This page is about the rules for withdrawing from subjects and tests and the academic consequences of a missed test. For special arrangements during tests (e.g., extra time) please consult the page Course Exemptions. For advice or support before the exams of after a failure, please make an appointment with a specialist through the Student Services Desk. For an interruption of your studies during one semester or more, please consult the page Interruption of studies.
Withdrawing from subjects
You may freely add and remove registrations for a semester until the Friday of the second week of that semester. Once that deadline has passed, registrations are final.
Withdrawing from tests
No withdrawal is allowed during the foundation year (first year of the Bachelor’s program).
During the Bachelor’s and Master’s cycles, withdrawal is done through your secure access to the IS-Academia application:
- for subjects taught in the autumn semester: from October to the Friday of the tenth week of the semester
- for subjects taught in the spring semester: from March to the Friday of the tenth week of the semester
Once that deadline has passed, you may no longer withdraw from the tests.
For some subjects withdrawal is not allowed once the registration deadline has passed. These subjects are tagged “sans retrait” on the study plans and will be highlighted with an alert in the registration tab on IS-Academia. Except for SHS courses, subjects with a limited capacity do not allow any withdrawal, since a student who chooses to occupy a place in that subject must commit to following it entirely.
Withdrawing from a test is final on IS-Academia. Should you want to reregister for a test you have withdrawn from, you must come in person to the Student Services Desk and pay a fee for late registration. This rule cannot accept any exception. The final deadline for late registration is the tenth Friday of the semester.
Missed tests
If you take a test, you will not be able to cancel it afterward by means of a medical certificate or any other document. If you have doubts with regard to your ability to take a test, please see a doctor before that test.
If you are registered for the tests for a subject, and you do not take these tests, without a valid reason, you will be graded “NA” (for “not acquired”) and the missed attempt will count as a failure.
If you take only some of the tests for a subject, without a valid reason, you will be graded 0 for the missed tests. If your final grade (weighted average) is below 1, you will be graded “NA” (for “not acquired”). In the case of an NA or of a final grade below 4, the missed attempt will count as a failure.
If you are unable to take a test during the semester (or to submit a test within the imposed deadline in the case of a project, report, poster, etc.), you must get in touch with the teacher in charge of the subject before the test (or the due date when applicable) and provide him with a valid medical certificate covering the date in question (or a copy of your child’s birth certificate or a direct relative’s death certificate) soon afterward. As much as possible, the teacher will then need to give you a chance to take the test at a later date during the same semester. Should that not be possible, you will need to register for that subject again and take the corresponding test the following academic year (if the evaluation of the subject has changed, you may be required to take all the tests rather than only the one you have missed). In such a case, you will be graded “M” (for “missed”) and the missed attempt will not count as a failure.
If you are unable to take a test in the exam session, you must get in touch with the Student Services Desk before the test and provide a valid medical cerificate covering the date in question (or a copy of your child’s birth certificate or a direct relative’s death certificate) soon afterward.
For oral exams, as much as possible, the teacher will then need to give you a chance to take the test during the same exam session and under the same conditions. If it is not possible to take an oral exam on a new date during the session, you will have to register for the same subject and take the corresponding test in the following academic year. In such case, you will be graded “M” (for “missed”) and the missed attempt will not count as a failure.
For written exams, you will need to register for that subject again and take the corresponding test the following academic year. In such a case, you will be graded “M” (for “missed”) and the missed attempt will not count as a failure.
To take a test the year following a missed test, one must of course still be registered within the same EPFL study program during this new year. It is therefore not possible to do so if you have already successfully completed, dropped out of or definitely failed your program (Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Phd) or if your stay at EPFL is over (exchanges and visits).
To be valid, a medical certificate must mention a period of inability to work (with start and end dates) that covers the date of the missed test. Should that period be extended, a second certificate may of course be submitted.