BIOLOGY 1A & 1AL








ENROLLMENT INFORMATION

Updated 1/31/2024

All students enrolling in Biology 1A/1AL are expected to read and understand the information provided here.


SUMMER 2024 ENROLLMENT

Biology 1A is being held Summer 2024.

Biology 1AL is not being offered.

Co-enrollment in both Biology 1A and Biology 1AL at the same time is normally required, but this requirement is suspended for Summer 2024 due to Biology 1AL not being offered. UC Berkeley Students enrolling in Biology 1A will be guaranteed a seat in Biology 1AL in Fall 2023 ONLY. After Fall 2024, students who complete Biology 1A alone during Summer 2024 will have low priority to enroll in Biology 1AL in future terms.

The guarantee of a seat in Biology 1AL in Fall 2024 does not guarantee a lab section of choice. To have the best choice of lab sections, enrolling as early as possible is important. Biology 1AL in Fall will have lectures scheduled Mondays 5:00-6:30 p.m.. Once enrolled in Biology 1A in Summer, it will be possible to enroll only in Biology 1AL in Fall. Any students found to be enrolled in Biology 1A for both Summer and Fall will be dropped from Biology 1A in Fall while keeping their Summer enrollment.

Biology 1A will be delivered via in-person instruction in lectures and discussions. There is no Course Capture for the class during Summer. There may be graded questions delivered during lectures.

Exams will be held in person. Quizzes may be held during some discussions

The course pre-requisite will be strictly enforced by the enrollment system. Students not meeting the pre-requisite in their student records in the enrollment system or being currently enrolled in Spring 2024 will not be able to enroll. Visiting students must submit proof of qualifications through the website listed above.

Time conflicts are not allowed.

 

Students are expected to be able to attend all class meetings and exams. Class schedule time conflicts will not be accommodated. If you have a time conflict allowed by another class, that class must accommodate any conflict issues.

If you have any Biology 1A/1AL enrollment questions, please look for answers on our Enrollment Information website (link above). Contact Info is available on the site if you cannot find an answer to your question.

Details listed here are subject to change.


FALL 2023 ENROLLMENT

Biology 1A enrollment has filled up during Phase 1. At this time, there are no plans to open additional seats in the class. Keep checking the enrollments as seats may open up if any students drop. Additional seats are available in Bio 1AL for student enrolling in Bio 1A in Summer (see below).

Co-enrollment in both Biology 1A and Biology 1AL (at the same time in the same cart) is required for most students. Failure to be enrolled in one class (time conflict, exceeding unit max, section full, etc.) will result in failure to be enrolled in both classes (see explanation below).

Students enrolled in Biololgy 1A in Summer 2023 will be granted permission to enroll only in Biology 1AL in Fall 2023. Subsequently dropping from Summer Biology 1A and not enrolling in Biology 1A in Fall will result in being dropped from enrollment in Biology 1AL.

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. Quizzes may be held during some discussions. This class has a Final Exam scheduled Monday December 11th 7-10 PM.

Biology 1AL will be delivered via in-person instruction in lectures and labs.

Quizzes will be held during some during some lectures, and one Exam will be held in-person on Wednesday November 29th 7-9 PM.

See the Class Notes in the listings in classes.berkeley.edu for more information.

 


"Enrollment Requirements not met for Class" Error Message:

The enrollment system will respond with the same error message if any of the three requisite conditions is not met (co-requisite, anti-requisite, or pre-requisite). The message displayed should read something like this:

Corequisite: BIOLOGY 1AL. BIOLOGY 1A cannot be IP or previously passed. CHEM 1A with minimum grades of C-; or CHEM 4A with minimum grade of C-; or AP Chem with min score of 4; or Chem HL IB with min score of 5; or GCE A-Level Chem with minimum grade of C

If this message is received, confirm the following before requesting help:

1. Your enrollment request was for BOTH Biology 1A and Biology 1AL at the same time in the same shopping cart.

If this was NOT the case, the co-enrollment requirement was the problem. Try again with both Biology 1A and Biology 1AL classes added to the same cart.

2. Confirm that enrolling in 5 more units will not exceed the maximum allowed for the enrollment phase for your enrolled and waitlisted classes. Unfortunately, since you are trying to enroll in both Biology 1A and Biology 1AL at the same time, the system will not generate an error message stating that enrollment will exceed the maximum units allowed. The last error it will encounter is that you cannot be enrolled in both classes and do not meet the Co-Requisite, and the system will give the "Enrollment Requirements not met" error message.

For enrollment in Fall and Spring, the limit for Phase 1 is 13.5 units, and the limit for Phase 2 is 17.5 units. The limit after Phase 2 is 19.5 units or 20.5 units depending upon your College. Waitlisted classes are included in the unit calculation.

If this was the case, drop classess to make more space and try again with both Biology 1A and Biology 1AL classes added to the same cart.

3. Confirm you do not have a time conflict with one of your other enrolled or waitlisted classes and the sections of Biology 1A and Biology 1AL you chose to request to enroll. A time conflict will result in the "Enrollment Requirements not met" error message instead of a "Time Conflict" error message because the Co-Requisite requirement will be the last error encountered.

Resolve the time conflict by changing your current enrolled or waitlisted classes or by selecting other sections of Biology 1A and Biology 1AL to request to enroll and try again.

4. Confirm completion or "In Progress" status at UC Berkeley of the Chemistry pre-requisite. If you are a new or visiting student to UCB, your transcripts or exams scores may/will not be available to check in the enrollment system.

If you completed CHEM 1A or you are currently enrolled in the class at UCB, this is NOT the cause of the error message. Look at the other possible causes to determine the issue with your enrollment.

If this is the issue because your Chemistry course(s) or exams records are not available in the enrollment system see in the section below how to proceed.


Co-enrollment Requisite Requirement:

Students are required to enroll in both Bio 1A and Bio 1AL in the same term. The courses have been set as co-enrollment requirements (co-requisites) of each other. This means that a student will be able to enroll only if they are enrolling in both Biology 1A and Biology 1AL at the same time (in the same shopping cart). If a student attempts to enroll in only one of the two courses, this requirement will not be met and the enrollment will fail.

Students must make sure they have 5 units available under the maximum allowed to be able to enroll. Check enrollment Phase unit maximums as applicable.

Because of the co-requisite, it is not possible to enroll in Biology 1A and 1AL in separate phases of enrollment.

 

Exemptions from the Co-requisite:

There are some cases where students may be exempted from the co-requisite enrollment requirement. Some major advisors may tell students they do not need to take both Bio 1A and Bio 1AL for their major, but this does not grant any exemption from our enrollment requirements.

Find the case below which fits your situation and use the link to the online Google form to submit a request for an exemption.

  1. Students who have already been enrolled or are currently enrolled in Bio 1A and Bio 1AL previously are considered to be Repeating Enrollment students. See the Repeating Enrollment section below.

  2. Students who have already completed a course equivalent to Bio 1A or Bio 1AL may submit a request for an exemption from the co-requisite. Please submit the request using the Completed Equivalent Exemption Request Form.

  3. Students who have ALREADY (at the time of enrollment) declared their major in Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or Electrical Engineering & Computer Science may submit a request for permission to enroll in Bio 1A alone. Please submit the request using the Declared Major Exemption Request Form.

  4. For any other reason (besides repeating enrollment) students may have for requesting an exemption from the co-requisite, please submit a request using the General Exemption Request Form.


Pre-requisite Requirements:

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.

 


Anti-requisite Requirement (Repeating Enrollment):

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. In this case, a student with a passing grade in one class but not the other class will be able to enroll in the one class they have not passed, and the co-enrollment requisite will not be enforced.

Students who have passed Biology 1A, but they have no grade in Biology 1AL will also be blocked from enrolling in Biology 1AL as those students are considered to have been exempted from the co-enrollment requisite in a previous term. Students in this situation are considered to have low prioroity to be able to enroll in Biology 1AL and must receive permission to enroll which cannot be considered until the week before the start of classes at the earliest.

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.



Scheduling:

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 and Tuesday 6:30-9:30pm lab sections in Fall and Spring semesters. Students are 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.


Waiting Lists:

Unfortunately, because of the Requisite controls in place on the classes, it is not possible to open the waitlists.

 


Concurrent Enrollment (UC Extension) in Fall and Spring:

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

 


Questions/Comments about Enrollment:

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.




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