Pass/No Pass Option
Students in good academic standing may request to take specific courses on a Pass/No Pass basis. Students receive a P (Pass) for work that is performed at C level or better. Work performed at below a C level receives a notation of NP on the student’s transcript, and no academic credit is awarded for the course. Requests for Pass/No Pass grading must be submitted and confirmed by the Grade Option deadline printed in the Academic and Administrative Calendar. If you request P/NP grading in a course and you are later placed on academic probation, your P/NP grading request will be canceled.
No more than 25 percent of the UCSC credits applied toward graduation may be graded on a Pass/No Pass basis.* This includes any credits completed in the Education Abroad Program or on another UC campus in an intercampus exchange program, but does not include transfer work from community colleges or other institutions.
Students must be careful about the use of the Pass/No Pass option. Some courses may only be taken Pass/No Pass, and therefore count against the 25 percent Pass/No Pass limit. Several majors require all or most major requirements to be taken for a letter grade; read the major requirements section carefully before using the Pass/No Pass option for any course in a major you are considering.
* Exceptions granted for 2019-2022 courses due to special circumstances: the Committee on Educational Policy has excluded Pass grades from the percent calculation for graduation (Spring 2020, Summer 2020, Fall 2020, Winter 2021, Spring 2021, Summer 2021, Fall 2022), due to emergency circumstances. In addition, UCSC courses graded P when a letter grade was requested by the student will not be included in the calculation of the 25 percent maximum P grades allowed for graduation.