Units and Grades

Units of Credit

Most University courses are assigned a unit value. During the regular semester, one unit represents three hours of work per week by the student, including both class attendance and preparation. Laboratory, discussion, quiz, or review sessions may or may not be given unit value. See below or this article for advice on how to calculate weekly workload during the summer.

UC Berkeley is on the semester unit system; this means the main part of the school year calendar (not including the summer session) is broken up into two parts called “semesters”. Many other schools use the quarter unit system; this means the main part of the school year calendar (not including the summer session) is broken up into three parts called “quarters”. If you should ever need to convert semester units to quarter units, refer to this chart:

How do I determine weekly workload in the summer?

As Summer Sessions is on a compressed schedule and each session lasts a different number of weeks, the best way to determine your weekly workload is to focus on the total number of work hours (15 hours/unit) and divide that by the number of weeks in the session.

Example: For a 3-unit course in Session A (6 weeks), students should expect to spend a total of 45 hours over the 6-week period; this means that you can expect approximately 7.5 hours of work per week for that particular course (45 hours divided by 6 weeks = 7.5 hours per week).

Students should expect to spend more time per week per course in the summer than during the regular Fall or Spring semester.

Maximum Units in Summer

UC Berkeley Summer Sessions highly recommends a maximum of 10 units per session during the summer term. UC Berkeley students are encouraged to consult with their college or major advisers before exceeding the unit recommendation.

Grade Points

Each letter grade you get for completing a course is equivalent to a certain number of grade points. Use the chart below for converting letter grades to grade points.

All grades except I (Incomplete) and IP (In Progress) are considered final. Only courses with a passing grade will count toward degree requirements, unless otherwise specified. A course with an I or IP is not counted toward degree requirements until the I or IP is replaced by a passing grade. The grades of P, S, NP, U, I, and IP carry no grade points, and the units in such courses are not included in grade-point average (GPA) computations.

Grade I (Incomplete)
If your work in a course has been of passing quality but is incomplete for reasons beyond your control (such as extreme illness), you can arrange to receive a grade of “Incomplete” from your instructor, so that you may finish the work during the Fall term. All incomplete arrangements must be made with the course instructor of record for the course before the course ends.

UC Berkeley and visiting Summer Sessions students are required to complete the work by the first day of instruction of the following Spring semester or the I grade will lapse to either an F or NP and become a part of the GPA computation. Consult the Berkeley Academic Guide for instructions on removing the I grade.

The I grade is not physically replaced or removed from the academic record. Completion of the work is reflected as a subsequent line entry on the record, and the units and grade points earned will be included in subsequent GPA computations.

Grade IP (In Progress)
IP grade can only be assigned to UC Berkeley students because its removal is contingent on enrollment in the course in the next term. Please refer to the Berkeley Academic Guide for more information.

Academic Probation
If you are on probation in the previous spring term, you will remain on probation in subsequent fall term even if you clear your deficit in Summer Sessions. Summer Sessions' grades will be included with Fall grades in the January grade-point averages.

Grading Options

You can change the grading option on most letter-graded courses. See this page on changing grading options.