GRADING & REPEATS
Passed/Not Passed Units
The Passed/Not Passed grading option is designed to give you the opportunity to explore areas of possible academic interest outside of your area of expertise without jeopardizing your GPA.
Academic Senate P/NP regulations allow students in good academic standing to take up to 5 units P/NP during the quarter and up to 10 units if they have not taken a P/NP course in the previous term. In Winter 2023 and thereafter, students will be allowed to change the grading basis on optional P/NP courses through Friday of Week 6 without petition via MyUCLA . Students should check with an academic advisor if they have any questions about this option.
Please note the following:
- Courses taken Passed/Not Passed will not impact the UC GPA, and will not count towards Latin Honors.
- Students must be in good academic standing to take courses Passed/Not Passed (must have a 2.0 cumulative and quarterly GPA).
- Some requirements must be taken for a letter grade, e.g. most preparation and major courses, Writing I and II, Quantitative Reasoning, Diversity, etc. Check with your department or the College if you have any questions about whether a P/NP class will satisfy one of your requirements.
- Courses must be taken for a letter grade and you must earn a B or better to receive College Honors credit, except for those which are mandatory P/NP. Please refer to the College Honors website and/or office for information about limitations of P/NP courses for College Honors credit.
- If you are planning to satisfy multiple requirements with one course, please check the grading standards for each requirement and select the most rigorous standard.
- If you are repeating a course which you initially took for a letter grade and earned a C- or below, you MUST repeat that course on a letter grade basis. If the repeat is taken on a P/NP basis, you will not receive credit for the repeat course.
- A grade of C or better is required to earn a Passed; a C- or below will earn a Not Passed grade.
- A grade of C- may satisfy many requirements (e.g., General Education, elective) but a Not Passed grade will not earn any credit or satisfy requirements.
- Law schools will calculate a Not Passed grade as an F for admission purposes. A Pass will not affect the GPA for admission purposes.
- Students who plan on applying to professional schools should consult those specific schools. At this time, it is unknown how professional schools will view courses taken P/NP, so it is recommended that students take applicable courses on a graded basis to be safe.
- If all courses are taken Passed/Not Passed, students will not have a GPA at the end of the quarter, which may affect Financial Aid or scholarships. Please check with Financial Aid and Scholarships if you have any questions.
Passed/Not Passed and Equivalent Letter Grades
In order to receive a Passed, you must achieve a grade of C or better. Work done at the level of C- or below will be given a Not Passed and you will earn no units toward graduation.
Limits on Passed/Not Passed
- Preparation for the major and major courses may not be taken Passed/Not Passed. (Check the General Catalog for exceptions under department listings.)
- Courses taken to satisfy certain College requirements may not be taken Passed/Not Passed. (see degree requirements)
- Courses applying toward a minor may not be taken Passed/Not Passed.
- Consult your departmental and College counselor when in doubt about whether a requirement must be taken on a graded basis or can be taken Passed/Not Passed.
Incompletes
If you have been doing work of passing quality, but are unable to complete a small portion of the course requirements (i.e. a lab assignment or term paper) because of an illness or other serious problem, then you have the option of requesting an “incomplete” in the course. While it is your responsibility to speak to the instructor in order to request an incomplete, it is entirely up to the instructor whether or not to grant your request.
Removing an Incomplete
If your professor agrees to give you an incomplete, you must finish the remaining coursework1 during your next completed regular quarter (Fall, Winter, Spring).2
IMPORTANT: Do not re-enroll in the course in order to remove your incomplete!
Once you have finished the work required for the incomplete and submitted it to your professor, you’ve completed your part of the task. The professor will fill out a Report of Academic Revision and submit it to the Registrar’s Office.
Requesting an Extension for an Incomplete
If for some reason, you are not able to remove the incomplete within the next completed quarter, you should petition to extend the time for removing the incomplete. This request requires a College Student Petition and a note from the professor agreeing to the extension. You must specify the exact date by which the work will be completed, what work remains to be done, and why you were unable to complete the work within the allotted timeframe. As with any petition, however, there is no guarantee of approval.
Effect on GPA
The “I” grade has no effect on the GPA of the term in which it was taken. A student receives units and grade points for the course after all the coursework has been completed. The actual grade appears on the transcript and DPR in the term in which the work was completed. At this time the grade points and units are averaged into the cumulative GPA (NOT the term GPA).
Both the Incomplete and the Final Grade are noted on the transcript.
Calculating GPA
To calculate your grade point average (GPA), use the chart and the instructions provided. GPA is calculated by using the following formula:
GPA = Total Grade Points/Total Attempted Units
Instructions on how to calculate your GPA
1. Identify the courses you would like to use in a GPA calculation.
2. Using the chart below, add the grade points by locating the units and grade for each course.
3. Divide the total number of grade points by the total number of attempted units.
| 1.0 units | 2.0 units | 3.0 units | Letter Grade | 4.0 units | 5.0 units | 6.0 units |
| 4.0 | 8.0 | 12.0 | A | 16.0 | 20.0 | 24.0 |
| 3.7 | 7.4 | 11.1 | A- | 14.9 | 18.5 | 22.2 |
| 3.3 | 6.6 | 9.9 | B+ | 13.2 | 16.5 | 19.8 |
| 3.0 | 6.0 | 9.0 | B | 12.0 | 15.0 | 18.0 |
| 2.7 | 5.4 | 8.1 | B- | 10.8 | 13.5 | 16.2 |
| 2.3 | 4.6 | 6.9 | C+ | 9.2 | 11.5 | 13.8 |
| 2.0 | 4.0 | 6.0 | C | 8.0 | 10.0 | 12.0 |
| 1.7 | 3.4 | 5.1 | C- | 6.8 | 8.5 | 10.2 |
| 1.3 | 2.6 | 3.9 | D+ | 5.2 | 6.5 | 7.8 |
| 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | D | 4.0 | 5.0 | 6.0 |
| 0.7 | 1.4 | 2.1 | D- | 2.8 | 3.5 | 4.2 |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | F | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Example
| Term Study List | Units | Grade | Grade Points |
| Phy Sci 111A | 6.0 units | B+ | 19.8 |
| Life Science 4 | 5.0 units | A- | 18.5 |
| Ethnomu 91J | 2.0 units | F | 0.0 |
| 13.0 units | 38.3 |
How to calculate your cumulative GPA based on possible grades
Use the GPA Calculator on MyUCLA or use the formula below.
GPA = expected grade points for the term + grade points*/expected units for the term + units attempted*
*Found on DARS under “University of California Units & GPA” OR on DPR following the list of completed UCLA coursework under “Univ Calif Cumulative”.
Repeating Coursework
UCLA students may repeat up to 16 units of GRADED coursework in which they receive a grade of C- or below. If you repeat a course that you took for a letter grade, you MUST choose the same grading option when you repeat it. The same is not true for Passed/Not Passed courses (see below). A course may be repeated only once. Although only the second grade earned (for better or worse) will be computed into your GPA, both grades will remain on your transcript.
After you have used the allowed 16 units of repeat credit, or if you do not have enough units left to repeat a course, you may still repeat a course in which you received a C- or below. However, both grades will be averaged into your cumulative GPA; the first grade will not be removed from the GPA. Once you are into grade averaging, all subsequent repeats will be grade averaged, even if you have not exhausted your full 16 units of repeat credit.
No form or petition is required to repeat a class, all you need to do is enroll through MyUCLA . The Registrar’s Office will automatically code the course as a repeat.
Restrictions
- You may repeat the same course only once.
- You may receive units for a repeated course only once.
- You will not receive credit for a course repeated after you have completed a more advanced course in a true sequence with a passing grade (i.e., Math, Chemistry, or foreign languages).
Repeating Passed/Not Passed Courses
If you first took a course Passed/Not Passed and did not pass, then you have the option of repeating the course for a letter grade or for Passed/Not Passed again. There is no limit to the number of Passed/Not Passed courses you may repeat for those courses in which you receive a grade of “Not Passed.”
Unauthorized Repeats
A notation of “Unauthorized Repeat” or “Illegal Repeat” will show on your transcript if:
- You received a C or better or a Passed the first time you took the course, OR
- You repeat the same class more than once, OR
- You go back and repeat a class in an earlier part of a sequence after successfully passing courses later in that same sequence (e.g., in Chemistry, Math or a foreign language).
No credit will be given for an unauthorized repeat!
Credit Detail Change
You have until Friday of the 6th week of classes to change the grading basis of a class through MyUCLA . Please consult the Schedule of Classes calendar for any exceptions to this deadline (ie In 2006 Fall quarter the deadline was Thursday of Week 6). After that point, you will need to petition the College for an exception to the Grading Basis rule. Only under extremely rare circumstances are exceptions made to this rule. See Grading Basis Petition.
Center for Academic Advising in the College