Extended Program

The Extended Program is designed to give those students who have academic difficulties in the fall of their first year a chance to recover and proceed into the second year with a clear record. It can also be used by students to improve their overall average and to retain scholarships. The program originated at Queen's in the early 1970s and has proven to be very successful at reducing the failure rate in first-year engineering. The overall failure rate in the first year is only approximately 2%.

After the December examinations, a student may opt to join the Extended Program. A student in the Extended Program will repeat the major fall term courses in Mathematics (APSC 171), Physics (APSC 111), and Chemistry (APSC 131), starting in January. Final examinations in these courses are held during Reading Week, a one-week school break in February.

At the same time, an Extended Program student would be taking 4 winter term courses. (APSC 182 - Applied Engineering Mechanics, APSC 142 - Computer Programming, APSC 103 - Practical Engineering Modules, and APSC 174 (Linear Algebra). After reading week, a student in the Extended Program starts the Winter term courses Physics (APSC 112), Chemistry (APSC 132), and Calculus (APSC 172). During the examination period in April, an Extended Program student would write 4 examinations (APSC 142, APSC 182, APSC 103, and APSC 174). Lectures in the other Extended Program courses continue for an extra six weeks and the final examinations for those courses are held in mid-June.

The overall result is that a student has a chance to recover from academic difficulties encountered in the Fall term, take the four major Winter term courses, and have examinations in June, extending their program.

Although no one enters Smith Engineering expecting to enter the Extended Program, it is there as a safety net if needed.

Enrolment in the Extended Program is voluntary, however, APSC 111, 131 & 171 are all pre-requisite to winter term courses. At the beginning of January, the Associate Dean Academic will email those students who would benefit from the Extended Program.

Note: Even if a student passed all fall term courses, the Extended Program Courses or Rewrite Exams can be used to improve understanding of the fundamental material, improve marks, and improve one's average.

• If a student wants to improve his or her average to retain a scholarship, be aware that the marks for the fall term Extended Program  (APSC 111, 131, 162, 151, 171) are included in the winter term sessional average. The marks from June rewrite exams (APSC 112, 114, 132, 142, 172, 174, 182, MREN 178) are not included in the winter sessional average which is the average considered when making scholarship decisions. However, the marks from the June rewrite exams will be included in the cumulative average.
• Note also that the second mark for a course counts in the average, even if the second mark is lower than the first.