed. There is no compensation between blocks, nor between courses of different blocks. A semester whose overall average is well above 10 can therefore still fail: a student with 18 in the foundations block and 9 in the transverse block has not passed the semester, however high that average.
Passing the year
The year is validated by the end-of-year examination board, and requires both semesters to be passed. The board may allow compensation between courses of the first and second semesters when they belong to the same block and the annual average of that block is at least 10.
Resits
A single resit session is held at the end of June, for both semesters, for students who have not passed a block.
- If a block is passed, none of its courses can be resat, including those graded below 10.
- If a block is not passed, the student resits every course of that block that was not passed – and only those: a course passed within a failed block cannot be resat.
- The resit grade replaces the original one, even if it is lower.
The dates of the examination and resit sessions are on the calendar page.
When a semester or the year is not validated
A semester that is not passed stops nothing at the time: the board of the first semester, in February, says which blocks are not passed, and the second semester goes on as usual. The student then takes the June resits in every course not passed of every block not passed, in either semester, and the end-of-year board rules on the year. Both semesters passed, possibly thanks to the compensation between semesters described above, means that the year is validated and the student moves on to the next year.
When a block is still not passed after the resits, the year is not validated, and the board decides on each situation individually. Three outcomes are possible:
- Conditional admission to the next year, possible only when fewer than 6 credits are missing in each semester: the student moves on, and must validate the missing courses during the following year.
- Repeating the year: the student enrols again in the same year, for the blocks not passed.
- No further enrolment: the board can also refuse to let the student repeat the year, and the student then leaves the programme.
Whatever the decision, what is passed stays passed: a block that has been passed is never taken again.
