Guide to "a-g" Requirements [PDF]

Purpose, responsibility, and general criteria for the "a-g" requirements

The purposes of the "a-g" subject area requirements are to ensure that entering students

• Can participate fully in the first year program at the University in a broad variety of fields of study;

• Have attained the necessary preparation for courses, majors and programs offered at the University;

• Have attained a body of knowledge that will provide breadth and perspective to new, more advanced studies; and

• Have attained essential critical thinking and study skills.

The following general criteria must be satisfied for courses to meet the requirement:

• Be academically challenging;

• Involve substantial reading and writing;

• Include problems and laboratory work, as appropriate;

• Show serious attention to analytical thinking as well as factual content; and

• Develop students' oral and listening skills.

The Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) establishes the subject areas and pattern of courses required for minimum eligibility for freshman admission to the University of California. BOARS is a committee of the University's Academic Senate and includes faculty representatives from each campus of the University. The Academic Senate has been given the responsibility from the UC Regents to set the conditions for admission, subject to final approval of the Board of Regents.

The California State University system has agreed to accept courses certified by the University of California to meet its subject area requirements.