All undergraduate students who register at the North-West University for the first time are required to complete the two modules in academic literacy. Students must pass these modules before they can graduate.
ALDE/ALDA 111 is an introductory module for the development of academic literacy abilities in the university context. The focus is predominantly on accessing information (reading and comprehending academic texts). This module is only offered in the first semester. ALDE/ALDA 111 is a prerequisite for ALDE/ALDA 112/122. In order to pass ALDE/ALDA 111 a student must do one of two things:
The student needs to obtain a module mark of at least 50% for ALDE/ALDA 111.
The student needs to obtain a score in a proficiency test (referred to as the TALL/TAG test) that indicates that the student does not show risk in terms of academic literacy abilities. If the student obtains such a score for the test, he/she can receive recognition for the ALDE/ALDA 111 module, unless the faculty the student is registered in requires the student to complete the ALDE/ALDA 111 module, regardless of the test score.
Regardless of their proficiency test score, ALDE/ALDA 111 is compulsory for ALL students in the faculty of Law and MOST students in the faculty of Natural Sciences, as it forms part of their curriculum. Students enrolled in the following programmes within the Faculty of Natural Sciences are not required to complete ALDE/ALDA 111 if they obtain a score indicating “not at risk” for the proficiency test:
Quantitative Risk Management (2FT H01 N301P and N301V)
Financial Mathematics (2FR H01 N301P and N301V)
Data Mining (2FS G01 N301P and N301V)
Actuarial Sciences (2FQ H01 N301P)
Information Technology (2DX H01 N302P and N302V)
Urban and Regional Planning (2FE K01 N401P)