USC Law's Grading Policies for LL.M. & M.C.L. Students
Grades awarded to LL.M. and M.C.L. students reflect the same standards that apply to J.D. students. Whenever possible, exams are blind graded, so that faculty do not know the individual identity or degree program of the student. Blind grading aims to assign LL.M. and M.C.L. students the same grade that a J.D. student would earn for an identical exam or paper. Accommodations for language difficulties are made by allowing some LL.M. and M.C.L. students additional time for exams, and by permitting them to use dictionaries even in closed-book exams.
The particular rules for LL.M. and M.C.L grading vary somewhat depending on the class. In first-year classes, the curve is established based only on first-year J.D. students, excluding LL.M., M.C.L. and other students in the class. Our LL.M. and M.C.L. students are then awarded the grade that their raw score would have received had a J.D. in the class scored at that level. Thus for first-year classes, LL.M. and M.C.L students have no effect on the J.D. curve, though they are graded using it.
For most upper level classes, LL.M. and M.C.L. students are graded along with the J.D. students, using the same standards, and are included in the class curve. The law school offers a few classes that are open only to our foreign LL.M. and M.C.L. students, including Introduction to U.S. Legal Education. Because there are no J.D. students taking this class, we cannot fully implement our principle that LL.M. and M.C.L. students will receive the same grade that a J.D. would receive for identical work. We have no comparable J.D. work. Instead we use our general upper level curve, with a 3.2 median and a constrained spread for these classes.
LL.M. and M.C.L. grades become final and are subject to appeal according to the same rules as J.D. grades.
