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How do I enroll in the SDS Capstone Exam? What is the Eligibility Criteria?

Elizabeth Breda
Updated

Eligibility and Enrollment function differently for the SDS Capstone Exam Course than for other SDS courses. Unlike other SDS courses, the Capstone Exam course must be taken as the last course in your SDS MicroMasters Journey—after you have earned the Course Certificates for your four Content Courses. Enrollment for the Capstone Exam course is not open to learners, but managed by the SDS MicroMasters team directly. And learners may only attempt the Capstone Exam course two times.

 

Contents

Capstone Exam Course Eligibility

To be eligible to take the Capstone Exam and complete the MicroMasters Program, you must have completed a valid SDS Program Track by earning the Course Certificates for both shared Core Courses and for two track-specific courses from the same Program Track.

 

Limited Attempts

SDS MicroMasters learners are entitled to only two attempts to pass the SDS Capstone Exam. Learners who fail to pass the Capstone Exam within their first two attempts are not guaranteed any additional attempts.

Valid Program Tracks

While all SDS learners take both shared Core Courses, the track-specific courses you take must constitute a valid Program Track—not every subset of two Track Courses constitutes a valid Program Track.

For example, if in addition to the two Core Courses, 6.431x and 6.86x, you earned the Course Certificates for 14.310Fx & 6.419x, or for 6.419x & IDS.S24x you would not be eligible to take the Capstone Exam and complete the program—because in both cases the two Track Courses courses do not constitute a valid Program Track. In either case, you would need to earn the Course Certificate from one of the two other non-core courses to become eligible to take the Capstone Exam course and complete the Program Credential.

 

SDS MicroMasters Courses

Shared Core Courses (Required for all Tracks)

General Track Courses

Methods Track Courses

Social Sciences Track Courses

Time Series and Social Sciences Track Courses

 

Additional Information

 

Capstone Exam Course Enrollment

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.

 

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.

 

 

Automatic Enrollment Timeline for the Capstone Exam Course

Enrollment for the Capstone Exam course is managed by the SDS Team, who enroll all eligible learners into each upcoming session of the Capstone Exam course about 2-4 weeks before the session Start Date.

 

Once You Are Enrolled in a Capstone Exam Course Session

You Must Upgrade Your Enrollment Track

Because the automatic enrollment method used by the SDS Team cannot also automatically upgrade learners' enrollment track, all learners must manually upgrade their enrollment for the Capstone Exam course after being enrolled. Only learners enrolled on the Verified/Certificate (Paid) will be able to take the Capstone Exams.

 

It is crucial to upgrade your enrollment track as soon as possible, once you are enrolled.

The SDS team cannot make exceptions for learners who do not upgrade before the deadline.

 

The Verification (Payment) Deadline for Capstone Exam course sessions typically occurs about 1 week after the session's Start Date. If you fail to upgrade your enrollment by the Payment Deadline, you will not be able to take the exam, and you will need to wait until the next session of the Capstone Exam course. The course is offered once or twice per year, so if you miss the deadline, you will be waiting for a while until the next session.

 

How to Upgrade Your Enrollment Track

If You Purchased an SDS Program Track Bundle

If you purchased all of your SDS courses together, with a Program Track Bundle, then you will have received a paid course entitlement for the Capstone Exam course. As long as your entitlement has not expired, you will not be required to submit additional payment to upgrade your enrollment.

  • For instructions on how to apply your course entitlement to upgrade your enrollment, see this edX Help Center Article

  • For more information about course entitlement expiration and for instructions on how to extend your entitlement, see this FAQ Article

 

If You Purchased SDS Courses Individually

If you have been purchasing your SDS courses one at a time, then you must submit payment for the Capstone Exam course individually to upgrade your enrollment.

 

In either case, you must upgrade your enrollment in the Capstone Exam course session to the Verified/Certificate (Paid) enrollment track before the Payment Deadline of the course session. The deadline will be prominently displayed both within the edX Courseware and in emails from the course team that you will receive.

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