The pass by catastrophe claims that if some particular catastrophic event occurs (death or accident), students whose performance could have been affected by the event are automatically awarded passing grades.
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Pass by catastrophe
If someone dies during an exam, all the other students present pass. If a University burns down or is destroyed otherwise, all current students immediately graduate with a Bachelor's degree. One common version of this story is that if a student's roommate commits suicide, the surviving student will be awarded straight As for that semester. This version provides the premise for the films Dead Man on Campus and The Curve, as well as episodes of several television series.
In his book Curses! Broiled Again!, urban legend expert Jan Harold Brunvand investigated the claim that a student whose roommate commits suicide will receive straight As for that semester. He could not find any college or university which actually had such a rule. Sociologist William S. Fox described this legend and variants, such as the rule applying to any death of a roommate; he also concluded that the claim has no basis in fact. The website Snopes rates the story as false.
Reality
Many schools and jurisdictions, while not adopting any blanket rule as claimed by the legend, may make allowances or adjustments for individual students in cases of hardship. In the United Kingdom, the Joint Council for Qualifications allows candidates to apply for an adjustment of their score (up to 5%) if they have met all the qualifications for the exam but suffer "temporary illness, temporary injury or other indisposition at the time of the assessment." If an eligible candidate dies before completing the examination, an "honorary certificate" can be requested.