How it Works
1: Choose Your Courses and Register
Click on College Courses to find courses you wish to take.
The course descriptions provide details on course content and recommended prerequisites. If the course description lists prerequisite, you should complete those courses first. You will earn quarter-hour credits for these courses from the sponsoring institution indicated in the course description. All courses are accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. You do not have to meet entrance requirements to enroll in Independent Study courses. Enrollment does not constitute standing at Portland State University. This means that you cannot use enrollment in PSU Independent Study Program courses to establish yourself as a part-time or full-time PSU student for academic funding or other purposes, such as financial aid, loan deferment, etc.
Academic Requirements
Independent Study academic requirements are established by participating academic departments. Although there are no entrance requirements for enrollment, some courses have prerequisites. Students who have not met the requirements of a course they enroll in may find the work difficult and may be asked by the instructor to either document successful completion of the prerequisite or to withdraw from the course until they are able to successfully complete the prerequisite course.
Choose Your Preferred Grading Option
When you register, you may choose to get a letter grade or a pass/no-pass grade. Letter grades are assigned as follows: A– exceptional; B– superior; C– average; D– inferior; F– failure. Your work must average a C- level or better to earn a Pass grade. Changing Your Grade Option: If you want to change from one grade option to the other, you must request that change in writing before you complete one-half of the required coursework. You may change your grade option only one time for each course and only during the first six months after you register for the course.
- Online: An instructor-authored course guide in a navigable website. We are regularly adding online courses. Most courses will require the purchase of a textbook and other course materials. You can choose to work online with the hyperlinked course guide and the automated email functions, or you can work offline by saving the course guide pages or pdf file to your hard drive, or by printing them. Some assignments may require you to print out and write on worksheets that you must mail to the instructor. If you select online access to your course on your registration form, we will not mail you a printed course guide.
Credit by Exam Option
Students are allowed to demonstrate composition proficiency. WR 121B and WR 323B are offered as credit-by-exam (CBE) courses. CBE is a challenge method of course completion; you will have no contact with the instructor. You may choose a letter or a pass/no-pass grade.
The course guide consists of directions to compile a portfolio of previous writings that you will bring to the exam, an orientation to the writing you will be asked to do under exam conditions, and an exam request form. You should already have a body of college-level compositions on hand and have sufficient composition skills to demonstrate passing competence during the on-demand writing task that you will complete during the exam. You have six months from the date of registration to take the exam. No time extensions or re-enrollments are permitted. The standard refund schedule applies to CBE course registrations if you have NOT submitted an exam request. Please see Policies.