What is the grading system at UC Santa Cruz?
The grading system at UC Santa Cruz is now traditional letter grades along with written comments in each course, which we call “performance evaluations.” While students have been able to select traditional letter grades for a number of years, now they will receive grades along with their performance evaluations in almost every class. A student may still request a pass/no pass grade during the course enrollment period, but only a maximum of 25 percent of a student’s course work may be taken on a pass/no pass basis, and pass/no pass grading will only be granted for students who are in good academic standing. A “pass” is still equivalent to a grade of “C” or higher. In addition, departments may require that some or all of the courses taken to satisfy a major requirement be taken for letter grades. Our faculty have made an effort to retain the benefits of the narrative evaluation system, while adding letter grading. The performance evaluations provide some additional nuance and depth to an
