In accordance with the program/major specifications, students are required to pass the relevant final examinations, fulfil the relevant practical operations, participate in the graduation internship, and defend their graduation dissertations. Students can get information about the programme specification and course specification from the Teaching Affairs Secretary of each school. For more details about the Teaching Affairs Secretary, please refer to P3 of 3.5 Responsibilities and Functions of Each school within GCAST.

When students are enrolled, the college organizes students to take their admission education/orientation training. Admission education/orientation training will inform students of the relevant regulations to comply with throughout their time at the college. It will also inform them of the curriculum plan of each major and the relevant assessment methods and final examination timetable and duration, and carry out activities such as welcome ceremony, Q&A session.

The comprehensive score (final score) of a course consists of the score of general performance (including performance in class and assigned work, please refer to 5.4 for details) and score for final examination (please refer to 5.12 for details). The course specification will define the proportion of relevant assessment results in the comprehensive score (final score), and the teacher will notify the students of such assessment scheme along with the corresponding course scoring standard at the beginning of the semester.

Comprehensive score (Final score) (100 points) = score of general performance (100 points*X) + score of final exams (100 points*Y). “X” refers to the proportion of the score of general performance in the comprehensive score and “Y” refers to the proportion of the score of final exams in the comprehensive score (X+Y=100%). The Academic Affairs Office has issued the Guidelines for Course Specification of GCAST, requiring all majors to clarify the content of the course assessment, the proportions of the score of general performance and the score of final exams, the assessment method of the course (with final examination or with performance evaluation) and whether the various assessment methods are in accordance with the course objectives of various assessment methods when formulating the syllabus of each course.

1.Score of General Performance (100 points):

In general, the proportion of the score of general performance within the comprehensive score should between 30-50%. For highly practical or skills driven courses, the proportion of the score of general performance shall not exceed 60%. (For more details, please refer to Article 3 in 5.4 Measures for Evaluation and Recording of Score of General Performance.) When the score of general performance is less than 60 points, the teacher has the right to cancel a student’s qualification to participate in the final examination of the course. (For more details, please refer to Article 4 in 5.4 Measures for Evaluation and Recording of Score of General Performance.)

The score of general performance is composed of scores of performances in class and scores of assigned works. Scores of performances in class include score of classroom discipline, score of class attendance and score of answering questions in class. Scores of assigned works include scores of quizzes, written assignment, case study, attainment logs from experiment, presentation on skills and assessed work, the score distribution is determined by the teachers based on the characteristics of the courses. The full score of general performance is 100 points. The teacher defines the proportions of scores of performances in class and scores of assigned works according to the course objectives, teaching methods and curriculum nature. And each assigned work can have individual proportions.

1.1 Performance in class

The purpose of this is to effectively guide students to focus on learning in the class. Based on Measures for Evaluation and Recording of Score of General Performance at GCAST, teachers deduct points according to their corresponding performance in class such as absence without a reason or violating class discipline.

1.2 Assigned work

The most common types of assigned work are listed as follows:

a. Quizzes: Quizzes are conducted in class for less than 10 minutes following the teachers’ instruction on knowledge points, and the question types are composed of multiple choices, filling in blanks or true-false questions.

b. Written assignments: Written assignments are to assess the students’ understanding of the knowledge points in the course specification and should be completed after class and submitted before the due date. In principle, written assignments should not exceed more than 1,000 words (referring to the standard of the composition in National College Entrance Examination), which can be handwritten or in electronic version according to the teachers’ requirements.

c. Case study: Case study is to assess the students’ ability to comprehensively apply the knowledge points. Case study should be completed after class and submitted before the due date and should not exceed 3,000 words in principle (referring to the minimum standard of graduation dissertation).

d. Attainment logs from experiments: Attainment logs from experiments are for experimental courses and are required to be submitted after class. If the course attribute is “Experimental Course” in the syllabus, the attainment logs from experiments are required. The time, place, equipment, purpose, conclusion, and experience are required to be written on the attainment logs for each experiment.

e. The presentation on skills is conducted in labs, either individually or in groups, spanning two class sessions, each lasting 45 minutes. These practical operation courses require hands-on activities in laboratories, mirroring those found in engineering disciplines. Subsequently, assessments are conducted by teachers, evaluating students' performances and presentations.

f. Assessed work: Assessed work is suitable for courses of art majors, which refer to courses belonging to the art category in Catalogue of Undergraduate Majors in General Higher Education issued by the Ministry of Education of China. Assessed work may include fine arts works, photography works, documentaries, microfilms, etc. Students use their extra-curricular time to complete the work, and teachers may ask the students to complete the work individually or in groups and submit the work through USB flash disk or online.

Teachers can give students' scores based on the quality of their assigned work or deduct points for negative behaviours during their completion process. (For more details, please refer to Points Deduction Standard in document 5.4 Measures for Evaluation and Recording of Score of General Performance at GCAST.) For more details about academic misconduct in Assigned Work, please refer to 5.9 Academic Misconduct.

2. Score of Final Examination (100 points):

Students obtain their scores for final examinations by participating in final exams. According to course specification, assessment forms of final exam can be divided into “final exam” and “performance evaluation.”

2.1 Final exams

Final exams are arranged in the last two weeks of each semester by the Academic Affairs Office, who would issue final exam handbooks for students and for invigilators. In general, a final exam lasts for 110 minutes. (For more details, please refer to Regulations on Examination Management of Guangzhou College of Applied Science and Technology.) Most of the final exams are conducted in a “closed book” way. For courses that focus on general skills/knowledge or innovative abilities, the final exams can be conducted in an “open book” way.

Under the background of curriculum reform and examination reform, open-book examinations can be adopted for some public courses to develop students' independent innovation ability. During the exam, students are allowed to bring some resources for reference distributed by the University, but additional resources are prohibited, such as mobile phones. Open-book examinations are only used by a limited number of courses. If any other courses require this type of examination, the college must submit a request to be reviewed by the Academic Affairs Office. Open-book examinations will be allowed only after approval.

2.2 Performance evaluation

Performance evaluation is conducted in the last class, lasting for 90 minutes. For related regulations, please refer to 5.6 Regulations on Examination Management of Guangzhou College of Applied Science and Technology. The evaluation methods can include:

a. Essay: An Essay is required to be completed and submitted in class, with no more than 1,000 words in a closed-book or an open-book way.

b. Oral test: Suitable for courses related to languages, such as College English Listening and Speaking.

c. Reflection and feedback for study: Suitable for courses related to internship and practical operations.

d. Physical fitness test: Suitable for Physical Education.

e. Presentation on skills: Suitable for engineering courses. And teachers give students marks on skill performance in class.

f. Assessed work: Suitable for art programme courses, including demonstration and presentation about assessed works or shows in class.

g. The above evaluation methods are implemented on an individual basis, but not in teams or groups.