Equivalency or Diploma exam option

With mature student status, Academic Foundations students do not require a high school diploma to enter post-secondary studies. Students taking Grade 12 courses can choose between writing Alberta Education High School Diploma exam and Bow Valley College Equivalency examination option.

At the end of the second week of classes all students enrolled in 30-level courses are required to submit a selection sheet and indicate whether they choose to write the Bow Valley College equivalency or the Alberta Education High School diploma exam.

Bow Valley College Equivalency option

Students electing to write the equivalency examination will write a school final examination similar to the provincial diploma exam for their subject during the scheduled exam week at the end of the trimester. These students will receive a final mark, blended from a course-based mark (50%) and a school final exam mark (50%). Successful students will then earn credit with the College. These courses can be used for admission into post-secondary programs. In Alberta, the acceptance of these courses is guaranteed through an Alberta Council of Admission and Transfer agreement. Equivalency courses are recorded on Bow Valley College transcripts as 5 credit courses and are not recorded on Alberta Education High School transcripts.
For alternate programs students can write equivalency exams any month according to the current BVC Equivalency exams schedule.

Alberta Education High School Diploma examination option

Students electing to write the Alberta Education Diploma examinations will have their term mark sent to Alberta Education to be combined with their diploma exam mark. Students who are registered in the Alberta Education High School courses must write the diploma exam. Failure to do so will result in an incomplete mark on their Alberta High School transcript. When the diploma exams for Grade 12 Alberta Education courses fall after the end of the term (e.g. January or June), the College will provide diploma preparation seminars at no charge to students who were registered in the courses to help them refresh and review.

Students in both tracks will remain in the same course and will have the exact same course experience, the only difference being the type of final examination.