1.1 Alberta Diploma Exam Administration & Policies

Executive Summary: The English Language Arts 30-1 diploma exam is worth 30% of the final course mark; the school-awarded mark is worth the other 70%. The exam has two parts written on separate days: Part A: Written Response (50%) and Part B: Reading (50%). Each part is scheduled for 3 hours, and every student may take up to double the official time if they need it. Alberta Education and Childcare's Provincial Assessment branch runs the program, and the diploma exams are written on its digital assessment platform (DAP).

Where the Diploma Exam Fits in ELA 30-1

ELA 30-1 is a Grade 12 course, and a student must write the diploma exam before course credit can be awarded. The final official mark blends the classroom mark with the provincial exam mark, and a blended mark of 50% is needed to pass. The exam is built from the English Language Arts 10–12 Programs of Study, so it assesses the same curriculum your teacher uses. It simply measures that curriculum under common, timed conditions.

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The 70/30 Blended Mark

Final official mark = (school-awarded mark × 0.70) + (diploma exam mark × 0.30)

Worked Examples

• Strong classroom mark: 82% school mark and 68% exam mark → (82 × 0.70) + (68 × 0.30) = 57.4 + 20.4 = 77.8%, reported as 78%.
• Borderline pass: Alberta does not award final official marks of 48% or 49% in diploma courses. Those marks are raised to 50%, and a blended mark of 47.5% rounds to 48% and is also raised. A student with a 52% school mark therefore needs at least 37% on the exam: 36.4 + 11.1 = 47.5 → 48 → 50%. An exam mark of 36% gives 47.2%, which is not enough.

The 30% weighting has not always applied. Diploma exams were worth 50% until the 2015–2016 school year, and they were temporarily weighted at 20% in 2022–2023. The 2025–2026 ELA 30-1 Information Bulletin confirms the current 30/70 split.

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2026–2027 Administrations for ELA 30-1

Diploma exams are offered five times a year. According to the 2026–2027 General Information Bulletin, ELA 30-1 is scheduled as follows (all sittings run 9 AM–12 PM, with up to double time available):

Part A is always written first, and Part B follows a few days later. Schedules can change, so confirm dates with your school before exam week.

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Exam-Day Rules That Affect You

• Time: Each part is designed so that most students can finish within 3 hours, and all students may use up to 6 hours if they need it. The extra-time provision has applied to every student since the 2017–2018 school year.
• Arrival and leaving: For a morning exam, late arrivals may begin writing up until 10 AM, and no student may leave the room before 10 AM. A student who arrives more than one hour after the start is not permitted to write.
• Platform: The digital assessment platform has replaced paper diploma exams. Paper exams exist only as an approved accommodation, and students using that accommodation handwrite their Part A responses on official response sheets.
• Materials: For Part A, a dictionary and thesaurus are built into the platform. You may also bring an authorized print dictionary (English and/or bilingual), a thesaurus, and an authorized writing handbook. No references are allowed for Part B, and you may not bring notes, novels, or blank paper; supervisors hand out scrap paper.

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Fees, Rescores, and Rewrites (2026–2027)

Fees are paid through myPass before you write, and results are withheld until all fees are paid.

• Rewrites: If you rewrite, you must rewrite both Part A and Part B. All marks appear on your academic record, but only the highest diploma exam mark is reported on your transcript. myPass also shows your highest blended final official mark.
• Rescores: In a rescore, all Part A assignments are remarked by teachers who do not know the original marks. The machine-scored Part B is not rescored. The rescore mark becomes final whether it goes up, goes down, or stays the same.

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Security, Released Materials, and Practice Tests

• Security: Part B: Reading is secured at every administration, and November, April, and August Part A exams are also secured. Part A exams from January and June are released on the digital assessment platform after the administration.
• Equating: Each exam shares some anchor questions with a previous exam, and a statistical process called equating adjusts marks for differences in difficulty. That is why Part B questions are never published after the sitting.
• Practice: Practice tests for Part A and Part B are available on the platform's public practice site. The Examples of the Standards for Students' Writing documents show scored student papers from past administrations.

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Provincial Reporting Standards

Alberta reports diploma results against two thresholds. The acceptable standard is a mark of 50% or higher, and the standard of excellence is a mark of 80% or higher. Scores are equated, so a mark means the same thing whichever administration you write. The rest of this guide explains what Excellent, Proficient, and Satisfactory work looks like on each scoring category.