Course Mask
What is a course mask and why is it so important?
The course mask is the template of format for each course entered. It is made up of the department abbreviation and the course number. The course mask consists of a total of 15 characters, digits, and spaces. In degree audit, the formatting for any courses entered in an exception must be precise, or the exception won’t work properly.
Format for the OSU Course Mask
1st-7th positions: The first seven positions are OSU’s official seven-character Department Abbreviation. For example, the department abbreviation for courses offered by the School of Communication is “COMM.” If there are fewer than seven characters in a department abbreviation, then there must be enough spaces entered to total seven positions.
8th position: The eighth position is a space.
9th-15th positions: The last seven positions are the course number. The ninth position is where the 4 digit number begins for OSU courses or OSU equivalent transfer courses. For transfer courses that came in with an S (special credit) or T (technical credit) character, that character will appear in the 9th space.
| Class/Position |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Example (table key) |
D | D | D | D | D | D | D | -- | N | N | N | N | N | N | N |
| COMM 1100 | C | O | M | M | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -- | -- | -- |
| ENGLISH 2367.04 | E | N | G | L | I | S | H | -- | 2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | . | 0 | 4 |
| BIOLOGY S000.02 | B | I | O | L | O | G | Y | -- | S | 0 | 0 | 0 | . | 0 | 2 |
Table Key:
D = Department
N = Number
"--" = Space
Courses with 3 digit course numbers
Please Note: Due to the quarter-to-semester conversion that took place at the end of Spring 2012, there may be a few remaining courses with 3 digit numbers on transition student audits. These will require an extra space in the 9th position, instead of beginning the course number. The course number will then begin in the 10th position.
| Class/Position |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Example (table key) |
D | D | D | D | D | D | D | -- | -- | N | N | N | N | N | N |
| HISTORY 121 | H | I | S | T | O | R | Y | -- | -- | 1 | 2 | 1 | -- | -- | -- |
| HCS 401.01 | H | C | S | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 4 | 0 | 1 | . | 0 | 1 |
Table Key:
D = Department
N = Number
"--" = Space
Exception Note for 3 digit course numbers: Course substitution, Use Course, and Modify Codes type exceptions all utilize the original value of the course. This means that if a student took it as a quarter course, regardless of whether it has a “processed as” 4 digit value, the 3 digit course number will need to be used to make any of these three types of exceptions. All other exceptions will utilize the 4 digit value, whenever there is one. Please speak with your degree audit coordinator for additional information, if needed.