Regulation Reference/Course Definitions

V.2. Course Information/Definitions

This section has been based on information contained on pages 110-111 of the 1996-1998 Undergraduate Calendar.

A course is a unit of study in a discipline identified by a unique course number and having a specific credit weight.

Irregular Course: A course for which the specific content has not been approved by Senate (e.g., a directed study or special topics course) and is subject to special regulations (refer to page 25 of the 1996-1998 Undergraduate Calendar).

Course Number: The course number consists of a two-digit letter abbreviation indicating the subject area of the course (see Discipline Code list) followed by a three digit number to which, in some instances, an additional letter is appended.

The number of a First Year or junior course has the digit 1 immediately after the discipline code (for example, SP101 or PS100*). The number of a senior course (other than First Year) has 2, 3 or 4 as the first digit with the 2, 3 or 4, signalling, respectively, a course intended to be a Second, Third, or Fourth Year course (e.g. FR331 or HI249*).

Some departments, and the Faculty of Music, differentiate between General level and Honours level courses, requiring Honours level courses of their Honours degree students and General level courses of their General degree students. In these cases the number of a General level course typically has 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 as its second digit, whereas the number of an Honours level course usually has 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 as its second digit. Some courses have double number listings indicating common lectures for both General and Honours levels. Additional assignments and seminars are normally required at the Honours level, and tests and examinations may be different.

Credit Weight: The credit weight of the course is the relative weight assigned to the course. A full credit course carries twice the weight of a half-credit course, and a half-credit course carries twice the credit of a quarter-credit course. A credit denotes a full-credit course with 1.0 indicated in the course description. A half-credit course is indicated with the 0.5 weight in the course description, and a quarter-credit course as 0.25 in the description.
In the Fall and Winter terms, a full-credit course is usually taught over two terms, a half-credit course over one term, and a quarter-credit course over six weeks. However, courses may be taught over other periods of time than those just listed. In this calendar, half-credit courses are indicated simply by the course number consisting of the discipline code (see below) and a three- digit number. Full-credit courses have the symbol * appended, and quarter-credit courses the symbol º. This system of notation represents a change, occasioned by the prevalence of half-credit courses, from that used in all calendars prior to the 1993-1994 version, in which the symbol * was used to identify half-credit courses.