Incomplete Grades
Incompletes
Incomplete grades allow you to complete coursework after the semester if you were unable to finish them due to extenuating circumstances. You will have an Incomplete (I) grade for the semester and receive extended completion deadlines to submit the incomplete assignments. After resolving the incomplete, your letter grade will be calculated and submitted. If you’re interested in taking an incomplete, please first read through the registrar’s website here.
A couple important requirements from the website:
- “Students who fail to turn in all required work cannot request an I grade unless they have been unable to finish because of circumstances beyond their control.”
- Your work must be of “passing quality”, meaning that completing the projects you’re taking an incomplete for would bring you to at least a passing grade in the course. The grade bins can be found in the syllabus.
In CS61B, you may receive an incomplete on at most 2 projects or 1 project/1 exam.
Incomplete deadlines
- By default, the deadline to turn in incomplete assignments will be Sunday, January 19th (1/19). We will not be granting further extensions aside from exceptional cases.
- If you are taking an incomplete on the final, you will take the Spring 2025 final exam.
Is an incomplete right for you?
As you’re deciding whether to take an incomplete, we highly recommend talking to an academic advisor. Here are some links you may be able to use to set up an appointment:
An incomplete grants you additional time on assignments that you may not have been able to complete during the semester due to extenuating circumstances. However, there are drawbacks as well.
- You’ll be working on the assignments during break, so you should expect to complete the assignments without official staff support.
- Especially if you’re taking an incomplete on the final, you’ll be completing the incomplete work in parallel with your usual coursework.
- You will not be able to receive an incomplete on the final if you take the exam this semester.
- As per university policy from L&S and College of Engineering, if you have 12+ units of incomplete grade at any instance of your academic career at Berkeley, you will not be allowed to enroll in classes next semester.
You will not be able to request for an incomplete for this class if you have/had a misconduct case from course assignments or exams.
An alternative to taking an incomplete is late dropping the course. With another chance at the course, you’ll have more time to learn the fundamental concepts and a chance to improve your grade. Many 61B assignments don’t change much from semester to semester, so a lot of your efforts this semester can be reused if you decide to retake the course. The late drop deadline is Friday, December 6th (12/6).
Requesting an incomplete
To request an incomplete, please fill out this form by Friday, December 14th (12/14) at 11:59pm. We will be processing incomplete requests on a rolling basis.
If you do not meet one of the requirements above, we will still review your request on a case-by-case basis. Please sign up for a student support meeting with Teresa or Kevin here to further discuss your case.
FAQ
Q: When will my incomplete grade be resolved?
A: If you have an incomplete on project assignments, it will take us up to 3 weeks to resolve your incomplete after the deadline (1/19, 2025). If you have an incomplete on the final exam, it will take us up to 3 weeks to resolve your incomplete after Spring 2025’s final exam. It might take us longer to update your grade on CalCentral.
Q: I need to get my incomplete grade resolved and receive a letter grade earlier than the incomplete resolution time mentioned above. What should I do?
A: Feel free to reach out to us through cs61b-incompletes@berkeley.edu to discuss more about your situation. We will try our best to resolve your incomplete grade as soon as possible given the circumstances, but we cannot guarantee that we will be able to process everything in time.
Q: How does the clobber work if I take an incomplete on the final?
A: We will calculate your z-score based on scores from next semester’s final (e.g. if you take the Spring 2025 final, your z-score is calculated relative to the Spring 2025 scores). That z-score will be used when clobbering your midterm scores from the current semester.
Q: How will my exam grade be calculated if the semester I’m resolving incomplete has a different policy ?
A: We will calculate your grade according to the exam policies of this semester (Fall 2024).
Q: If I take an incomplete on Project 3, will I get a partner?
A: We may be able to find you a partner in some cases, but you should expect to work alone.
Q: How would I submit assignments that I take an incomplete on?
A: You should submit incomplete assignments the same way you submit assignments during the semester. Most of these will be autograded through Gradescope, but some assignments like Project 3 may require you to fill out other forms. If you received an incomplete on project 3, you must get checked off by the end of Spring 2025 so we can compute your grade in time and resolve it by the start of Summer 2025.
Q: Who should I email if I have any questions related to my incomplete after the semester ends?
A: cs61b-incompletes@berkeley.edu (We will also send any follow up details regarding your incomplete through this email.)