Repeating Courses

Students may repeat up to 16 units of UC coursework in which they received a "D" or an "F" for the purposes of improving their UCR grade point average. Only the first 16 units of coursework that is later repeated will be excluded from the GPA.

When a course is repeated, the original grade points and grade hours will be removed from the GPA. Only the repeated grade points and grade hours will be included with the GPA -- regardless of whether the repeated grade is better or worse than the original grade. The appearance of the original grade, however, will not be removed from the transcript.

Once 16 units of coursework have been repeated, the grade points and grade hours from both the original attempt and the repeated attempt will be used in calculating the grade point average.

The College does not permit a single course to be taken any more than three times.

Although a "D" is considered a passing grade in most cases, the College of Engineering urges students who receive any form of "D" to retake the course, unless it is the terminal course in a series, for the purpose of improving their understanding of the material, as well as their GPA. Many UCR courses require that a student earn a "C-" or better in a course before continuing to a subsequent course. Consult the UCR General Catalog for details.

Unless the UCR General Catalog specifically states otherwise, students who opt to continue in a series course after receiving a "D" may later retake the course for a better grade, according to the guidelines stated above.

See the UCR General Catalog for additional rules pertaining to English Composition.

Special Notes regarding the Major GPA

Students must maintain two satisfactory grade point averages to graduate -- the overall and the major GPAs. The above rules apply to all courses taken, and so to both GPAs. In the event that a student's major GPA is not at least 2.0, they will be denied graduation, regardless of the completion of all required courses.

To improve the major GPA, students may repeat courses in which grades of "D" or "F" were earned, or may replace technical electives. Technical elective requirements vary for each major, but no penalties are incurred for taking greater than the minimum number of technical electives. The College of Engineering will allow students to capitalize on their best efforts by including in the major GPA those courses with the strongest grades, and omitting those (beyond the minimum number of elective required) with low grades.