The Capstone Exam course serves as a final, overall assessment for the SDS MicroMasters Program. Only learners who have already earned the Course Certificates for all four of a Program Track's Content Courses are eligible to take the Capstone Exam course, and enrollment for the Capstone is managed by the SDS team directly.
Contents
- Capstone Exam Format
- Capstone Exam Eligibility
- How Does Enrollment Work for the Capstone Exam Course?
- What is the Schedule of the SDS Capstone Exam Course?
- Additional Information Links
Capstone Exam Format
The Capstone comprises a set of four virtually-proctored cumulative exams, which roughly correspond to the four Content Courses of each SDS Program Track. Together, the component exams cover all of the content taught in each Program Track's courses. The exams must be taken in a specified order, and learners will have two hours to complete each exam.
Learners who achieve a passing Total Course Score across the four exams will earn the Capstone Exam's Course Certificate, completing the program, and will automatically receive the MITx MicroMasters Program Credential in Statistics and Data Science (SDS).
- For more information about the Format and Content of the component exams, see this FAQ article
Capstone Exam Eligibility
To be eligible to take the Capstone Exam and complete the MicroMasters Program, you must have completed both shared Core Courses and two track-specific courses from the same Program Track. Additionally, you must not have attempted the Capstone Exam twice already.
- For more detailed information about Capstone Exam Eligibility, see this FAQ article
How Does Enrollment Work for the Capstone Exam Course?
Enrollment for the Capstone Exam course functions differently than for the program's other courses.
There is no open enrollment period for the Capstone Exam course. Learners cannot enroll themselves as they would for other courses. Instead, the SDS team enrolls eligible learners in each session of the course before the scheduled start date.
SDS learners who are eligible to take the Capstone Exam are automatically enrolled into each upcoming session of the course by the SDS MicroMasters team, around 2-4 weeks before the the session's scheduled start date.
If you believe that you are eligible to take the Capstone Exam and plan to take an upcoming session, but you are not enrolled by one week before the scheduled start date of the session, reach out to SDS Support ASAP for assistance in getting enrolled via the "Contact Us" button at the bottom of this page, or via email at sds-mm@mit.edu.
Caution: If you wait until after a session's start date to request enrollment, it may not be possible to enroll you in the session. If you miss a Capstone Exam session, you will need to wait 6-12 months until the next one.
- For more detailed information about Capstone Exam Enrollment, see this FAQ article
What is the Schedule of the SDS Capstone Exam Course?
Course Availability Schedule
The Capstone Exam runs twice each year, in the Spring and Fall semesters, in March-April and October-November.
- See this FAQ article and the SDS Program's Upcoming Dates page for the most up-to-date Schedule of Course Availability for the program
Course Session Schedule
Each Capstone Exam course session is broken into several important time periods, approximately as follows. However, note that this internal schedule is subject to change and all learners should carefully check the Courseware for their Capstone Exam course session, once enrolled, to ensure they know the exact dates.
The Start Date of each Capstone Exam course session is set a few weeks before the exams will become available for learners to complete. This schedule affords time to complete several important tasks: upgrade course enrollment, complete Onboarding & ID Verification, and prepare to take the exams.
Timeline
All eligible learners should be enrolled in the Capstone Exam course session before the scheduled Start Date.
All enrolled learners must upgrade their course enrollment to the Verified/Certificate (Paid) track before the deadline—about 1 week after the Start Date; and must also complete Onboarding before its deadline—about 2-3 weeks after the Start Date. See this FAQ article for details
The course's four Exams are split into two Parts. Part 1 includes Exam 1 & Exam 2; and Part 2 includes Exam 3 & Exam 4.
Part 2 Exams become available one week after Part 1 Exams. Learners are provided about 2 days to complete each Part, once it becomes available, and learners are provided two hours to complete each individual Exam. The Exams must be taken in order (1, 2, 3, 4).
Before the Course Session
- Automatic Enrollment Date: Approximately 2-4 weeks before session Start Date
During the Course Session
- Session Start Date
-
Verification and Onboarding
- Verification (Payment) Deadline: About 1 week after the Start Date
- Onboarding Deadline: around 2-3 weeks after the Start Date
-
Exam Availability
- Part 1 Exams Available: 3 Weeks after Start Date, for 2 days
- Part 2 Exams Available: 4 weeks after Start Date, for 2 days
- Session End Date
Additional Information
- For more information and details about the four SDS MicroMasters Program Tracks, see this FAQ article
- For details about earning the Course Certificate for an SDS MicroMasters course, see this FAQ article
- For more information about MicroMasters Course Certificates and Verification generally, see this edX Help Center article
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