Intended Audience: Students
About
Michigan Virtual’s AP Course Policy requires all students to follow firm pacing deadlines that ensure coursework is completed before national AP exam dates. Unlike most courses, AP courses always use the official course start date (not the student’s enrollment date) to calculate pacing. Late work is accepted with penalties, and all assignments must be completed on time to prepare for the AP exam schedule. Students are strongly encouraged to review the full AP Course Policy to understand late work penalties, resubmission rules, and exam requirements.
This article explains how students can access and use the Brightspace Student Pacing Tool to track course progress, stay on target with personalized submission dates, and understand their performance using the "Grade To Date" feature.
Instruction
- First, from the Brightspace homepage, select a course from the “My Courses” section.
- Next, tap the Student Pacing Tool option from the top navigation menu on the Classroom Homepage.
- At this point, the “Student Pacing Tool - Student View” will display a list of assignments. This allows students to view each assignment, its due date, submission date, number of days late, points and grade.
- Course Start Date: For AP courses, the start date is always the official course start date set by Michigan Virtual. This ensures that all pacing aligns with AP exam preparation timelines, regardless of a student’s enrollment date.
- Course End Date: The official course end date set for AP courses, which ensures that all required coursework is completed before national AP exam dates.
- Target Submission Date: Assignment deadlines are automatically calculated between the official course start and end dates. These dates are firm in AP courses to maintain alignment with the AP exam schedule.
- Submission Date: The date the activity was actually submitted.
- Days Off Pace: Number of days an activity is late beyond the target submission date. This will appear blank if the due date is today or in the future.
- Grade To Date: Points Earned ÷ Points Attempted; gives a real-time view of progress. Displays “Not Available” if no graded work has been submitted.
- Flags:
- Due Today: Due within 24 hours.
- Overdue: At least one item is late; this stays visible throughout the course.
- On Pace: All work is current.
Downloading the Schedule
Tap the Download button to export the personalized schedule as a PDF.
FAQs
- What should AP students know about pacing?
AP courses follow strict pacing aligned with the AP exam calendar. All due dates are fixed to ensure readiness for the exam. Students should review the AP Course Policy to understand late work penalties (20–40%), resubmission rules, and proctoring requirements for midterms and finals. Staying on pace is critical to success in AP courses. - Is there a calendar view of upcoming assignments?
Yes. To view calendar details, select Course Tools from the top menu bar, then click Calendar. This will open the full calendar view, which lists upcoming assignments and due dates. - Why does Grade To Date show “Not Available”?
No graded submissions exist yet.
Why does the overdue flag stay visible?
It's designed to remain for tracking support needs.What if the schedule doesn’t load?
Refresh the page to prompt loading.Is the tool accessible?
Yes, it meets accessibility standards, except it does not support ReadSpeaker.Can my teacher download my schedule?
No. Only students and mentors have the ability to download student schedules.Why don’t Discussion Based Assessments (DBAs) have a submission date listed?
DBAs are conducted outside the Brightspace submission system, so no date is shown.What happens when a student receives an automatic zero?
If a deadline passes without a submission, the assignment will automatically receive a zero, which impacts the Grade to Date. If the assignment is later turned in and graded, the zero will be replaced with the earned score. To receive credit, late work must be submitted before the final week of the term.