[pohart]

My professor's view was also that D and F were pretty much the same also, you can't get very many Ds and stay in school. D is kind of like a "high fail." I believe we were limited in the number of Ds on our transcript for graduation, although I don't remember anymore.

[a-priori]

I've always called those "pity passes", as in you really failed, but the prof took pity on you and bumped up your 45% to 50%.

I know that at my school I need an average of 60% to graduate with an honours degree (not that that matters, because I need a 70% average for Co-op).