Academics
Attendance, Missed Exams & Academic Integrity at FAST
Some university rules can affect your grade even if you understand the entire course. Rules about short attendance, missing quizzes, and cheating are very strict. Breaking them can directly lead to zero marks, getting barred from exams, or permanent expulsion.
What happens if you get an FA grade at FAST?
FAST expects 100% attendance from every student. The university only allows you to miss up to 20% of total classes, and that too strictly for genuine, verified reasons like severe medical emergencies or accidents. This allowance is never automatic—you must formally submit medical documents or applications to the administration for approval.
If you drop even slightly below the minimum limit, you lose the right to sit for final exams. The system will automatically give you an FA grade (Fail due to Attendance shortage). Getting an FA wipes out all your hard work for that course, forces you to repeat it, and costs you an extra Rs. 12,000 per credit hour to retake it later.
| Program Level | Minimum Attendance Required | What Happens Below the Limit? |
|---|---|---|
| Undergraduate (BS) | Strictly 80% | Automatic FA Grade. You are barred from sitting the final exam, your sessional marks are deleted, and you must pay to repeat the course. |
| Graduate (MS / PhD) | Strictly 75% |
What Happens If You Miss a Quiz or Assignment?
Daily university coursework has highly rigid time limits. If you miss a quiz or pass an assignment deadline for any reason, you receive an immediate zero marks for that component.
What Happens If You Miss a Midterm or Final Exam?
Missing a major midterm or final exam is a serious issue. The university will only allow a makeup exam for extreme, unavoidable crises: severe accidents, serious personal hospitalization, or the death of an immediate family member.
If you miss a major exam, the process follows these clear steps:
Emergency: You miss a midterm or final exam due to a verified, serious crisis.
Apply: You submit a formal written application backed by solid, verifiable proof or hospital medical certificates.
Review: A specialized Faculty Committee reviews your case to check if your proof is genuine.
Retake: If your application is approved, your makeup exam must be held and graded at least one week before the next semester starts.
Fees: You must clear the required makeup exam processing fee before you are allowed to sit for the paper.
Official Rules for Cheating and Plagiarism
Academic dishonesty includes cheating during exams, copying lab code, using AI tools unfairly, or sharing your assignments with friends. FAST has a strict zero-tolerance policy. If you get caught, the punishments escalate rapidly based on who reviews your case:
| Authority Level | Typical Action Taken |
|---|---|
| Course Instructor | An automatic, non-negotiable zero marks in that specific quiz, midterm, or assignment. |
| Department Committee | If the teacher forwards your case, the HOD (Head of Department) can give you an immediate F grade in the entire course. |
| Campus Disciplinary Board | For severe or repeated offenses, you can receive an F grade in ALL courses that semester, along with a suspension or permanent expulsion from the university. |
Senior Advice: What to Do If You Face an Unfair Accusation
If you are accused of copying or cheating but are completely innocent, do not panic and do not get into a shouting match with your teacher. Instead, use this clear step-by-step strategy:
Talk Privately: Meet your teacher calmly during office hours. Confirm if they are just deducting marks informally or sending a formal cheating case to the department.
Write to the HOD: If the teacher refuses to listen and you genuinely did the work yourself, write a respectful application to the Head of Department. Be ready to explain your code logic line-by-line to prove it is yours.
Ask for CCTV: If the dispute happened inside an exam hall, explicitly request the disciplinary committee to check the official room CCTV cameras. This will clearly prove your seating posture and whether you were looking at another desk.
Stay Patient: Disciplinary boards cannot fail you without solid proof. If you clear your name but still have to complete the course under that teacher, keep your head down, do your work perfectly, and let your exam marks do the talking.
How to Protect Your Grades
The easiest way to avoid academic trouble at FAST is to keep track of your portal records and protect your files:
- Check your portal attendance weekly. Do not wait until the end of the semester, assuming your teacher will automatically fix a missing attendance click later.
- Submit assignments early. Submitting work at the very last second leaves you vulnerable to portal crashes and internet failures.
- Keep digital proof. Always take screenshots or save email confirmations of your important assignment submissions.
- Never share your code files casually. If a classmate copies your lab code and uploads it, the system will flag both files for plagiarism, and both of you will get a zero regardless of who wrote it first.
- Keep your medical receipts. If you miss classes or exams due to genuine illness, collect official certificates from verified doctors immediately.
Quick Summary
FAST enforces a strict attendance floor of 80% for undergraduate students. Dropping below this limit results in an automatic, unappealable FA grade. Missing daily quizzes or assignments scores an immediate zero with no retake options available.
Makeup exams are strictly limited to severe medical emergencies. Cheating or copying lab assignments results in immediate zero marks, which can quickly turn into full course failures or permanent campus suspensions if referred to the disciplinary boards.