Plenty of parents will have read a line like this in the second-semester course registration notice: "Subjects not offered at our school may be completed through a joint curriculum programme or the online school." It sounds like good news. What the notice rarely spells out is one consequence: subjects taken this way have a middle dot, '·', entered in the class-rank column of the school record instead of a number. No rank grade is issued. Whether that is a loss depends on the situation — but you cannot judge it without knowing the rules first.

There are four kinds of 'taken outside your school'

The names run together, but the school record guidelines treat four things separately. Which one you used is recorded automatically in the 'Remarks' column of the transcript.

• Joint curriculum — several schools open a course together and students attend at a hub school. Both in-person and online formats exist.
• Online school — a separate institution established by the provincial office of education, where you take individual subjects without transferring out of your own school.
• Out-of-school education — subjects or activities completed using resources outside school, such as universities or other institutions.
• Online content — completion through designated online course content.

The four are recorded differently from one another. Same "outside school," different traces left behind — which is why you check the category before you register.

The '·' in the rank column: what stays and what disappears

Here is what the guidelines specify.

• Subjects completed through joint curriculum or online school have grades calculated normally, but a '·' is entered in the 'class rank' column only. Raw score, subject average, achievement level and number of students enrolled all remain. The remarks column shows 'joint curriculum' or 'online school'.
• Subjects completed through out-of-school education record only the subject area, subject name and credits; every other field is '·'. Not even the achievement level survives.
• Online content likewise records only subject area, subject name and credits, with the rest as '·'.

So there is a hard line between joint curriculum and online school on one side, and the other two on the other. The first pair are subjects where "the grades exist but the rank does not"; the second pair leave only the fact that you took them. When a university converts grades for a record-based admission track, subjects with no rank grade are generally left out of the calculation. How this feeds into the internal grade average is set out separately in each university's admissions guidelines, so check against the institution you intend to apply to.

Why no rank grade? It comes down to enrolment numbers

The reason is statistical. A joint curriculum course gathers students from several schools into one class, and enrolment is often small. Assigning norm-referenced rank grades in a class of ten makes each grade carry far too much weight. So the approach taken is to calculate the achievement level (criterion-referenced) but not award a class rank.

The unit of calculation is prescribed too. The hub school takes every student who enrolled in the subject — including those who enrolled but did not complete it — as the enrolment count for grade calculation. Where the hub school runs its own students and visiting students separately, however, the same subject is opened as distinct courses with grades calculated separately, and the joint curriculum grading rules then apply only to the visiting students. Which means that in what looks like one course, the hub school's own students may receive rank grades while your child receives a '·'.

How many subjects can be taken in a semester?

There is a cap. Under the 2022 revised national curriculum, joint curriculum enrolment is limited to a maximum of two subjects per semester. Where the 2015 revised curriculum applies, the benchmark was up to six credits per semester. Provincial guidelines vary the details, so it is more reliable to confirm with the teacher in charge which standard your school applies.

The completion criteria are the same as for ordinary subjects. Under the 2022 revised curriculum, a student must attend at least two-thirds of the 16 class sessions per credit for the subject to count as completed. For a course you travel to another school for in the evening or at the weekend, a single absence weighs more heavily than it would at your own school. For a three-credit subject that is 48 sessions in total, and the moment you miss 16 the subject is incomplete. This rule comes from the same provisions that govern when an I appears in the achievement column.

It is also the route back from an incomplete

There is a second, less familiar use. A subject not completed at your own school can be retaken through the joint curriculum or the online school and recorded as completed. The recording rules change again here.

• A retaken subject records subject area, subject name, credits and achievement level only; every other field is '·'.
• The remarks column shows 'joint curriculum, retaken' or 'online school, retaken'.
• The earlier grade record for the incomplete subject is deleted automatically in NEIS.
• But the achievement level awarded is the lowest one — 'E' on a five-level scale, 'C' on a three-level scale.

In short, retaking is a mechanism for recovering credits, not for recovering grades. Just as there are items recorded in the school record that never reach universities, retaking definitely helps toward the 192 credits required to graduate, but the achievement level stays at the floor. Which is why, in order of preference, taking part in the school's preventive support before an incomplete arises is always the better move.

What was added in 2026

According to the Ministry of Education's high school credit system support measures announced on 28 January 2026, 777 additional regular teaching posts are being assigned to online schools and joint curriculum hub schools in 2026. Support for hiring instructors, worth 15.7 billion won, is being directed at 442 schools in rural, fishing and small-scale settings from the first semester of 2026. Online schools are operated at one per province or metropolitan city, with nationwide enrolment being pursued, and the high school-university linkage involves 10 provinces and around 20 universities from the first semester of 2026.

There is a line about the admissions connection as well: the fact that a student took a subject not offered at their own school is something universities can confirm through the curriculum organisation table recorded in the school record. Even with the rank left blank as '·', the context that the subject did not exist at your school is preserved in the documents. How that gets read in a comprehensive school-record track needs to be considered alongside what the comprehensive school-record evaluation actually looks at.

What to check before registering

• 1. Confirm whether the course is joint curriculum, online school, out-of-school education or online content. The recording rules differ across all four.
• 2. Decide whether this is a subject you can afford to have no rank grade for. For an elective with a career-exploration character the cost is low; for a core subject, think harder.
• 3. Check which subject areas and subjects are counted in the admissions guidelines of the universities you are targeting. How ungraded subjects are handled is written there.
• 4. Confirm the per-semester subject cap (two under the 2022 curriculum) and which standard your school applies, with the teacher in charge.
• 5. Work out first whether the class days, times and travel distance let you keep two-thirds attendance.
• 6. Application portals differ by provincial office of education. Follow the route the school's teacher sets out.
• 7. Second-semester subject choice has to be read inside the structure by which subject selection under the credit system reshapes the transcript.

This article is based on the school subject learning development provisions of the 17 provincial and metropolitan offices of education's "2026 School Record Completion Guidelines (High School)" — remarks-column marking of the subject opening type, entry of '·' in the class rank column for subjects completed through joint curriculum and online school, entry of only subject area, subject name and credits for out-of-school education and online content, entry of subject area, subject name, credits and achievement level for retaken subjects with the lowest achievement level awarded and the prior grade automatically deleted in NEIS, and the hub school's enrolment count calculation and its scope of application where own and visiting students are run separately — together with the Ministry of Education's "Support Measures for Settling the High School Credit System" (announced 28 January 2026: 777 regular teaching posts, 442 schools and 15.7 billion won, one online school per province, high school-university linkage across 10 provinces and around 20 universities), and the joint curriculum operating guidance of provincial high school credit system support centres (a maximum of two subjects per semester under the 2022 revised curriculum, up to six credits per semester under the 2015 revision, attendance of at least two-thirds of the 16 sessions per credit). Verified August 2026. Subject caps, application procedures and internal grade treatment vary with provincial academic record management guidelines and each university's admissions guidelines, so please treat the guidance of the teacher in charge at your school and the admissions guidelines of the universities you are applying to as the final word.