HOW CLASSES & GRADING WORK AT UC BERKELEY: units, GPA, curves, advising, class schedules

Today I talk about how classes and grading work at UC Berkeley! Have any questions? Leave a comment!
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🌟 Videos mentioned in this video:
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add me on Instagram if you wanna! / xrachel_lin
Video Contents:
00:00 - Introduction
1:49 - Units
4:28 - GPA and Grading
6:38 - What Determines Your Grade
9:23 - Grading Curves
12:52 - Advising
15:40 - Concluding Remarks
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music by bensound
intro by madi dianna
If you are new here, hi! My name is Rachel and I am a UC Berkeley graduate (Class of 2020) where I double majored in cognitive science and legal studies.

[@compilationgems2237]

Thank you! So helpful for next semester. 😎

[@rachel_lin]

Thank you so much for watching!! ☺️🐻

[@sg7977]

I really appreciate all of these videos as I am an incoming freshman at Berkeley. Thank you!

[@rachel_lin]

Thank you!! Go bears! 🐻💪🏻

[@davidparnell3241]

91 degrees in phoenix this morning! Highs today 113

[@rachel_lin]

A heat wave across the US! 🥵☀️

[@compilationgems2237]

Also, who did you take for Stats 20?!

[@rachel_lin]

I took stat 20 with Prof Ibser! I think him and a few others professors switch on and off teaching it each semester

[@saranya7821]

Hi! How common is curving down at Berkeley? Is it typically just the occasional first year course or is it frequent?

[@rachel_lin]

Usually depends on the course and any requirements they have from their department! For example, in Legal Studies courses, all classes get curved to the department standard (might be a B or something like that). Other classes could get curved on a class-to-class basis on what that current Professor feels. For example, my Sociology class freshman year got curved down because too many students were earning A's. Most classes do get curved up, because their exams are so difficult. But the Department still sets the number of students who can earn each grade, usually a Bell Curve standard.

[@gingyrocka6039]

Is 20 units hard? I'm trying to do a simultaneous degree of MCB and Bioeng, MCB seems to be pretty chill but Bioeng seems quite difficult

[@rachel_lin]

Haha similar answer to your other question from the other video, but I would say taking 19/20 units is manageable, but I would advise not taking that many units your first semester at Berkeley. It takes some time to figure out how classes work, how you need to study/time manage, how much time you need to put into classes etc. So learning that before you add extra units is helpful. Plus, your first semester of college you will be dealing with a lot of new things - leaving home, moving far away, living with new roommates, parties etc. I think you’ve said you’re an international student who has lived in boarding schools, so some of those things may be more familiar to you. And also you’d probably be spending a lot of time joining clubs or hanging out in the dorms in order to meet people and make friends. I started to take 19/20 units a semester like sophomore spring onwards in order to graduate with a double major in 4 years and not take summer classes. I felt like I was able to balance 20 units while maintaining jobs/clubs/extracurriculars because I was familiar with Berkeley, classes, and how much time I would need to put into studying. Hope this helps! 🤩