BIOLOGY 1A & 1AL
*** Concurrent enrollment in both classes was previously required, but was changed beginning June 9, 2025 to help alleviate the increased enrollment demand. Those students needing both classes to fulfill requirements for graduation or a post-baccalaureate program are STRONGLY encouraged to enroll in both Bio 1A and Bio 1AL concurrently. This change does allow student who are declared or intended in Majors that do not require Bio 1AL to enroll only in Bio 1A.
Bio 1A remains as a Corequisite for Bio 1AL, therefore enrollment in Bio 1AL requires concurrent or previous enrollment in Bio 1A.
All students enrolling in Biology 1A/1AL are expected to read and understand the information provided here.
The Biology 1AL class in Summer has filled up. No additional sections will be opened.
The Biology 1A class has more seats than 1AL because there are some students needing to repeat enrollment only in Biology 1A who can fill the addtional seats.
Concurrent enrollment (or previous enrollment) in Biology 1A is required to enroll in Biology 1AL. This is a recent change (see above).
Note: UC Berkeley students who are enrolled in Bio 1A/1AL in Spring will not be able to enroll in the classes in Summer. Also, enrolling in the classes in Summer will block enrolling in the Fall 2025.
Biology 1A will be delivered via in-person instruction in lectures and discussions. There may be graded questions delivered during lectures.
Exams will be held in-person scheduled during the lecture time dates to be determined.
Biology 1AL will be delivered via in-person instruction in lectures and labs.
One Exam will be held in-person on on Monday August 11th 9:30-11:00 AM. (Details subject to change)
See the Class Notes in the listings in classes.berkeley.edu for more information.
The classes filled much earlier than expected for Fall as we are offering more seats than usual.
Three additional discussion sections have been opend for Bio 1A (increasing to 27 sections). No additonal lab sections can be opened for Bio 1AL.
Some enrolled students may drop, so it's best to check the enrollment status for open seats. We are unable to use the enrollment system waitlists as they do not work with the Corequisite controls being used.
Concurrent enrollment (or previous term enrollment) in Biology 1A is required to enroll in Biology 1AL. This is a recent change (see above).
All seats are reserved for students 3-8 Terms in Attendance in Phase 1 and the beginning of Phase 2 through July 31st. Freshmen (Terms 1 and 2 students) may enroll starting August 1st in any remaining seats that are still open as all will be available to anyone meeting the requirements for enrollment.
Note: UC Berekeley students who are enrolled in Bio 1A/1AL in Summer will not be able to enroll in the same classes in Fall until Summer grades have posted.
The change to the Corequisite now allows the waitlists to be activated.
The waitlists for DISCUSSION sections are individual.
The waitlists for LAB sections are grouped by lab time. The first section at each lab time has a waitlist that works to fill all three lab sections scheduled at that time. A seat opening in any of the lab at the specific time will be filled by students from the one waitlist at that lab time.
Biology 1A will be delivered via in-person instruction in lectures and discussions. There may be graded questions delivered during lectures.
Exams will be held in-person scheduled during the lecture time.
This class has a Final Exam scheduled Monday December 15th 7-10 PM.
Biology 1AL will be delivered via in-person instruction in lectures and labs.
One Exam will be held in-person on Wednesday December 3rd 8-10 PM. (Details subject to change)
See the Class Notes in the listings in classes.berkeley.edu for more information.
Beginning 6/9/25, concurrent enrollment in both Bio 1A and Bio 1AL is no longer required, Although it is STRONGLY recommended that the classes be taken concurrently.
Biology 1A remains as a co-enrollment requirement (co-requisite) of Biology 1AL. Therefore, to enroll in Biology 1AL, a student must be enrolled in Biology 1A already, must be in progress in the class at the time of enrollment or have already passed Bio 1A.
Exemptions from the Bio 1AL Co-requisite:
Pre-requisites will be checked by the enrollment system at the time of enrollment. Only students who meet the pre-requisites will be able to enroll.
To meet the pre-requisites at the time of enrollment, your student records must reflect completion of the required courses with (or other courses or exams determined to fulfill the requirement), or that you are currently "In Progress" (currently enrolled) in the required course (or equivalent course). Any pre-requisite course that is "In Progress" will be checked again by the system later to confirm completion of the requirement.
The pre-requisite course required is, at minimum, a C- or better grade (or a PASS) in one semester of General Chemistry which is CHEM 1A at UCB. Any other course which is considered equivalent or greater than CHEM 1A will meet the requirement (such as CHEM 4A), but it's possible not all cases will be accounted for in the system.
Transfer courses can also meet the requirement if entered into student records and there is an articulation agreement with equivalence to CHEM 1A.
Exam Scores conferring equivalence to General Chemistry are also taken into account. These exams include the AP Chemistry Exam, the IB HL Chemistry Exam, and the A-Level and AS-Level Chemistry Exams.
The pre-requisite requirement controls are set to allow the following:
CHEM 1A (including CHEM 1AD)
or
CHEM 1A Equivalent Exams
or
CHEM 4A
or
CHEM 3A
or
CHEM 12A, 3B, or 12B
The more advanced Chemistry courses are not required pre-requisites, but they are simply used show a student has sufficient knowledge of Chemistry even though their records may not specifically contain grades for CHEM 1A.
Any students who meet the pre-requisites in some way that is not contained in their UCB student records will not be able to enroll until granted permission by the Enrollment Coordinator for Biology 1A/1AL. This includes any students with course credit from other schools that do not have an articulation agreement with UC, transfer course credit or exam scores which have not yet been entered into a student's records, and students planning to take a course equivalent to CHEM 1A at another school over the Summer.
If you have been blocked from enrolling because of course pre-requisites, but you believe you do meet the requirements (or will meet the requirements before the start of classes), you can submit a request for permission to enroll.
All visiting students wanting to enroll in the regular semesters and during Summer Sessions, must request permission to enroll by submitting the following form.
To request permission to enroll and provide proof of qualification, please submit this Pre-requisite Declaration Form.
AP Biology Exam credit (or any other similar exam for Biology) has no impact upon course pre-requisites.
Biology 1A and Biology 1AL have been configured with an "anti-requisite" which will block enrollment of any student who is currently enrolled (In Progress) in Biology 1A and/or Biology 1AL, and any student who has already passed (C- grade or better or a PASS) one or both courses.
This has been put in place to ensure students who have never been enrolled in Biology 1A and Biology 1AL have priority to enroll.
Students who have received a non-passing grade in Biology 1A and/or Biology 1AL will be permitted by the system to enroll in the class(es) with the non-passing grade.
Students who are currently In Progress in the classes must wait until they have received grades in the current term before being able to enroll in a future term.
Students who wish to repeat the courses who have already received a passing grade cannot enroll unless given permission by the Enrollment Coordinator.
Permission to repeat enrollment will only be granted no earlier than a week before the start of classes for the term. Granting permission to enroll could be delayed depending upon conditions as late as the second week of classes.
To submit a request for repeating enrollment in Biology 1A and/or 1AL, please use the Repeating Enrollment Request Form.
Bio 1AL has exams scheduled outside normal lecture class times in the Fall and Spring semesters. The exam dates and times will be noted in the Course Notes of the class listing in the Class Schedule, on the bCourses sites when they are published, and in the class syllabi. While these exams are subject to change, there have rarely been any changes once the dates are posted. Students must ensure they have no conflicts with the exam times as make-up exams are not possible.
During Summer Sessions, all exams in Bio 1A and Bio 1AL are giving during the class lecture times.
Exams scheduled in the evening for other courses could conflict with the Monday 5:00-6:30pm lectures. Students need to make sure they are able to attend all class meetings and exams. Time conflicts with other classes will not be accommodated. Check the notes on the Class Schedule listings for any information about exam schedules. Make changes to your schedule as soon as possible when you find about any conflicts.
Do not schedule any flights or other events during the weekdays when classes are in session until you are certain you will not conflict with any classes or exams. No makeup will be possible.
Concurrent Enrollment in Biology 1A/1AL is possible only if there are seats open in the classes at the beginning of instruction for the term after all registered student enrollments have been confirmed. As it cannot be known until the beginning of instruction what seats may be available, it is not possible to approve concurrent enrollment any earlier.
To inquire about Concurrent Enrollment, please send email to Erol Kepkep, the Biology 1A/1AL Enrollment Coordinator, at bio1a-enrollment@berkeley.edu
For any questions about enrollment that are not answered in the information above or in related/linked sources, please send email to Erol Kepkep, the Biology 1A/1AL Enrollment Coordinator, at bio1a-enrollment@berkeley.edu.