Course Exemption 

You are strongly encouraged to apply for exemption of a required course if you have already acquired all or most of the skills taught in that course outside of the MISM program. If you have sufficient background in the material of a core course, it is in your interest to take the exemption exam. In general, you will not be granted an exemption from the capstone experience course requirement.

Exemptions do not reduce the total number of units required to graduate but do allow you to take more elective coursework.

If a course has an exemption exam, you must take the exam. If there is no exam offered, you may petition the faculty to grant the exemption.

A conditional exemption will be given if an alternative course is approved to replace a required course.

Exemption by Exam

To exempt one of the following required courses, you must take the exemption exam scheduled during orientation week. You will not be able to exempt a course below by petitioning the instructor. You should not approach a faculty member to discuss an exemption unless you have already taken the exam and wish to discuss your results. The exams are graded usually within 24 hours and students are emailed the results.

Detailed information on the exemption exams is available on the admitted students website.

• 95-703 Database Management
• 95-712 Object Oriented Programming in Java
• 95–710 Economic Analysis
• 95–715 Financial Accounting
• 95-716 Principles of Finance
• 95-796 Statistics for IT Managers

Exemption by Petition

To exempt one of the following required courses, you must present evidence of your knowledge of the material to the faculty member listed below. You may petition to exempt one of these courses by following these steps:

• Obtain a "Petition for Course Exemption" form from the ISM web site.
• Complete the Course Exemption form, and attach an official course description, syllabus from the prior course(s) you took, including the professor’s name, textbooks used, and particular chapters covered. You will also need a transcript with the grade for the courses taken.
• If you have covered the material in the course through work experience, then any samples from your work, resume, deliverables authored by you will help the instructor in making a decision regarding the exemption.
• Obtain the approval and signature of the instructor of the course.
• Submit the signed form to the Program Coordinator no later than the end of the 4th week of classes in your 1st semester.

Please contact your Program Director if you have any questions on this process.

Conditional Exemptions

If you believe a course other than the required 95-xxx course can satisfy the requirement, you can petition for a conditional exemption. To receive approval, you must complete the Petition for Course Exemption form and have the instructor who can grant the exemption sign the form.