Diploma exams

Introduction

The Grade 12 Diploma Examinations Program has 3 main purposes:

• to certify the level of individual student achievement in selected Grade 12 courses
• to ensure that provincewide standards of achievement are maintained
• to report individual and group results

Find out more about Diploma exams.

2022 Update

Diploma exams for the rest of the school year (April, June and August 2022)

Diploma exams are expected to be administered for the rest of the school year (April, June and August 2022).

Students who were intending to rewrite a diploma exam in January 2022 and are not taking the course can register to rewrite in April 2022.

Students who received an exemption and retake instruction in a diploma exam course must write the diploma exam to acquire a final official mark associated with the new school-awarded mark. Exemptions are not carried forward.

No retroactive exemptions

Retroactive exemptions will not be provided to students who wrote diploma exams earlier this school year or in previous school years.

January 2022 diploma exam reimbursements

All fees paid for the January 2022 diploma exams will be refunded. Refunds will be issued in March 2022.

2021/22 diploma exam weighting

• Due to learning disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the weighting of diploma exams will be temporarily reduced to 10% for the 2021/22 school year only.

The 10% diploma exam weighting is for the current school year only

This change is only temporary to address the learning disruptions that some students have experienced due to COVID-19.

This temporary change will not lower diploma exam standards

The expectation for what students must learn remains the same.

The same processes used to develop high-quality diploma exams worth 30% are being used to develop diploma exams worth 10%.

The teacher, as well as the diploma exam, address outcomes from the same program of studies and are both expected to apply appropriate achievement standards.

This will not affect adult students who want to challenge diploma exams

Adult students can still challenge the diploma exams and the process for this will not change.

Students should contact their prospective post-secondary institution about admission requirements

The Government of Alberta is working with post-secondary institutions to ensure admission decisions are sensitive to the unique circumstances of this school year.

Rewriting diploma exams or retaking a diploma exam course

This change in weighting may apply to students who opted-out of writing diploma exams for courses taken in 2020/21 and are now writing them in the 2021/22 school year.

If students are retaking a diploma exam course or rewriting a diploma exam in the 2021/22 school year, they may also be eligible for the temporary weighting in certain situations.

Read the Diploma Exam Weighting Overview (PDF, 324 KB) for examples of how this weighting change will be applied in certain situations.