A warning will appear if a student breaks a rule at the program or Plan level. There are several different types of warnings, but all of them mean that some of the courses that the Academic Progress Report is counting towards your program and/or Plan requirements are invalid. This means that you will need to investigate your program and Plan carefully to identify the invalid courses and choose a different course(s) to replace them; otherwise, you will not be able to graduate. You may also wish to seek academic advice from your department or Student Services in the Faculty of Arts and Science.
The four types of Warnings are:
Exclusions
An exclusion is a set of two or more courses where both may not count towards the requirements of your degree. Students are not normally permitted to enrol in a course that excludes another that they have previously taken or in which they are currently enrolled, so this warning should not occur often. However, under certain circumstances departments may authorize an override of an exclusion and allow the student to enrol, on the understanding that both courses are not allowed to count. This can occur in cases where the student has changed Plans and needs the excluded course as a prerequisite.
If an exclusion warning appears, first check the course(s) that are excluded. Usually, the exclusion appears as “No more than 3.0 [or 6.0] units from [List of courses]”. The extra courses are still being counted in the Program unit count and so additional electives must be taken to make up the deficiency. If both excluded courses also appear in the Plan requirements, you will have to use other courses to meet that requirement.
In this situation please seek academic advice from Student Services so that the exclusions can be coded to remove the warning from your APR.
Maximum Limits Exceeded (Programs)
This sort of warning does not usually occur unless a student transferred from another Faculty or School to Arts and Science, or holds a large number of transfer credits from other institutions (TR on the transcript).
This warning applies to students who have completed more courses of a specified type than are permitted in their Arts and Science program. Some of the maximums set are: 24.0 units in COMM; 24.0 units in ARTF (except for BFA students); and varying numbers of courses with TR grades (transfer credit), depending on the Program. See Academic Regulation 16 for specifics regarding transfer credits. Although the warning draws attention to the fact that the maximum has been surpassed, it does not exclude the extra courses from being used to satisfy the total unit count. Since the extra courses will still be counted in your Program unit count it is your responsibility to review your record and take extra electives to make up the deficiency. Note that this warning appears even if you have already completed additional courses to make up the deficiency.
In this situation please seek academic advice from Student Services so that the extra courses can be coded to remove the warning from your APR.
Maximum Limits Exceeded (Plans)
The Option Requirements of many Plans in Arts and Science allow you to substitute courses from outside the discipline. For example, the Department of History allows you to use certain CLST (Classical Studies) courses as substitutions for their upper-year History options. These options usually appear on a Course List. However, only a limited number of substitutions are usually allowed. If you receive this warning, it means you’ve exceeded this limit.
The courses listed in the warning may still be used towards the elective component (total unit count) of your degree, but you will have to choose one or more further courses within the discipline to use towards your Plan requirements. You may also wish to seek academic advice from your department.
Note that this warning appears even if you have already completed courses such that no more than the maximum will be used in your Plan.
In this situation please seek academic advice from Student Services so that the extra courses can be coded to remove the warning from your APR.
Something is Missing or Doesn't Seem Right
The Faculty of Arts and Science has a lot of programs and Plans, and students come from many different backgrounds. It is not always possible to foresee every possible course combination. If something seems to be wrong, it may be a mistake, but it is more likely you fit under one of the categories noted below. If, after checking out the following possibilities, you are still unclear as to what is wrong, you may wish to seek academic advice from your department or Student Services.
My Progress Report is Unavailable
Since the ASC1 (first year) Plan has no specific requirements the report will read “Requirements report is unavailable” for all students in ASC1 (first year).
If the detailed requirements of your Plan have not been entered into the PeopleSoft system, you will see a message that the “Requirements report is unavailable”. There are over 2000 Plan combinations in the Faculty of Arts and Science. While the Academic Progress Report includes the majority of these Plans, those that have been discontinued were not implemented. Therefore, if you are completing a Plan that has been dropped from the Academic Calendar an APR will not be available to you.
If you stop out (leave your program for an indefinite period of time) your APR will be unavailable during the time you are not registered at Queen’s.
If your APR is not available you can still use the Academic Progress Report to tally your unit count. You may consult the Arts and Science Calendar to determine Plan requirements, or seek academic advice from your department or Student Services.
A Course That I Thought Would Meet My Requirements Seems to be Missing
A course might be missing for one of the following reasons. If you transferred from another Faculty or School the course may not be accepted in an Arts and Science program. If you are in a Major-Minor Plan combination the issue may be overlap. A course used as Core or Option in the Major Plan may not also be used as Core or Option in the Minor Plan.
If you believe a course is missing in error, please consult with your department or Student Services. It is possible departmental consent is required to permit you to use the course, or a course from another Faculty/School needs to be approved, or a course has gone to the wrong requirement and needs to be directed to the appropriate one. These situations can be handled with a student exception (see section below).
Students who Transferred Programs
Students who transferred from other Faculties or Schools to the Bachelor of Arts, Science or Computing degree programs may hold courses that do not count towards their new degree requirements. Such courses are treated in various ways. To find out more on what the Academic Progress Report will do, click on the Faculty/School you were in before you changed to Arts and Science.
Smith Engineering
Smith Engineering uses a different unit weighting system than the Faculty of Arts and Science. For this reason, virtually all Engineering courses have been deliberately excluded from the Arts and Science part of the Academic Requirement Report (APR). If you have transferred from Smith Engineering to the Faculty of Arts and Science before September 1, 2011 many of your courses may not be counted. In this case, please consult your original letter sent by Undergraduate Admissions when you transferred to Arts and Science to see which courses have been transferred, and how they are being counted towards your degree in Arts and Science. You may also request to have a student exception made to your APR to fix the problem. If you transferred on or after September 1, 2011, we will amend your APR, so it should report properly. However, if you later change Plans, it may once again need to be fixed and you may again need to request a student exception.
Commerce
The Academic Progress Report should be fully functional for students who transferred to an Arts and Science Program from the Bachelor of Commerce Program. Note that a maximum of 24.0 units in COMM courses may be counted in an Arts and Science degree, so if you hold more than this you will receive a "WARNING: Maximum Limits Exceeded (Programs)" message.
Nursing
The Academic Progress Report should be fully functional for students who transferred to an Arts and Science Program from the Bachelor of Nursing Program. Note that only a very limited number of NURS courses count towards Arts and Science degrees, so if you hold any NURS courses, you should expect to see only a very few included in the total unit counts.
Bachelor of Music
The Academic Requirement Report should be fully functional for students who transferred to any other Arts and Science Program from the Bachelor of Music Program. Note that some MUSC courses (primarily the ensemble courses) only count towards the Bachelor of Music degree, and not to any other Arts and Science degrees, so if you hold any such MUSC courses, they will not be included in the total unit counts.
Physical and Health Education
The Academic Requirement Report should be fully functional for students who transferred to any other Arts and Science Program from the Bachelor of Physical and Health Education Programs. Note that PACT courses only count towards Physical Education degrees, and not to any other Arts and Science degrees, so if you hold any PACT courses, they will not be included in the total unit counts.
Academic Progress Report and Dual or Second Degree Students
Dual and Second degree programs are very complex. At this time, the Academic Progress Report is not reliable for Dual Degree students. Therefore, students registered in a Dual Degree program should consult the Arts and Science Calendar and your Department or Faculty Office if you need advice on choosing courses and checking degree requirements.