An “extra exam” (esame sovrannumerario) is an exam taken in addition to those required in a university program, and therefore does not count toward the degree: its ECTS credits are not used to obtain the Bachelor’s or Master’s degree. In the student’s academic record, extra exams appear with a specific checkmark indicating this status.
1) Exams incorrectly marked as extra in the Bachelor’s/Master’s career
The software used for the Assisted Compilation of Study Plans (CAPS) and the system managing student careers do not communicate directly.
For this reason, in the academic record, some exams may sometimes fail to be recognized as part of the study plan and are instead marked as “extra”, even if they are included in the latest study plan submitted through CAPS and approved. This happens especially with free-choice exams or those chosen from a given group.
For the Bachelor’s and Master’s Programs in Mathematics, the valid and binding study plan is the one defined in the latest CAPS study plan submitted and approved.
In conclusion, students are advised not to worry about any discrepancies between Alice and the CAPS study plan: the academic record will be aligned with the last approved study plan shortly before the graduation session for which the student is registered.
It is still possible to request a check of these Alice–CAPS inconsistencies by writing to patrizia.lenzi@unipi.it (University Student Office, contact person for the Bachelor’s and Master’s Programmes in Mathematics).
Note: attach your CAPS study plan to the email and CC chiara.luzzati@unipi.it (Teaching Office of the Department of Mathematics).
2) Exams correctly taken as extra in the Bachelor’s/Master’s degree
It is, of course, possible to take additional exams during the Bachelor’s or Master’s degree—i.e., truly extra exams:
– the corresponding ECTS credits are not used to obtain the Bachelor’s/Master’s degree;
– these credits must not be included in the CAPS Bachelor’s/Master’s study plan;
– accordingly, they appear in the academic record with the “extra exam” checkmark.
3) Validation in the Master’s career of extra exams taken during the Bachelor’s degree
If you wish to validate, within the Master’s Degree in Mathematics in Pisa, any extra exams taken during the Bachelor’s degree (see point 2), you must submit a specific request by filling in and sending through CAPS the form “Validation in the Master’s career of extra exams taken during the Bachelor’s Degree”.
Please note the following:
– the request can be submitted only after you are officially enrolled in the Master’s Degree program; it must not be submitted while enrolled in the so-called Transition Single Courses, pending formal enrollment in the Master’s Degree for the new academic year;
– a separate request must be submitted for each exam to be validated;
– if the validation request is approved, you will not receive a confirmation: after the necessary administrative processing time, the exam will simply appear as validated in your Master’s academic record;
– you must include in the Master’s study plan (to be submitted in CAPS) the exam(s) for which you are requesting recognition.