NEW GENERAL EXAMINATION RULING MAY ABOLISH MID-YEAR GRADUATION

The probable abolition of General Examinations for the Bachelor's Degree at midyears, making it impossible for students to graduate from the College except in the June of each year, was indicated by the announcement last night that the Corporation and the Board of Overseers have approved a plan to put the further continuance of these midyear examinations at the discretion of the various departments or committees in charge of the concentration fields. Students registered in the departments or divisions which adopt the new plan with regard to General Examinations will thus be prevented form graduating in three and a half years.

The department of History, Government, and Economics is the only one which has yet taken any action on this proposal, having provisionally decided to do away with the midyear General and Divisional examinations after next year. The delay of at least a year in putting the plan into effect is for the benefit of those members of the class of 1928 who intend to take their degrees next February. Although none of the other departments have yet considered the matter of changing the present system of two sets of General Examinations each year, it is probable that most of them will adopt the new plan within the next few years.

The chief objection to General Examinations in the middle as well as at the end of each year lies in the difficulty of making up two sets of examinations. Since the number of students who will be affected by the new ruling is very small, it has been felt that the advantages of General Examinations at midyears are outweighed by the weakening effect they necessarily have on the second set issued at finals.

The number of students graduating from the College in three and a half years has been steadily declining. This year there were only a number of men who did so.