How to Read a Course Description

Course Offerings

Courses are offered during an acadaemic year composed of 14-week Fall and Winter semesters and 7-week Spring and Summer Terms.  (Some courses meet for more than seven weeks during Spring and Summer.)

A schedule of course offerings for each semester or term is posted online prior to the registration period for that semester or term.

Course Listings

Course numbers and titles appear in the Catalog in boldface type.  Courses numbered 100 to 299 are at the introductory or intermediate level;  those numbered 300 to 499 are usually advanced undergraduate courses.  Courses numbered 500 and higher are for graduate students and may not be elected by undergraduates except with approval from the school or college.

Prerequisites

Some courses carry specific prerequisites; these appear on the line below the course number and title.

Credits

Course credit is indicated by an italic number in parentheses following the prerequisites (if any exist).  Credits correspond to semester hours.  One credit is usually earned for each hour of lecture per week in courses offered during a Fall or Winter semester, or for each two hours of lecture per week during a Spring or Summer term.  Courses with labs involve additional hours of meeting time each week.

Attributes

Many courses apply to General Education requirements .  One of the letters below, appearing in italics immediately following the number of credits, indicates that the course applies to the corresponding General Education requirement (or in the case of the US designation to the College of Arts and Sciences Bachelor of Arts US Diversity requirement):

Special Information

Some special information about a course may be listed following the course description, appearing in italics.  This may include cross listings (if the course is listed in another area) or other information about the course.  Courses that are not offered on a regular basis, for example, will included the wording Offered infrequently.

Repeatable Courses

Some courses may be repeated for credit.  All credits up to the maximum allowed will be included in the overall credit hour total and each grade earned will be calculated in the GPA.

In the example below, PSY 400 is offered for 4 credit hours.

The statement, “May be reelected to a total of 8 credits”, means students may take this course twice for a total of 8 credits.  All 8 credits will be counted in the overall credit hour total and each grade earned will be calculated in the GPA.

PSY 400 - Capstone Experience for Psychology

(Formerly PSY 323). Grades of C (2.0) or better in PSY 319 and one from: PSY 309, PSY 313, PSY 315, PSY 316, PSY 317, PSY 333, PSY 336, PSY 341, PSY 343, PSY 365, PSY 377, or consent of instructor. (4) CAP.

Capstone experience for psychology majors.  Review of current and classic research literature.  Topics vary.  May be reelected to a total of 8 credits. Graded ABCDE.

Grading Scale

Most courses are graded on an ABCDE grading scale; this is the system used unless another scale is given.  When an alternate grading system is used, the information appears at the end of the course description.  In ABCN, ABCC-N, ABCDN and ABCDD-N systems, the grade appearing before the N designates the lowest grade for which credit is granted.  A grade once reported (with the exception of I or Y) may be change only to correct a demonstrable error.  It is the policy of the University of Michigan-Flint that grades may be changed up to one calendar years after the end of the semster in which the grade was originally submitted.

Example

This example may help in interpreting the information above.

CPL 301 - Introduction to Francophone African Literature

ENG 112 or EHS 120. (3) H.

Introduction to Francophone African Literature. The Negritude (Movement) School and its impact on African Literature. Readings from the works of Leon-Gontran Damas, Birago Diop, Aime Cesaire, Leopold Sedar Senghor, and others. Also listed as AFA 300.Graded ABCDN. Offered infrequently.

The number and name of the course are in bold type.  A student must have taken ENG 112 or EHS 120 prior to enrolling in this course.  The (3) H indicates that this is a 3-credit course which applies to the Humanities requirement of the General Education program.

The course is also listed as AFA 300.  The lowest grade for which credit is earned is a D.  The course is not offered on a regular basis.  (If no grading scale appeared, the grading system would be ABCDE.)