Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is divided into several categories. Please select a category and question.

Completing My Ratings

Accessing Student Ratings Results

Releasing My Name to My Instructor

Other Questions

Which student ratings items are available to students?

  1. Amount Learned - "I learned a great deal in this course.".
  2. Materials & Activities - "Course materials and learning activities were effective in helping students learn. "
  3. Intellectual Skills Developed - "This course helped me develop intellectual skills (such as critical thinking, analytical reasoning, integration of knowledge)."
  4. Interest in Student Learning - "The instructor showed genuine interest in students and their learning."

Why these four items?

Student access to rating results is one of a number of campus-wide efforts to help support and emphasize student learning at BYU. The "four learning items" are the items on the student rating form that most directly address student learning in a course. Student access to results of these items is intended to help students and faculty focus more on the effectiveness of instruction in helping students learn.

Where can I find the online tool that grants students access to student ratings results?

If you complete ratings for all your classes this semester, you can view results as soon as grades are posted. The URL for viewing ratings is: Student Access to Ratings Results.

Do I have to complete my student ratings for ALL my classes in order to access student ratings results next semester?

Yes. As a student, you need to complete student ratings for all classes in which you are enrolled each semester in order to access student ratings results for the following semester.

Do I need to complete my student ratings for Spring/Summer? What if I'm not here for Spring/Summer?

I am a freshman, transfer student, or recently returned missionary or soldier. Do I have access to student ratings results?

Can I see the student ratings results for all my professors and instructors?

Student ratings are available for professors who are teaching currently or in the coming semester. If a professor has taught in the past, but will not be teaching the next semester, that professor's ratings will not be available.

How often are student ratings results updated?

Student ratings are collected, analyzed, and reported each semester. Student ratings are made available to deans, department chairs, professors, and now students the day grades are posted for that semester. Students will have access to student ratings for the last four iterations of a particular class.

Are student ratings still anonymous?

Yes. Your name will never be associated with any information you submit, unless you specifically put your name in the comments. When reports are released, your name will not be displayed. Additionally, we only report summary data (averages, standard deviations, and counts) to faculty and administrators. We never report the responses of one particular student. You can view this sample report to see what gets reported to faculty and administrators.

When can I complete my ratings?

Ratings are usually available 3 weeks (semester) or 2 weeks (term) before the first day of finals. Please see the ratings schedule for full details.

How do I complete my ratings?

  1. Go to studentratings.byu.edu.
  2. Click on Submit your ratings.
  3. From the list of courses, click on the corresponding Rate Course button.
  4. Answer the survey questions
  5. Click the Submit Rating button at the bottom of the survey.

Some of the questions don't apply to my class. Do I have to answer them?

Yes and no. Please answer as many questions as you can. However, if you feel a question does not apply, you may leave it blank.

One of my classes is not listed. What do I do?

Please check the ratings schedule to make it is time to rate your course. If the course is still not listed, your course will not be rated.

But some of my classmates have been able to complete the ratings.

Unfortunately, the information we receive from Registration is not as precise as we would like. If this is the case, we don't have a practical way to update the information in the Student Ratings System. Sorry.

My first block course is not listed. When can I rate it?

Some First Block courses are actually listed as semester courses in Registration. Please check back towards the end of the semester to see if the course will be rated then.

I accidentally submitted a rating for the wrong class. Can I delete it and start over?

I'm sorry, but you cannot change or modify any rating after it has been submitted.

Can I change a rating after I have submitted it?

Sorry, you can't. Once the data is submitted it cannot be changed.

The ratings deadline has past. Is there a way I can still complete my ratings?

I'm sorry, but we don't allow ANY ratings to be submitted after the ratings period is over. No exceptions.

Why would I want to release my name?

Some instructors offer extra credit as an incentive to students. If one or more of your instructors is providing extra credit for completing your ratings you will need to release your name in this system in order to receive the extra points.

How do I release my name?

After you have completed the rating for a course, a checkbox will appear on the course list allowing you to release your name. You can change your mind as many times as you wish up until the end of the ratings period. It is not necessary to provide your name in the comments. Faculty will receive your comments after your grade is assigned.

Will releasing my name compromise my confidentiality?

No. Your name will only be shown if there are more than 5 people in the section that have completed the ratings. Additionally, the names will not be shown after the grades submission deadline.

How is the data collected through Student Ratings used?

The data collected through this system is used by course authors to improve the course. Additionally, information collected about instructors is used to determine faculty rank and status.

Why can't I rate my course after finals have started?

Research at BYU and other institutions has shown that a student's perceived performance on the final examination can negatively influence the data. In order to avoid this bias, we don't allow ratings to be submitted after finals. In simpler terms, we don't want the 2 most frustrating hours of the course to influence 4 months of teaching and class involvement.

But the final exam is an important part of my class. I would like to offer my opinion on it.

Most of the questions in the Student Ratings survey relate to teaching and learning, not the testing experience. You can still offer quality feedback on most if not all of the questions without taking the final exam. The University also has resources and systems which can analyze test data and provide high-quality feedback to the instructor about student and test performance.

Why can't I change a rating after it has been submitted?

Allowing students to change the data they have provided affects the quality of the data collected. In order to make sure faculty and administrators receive accurate feedback, we don't allow any data to be changed after it has been submitted.

You know who I am when I submit my rating. How do you keep the instructor from knowing who I am?

Yes, we know who submitted the data. In fact, if you so desire, we can tell your instructor you completed the rating. However, your name will never be associated with any information you submit, unless you specifically put your name in the comments. When reports are released, your name will not be displayed. Additionally, we only report summary data (averages, standard deviations, and counts) to faculty and administrators. We never report the responses of one particular student. You can view this sample report to see what gets reported to faculty and administrators.

I've heard it is very easy for instructors to know who submitted a particular rating. Is this true?

It is true in very, very small courses (3 students or less). But unless there is only one student in the class, the instructor will have to figure it out by guessing. All data collected is reported statistically in averages for the entire section and how many students marked each response. All comments for the section are grouped together and are displayed in random order. Even if you specified your name in the comments, the instructor would only know what you wrote in the comments. They would not be able to figure out your responses to the other questions. See the sample report and see if you can figure out what a particular student answered. You never know, one of those responses may be yours!

I've heard the system has been compromised. I'm not completing my ratings because they are not safe.

We've heard that too! However, we haven't found any evidence and nobody has proved it. We have investigated each compromise report we have received only to find vague responses and incorrect assumptions. For example, the most credible report we received went something like this:

The comments a student wrote in a class assignment were similar to the comments he/she later wrote in the student rating. A few days after completing the rating, the instructor approached the student about the student's concerns. When the student saw the instructor directly address the student's concern, the student assumed the confidentiality of his/her rating was compromised. After speaking with the instructor, the instructor confirmed he/she knew about the student's concern because the student had written the comment in a class assignment for the instructor to read. In this case, the student provided comments directly to the instructor and through the ratings system. When the instructor followed up with the student, the student quickly assumed the ratings data had been compromised, forgetting that he/she had already provided that same comment directly to the instructor in a previous occasion.