FA25 FAQs

Last updated: August 22, 2025

Fall 2025 listing on classes.berkeley.edu

Enrollment

Q1: Will the course expand?

We don’t know. (And we still won’t know even if we know your waitlist position, so please don’t email us to ask.)

In recent semesters, we were able to expand the course to enroll all interested students, but we cannot promise that the same will happen in Fall 2025.

We will not have any information about potential course expansion until the first full week of the fall semester (August 27, 2025), at the earliest. Any updates will be posted on this page, so if you email us, you will just get redirected to this page.

Q2: What are my chances of getting off the waitlist?

We don’t know. You could check Berkeleytime for enrollment trends from past semesters, but there are no guarantees as to how past trends will extrapolate to Fall 2025.

Besides past trends, we have no way to estimate your odds of getting off the waitlist. If you’re on the waitlist, we strongly recommend having a backup plan in case you are unable to enroll.

Q3: Can I have permission to enroll in the class?

Course staff is not in charge of enrollment. We have to follow the department’s enrollment policies.

We don’t have enrollment codes to hand out or any other way to circumvent the policies on that document.

If you have further questions about enrollment, please reach out to the emails listed in the linked document.

Q4: I’m a concurrent enrollment student. When can I enroll in the class?

The department processes concurrent enrollment applications, not us. Concurrent enrollment applications are scheduled to be processed in the first full week of the fall semester (August 27, 2025), at the earliest. Please check this page later for updates; we have no additional information at this time, so please do not email us about concurrent enrollment until this page is updated.

In past semesters, we have been able to accept all concurrent enrollment applications, but we cannot make any promises for this semester, so we recommend having a backup plan. We have no way to estimate the odds of your application being approved, so please don’t ask us. (If you ask us, you will just be redirected to this page.)

If you have a pending concurrent enrollment application, please do not email us asking to be added to bCourses (or Gradescope or Ed). We will automatically add all students with pending applications to the course. It can take 3-4 days for us to add you after you submit an application, so please be patient. If your application is approved late, you can request extensions using the form on the website, so that the first few assignments are not counted late.

Being added to bCourses (and Gradescope and Ed) does not necessarily mean your application is approved; we are just adding you so that you can follow along while you wait.

Q5: Can I audit the class?

All course materials that we can share with auditors will be posted publicly on the course website.

See this section of the syllabus for more information about auditing.

Q6: I enrolled or waitlisted in the class, but I don’t have access to Gradescope/Ed.

We sync the rosters once a day, so you may need to wait a bit before being automatically added to the class. If you’ve been officially enrolled or waitlisted for 48 hours and haven’t been added, send an email to cs61b@berkeley.edu. Please don’t ask us about being added until 48 hours have passed; we don’t have time to manually add each student.

Waitlisted students will be automatically added, just like enrolled students. If you join the waitlist, please follow the instructions in the paragraph above.

If you have access to the CS61B class on bCourses, you can try clicking on “Ed” and “Gradescope” in the sidebar, which might automatically add you. If this doesn’t work, then please wait for us to automatically sync the rosters to add you.

Exams

Q7: When are the exams?

Midterm 1 is Thursday, September 25, 8–10pm PT.

Midterm 2 is Thursday, November 6, 8–10pm PT.

The final exam is on Thursday, December 18, 8–11am PT.

(Source for final exam: Registrar website.)

Exams are in-person only, so if you are enrolling in the class, you should plan on being physically present on campus for the midterm and final exam dates.

Q8: Do you offer alternate time exams?

If you are unable to take the exam at the scheduled time, we will be offering only one alternate exam time, in-person only, immediately after the scheduled exam.

Alternate Midterm 1 time: Thursday, September 25, 10pm–12am.

Alternate Midterm 2 time: Thursday, November 6, 10pm–12am.

Alternate final exam time: Thursday, December 18, 11am–2pm (you’ll have some time to walk between exams and take a quick break).

There are no other alternate exam times. You cannot take the exam on other days, and you cannot take the exam earlier than the listed time. If you plan on enrolling, you should make sure you can attend the exam times.

(If you have a verified DSP accommodation, we will work with you to find an exam time that meets your accommodations. If you are not registered with DSP, the paragraph above applies.)

We are only offering the alternate exam time if you are unable to take the exam at the normal time. For example, if you have another exam at the same time, you can take the alternate-time exam. However, wanting a break between non-conflicting exams would not be a valid reason to take the alternate-time exam, because in this case you are able to take the exam at the normal time.

We’ll release a form closer to the exams for you to sign up for an alternate-time exam.

Prerequisites

Q9: Do you formally enforce prerequisites?

No. The enrollment system should not block you from enrolling or waitlisting if you haven’t taken the prerequisites (CS61A). We will not drop students who haven’t taken the prerequisites.

Taking CS61B without CS61A (or equivalent) is strongly discouraged.

Attendance

Q10: Is attendance mandatory?

Besides exams, there is no mandatory attendance for the rest of the class.

Lecture, discussion, and lab attendance is optional, though there might be a small amount of extra credit for attendance.

Q11: I need to miss the first few days of class. Is that okay?

We don’t take attendance, so it’s okay if you aren’t in-person for the first few weeks of class. You do not need to contact us about missing class. However, it is still your responsibility to keep up with the assignments.

Likewise, it’s okay if you need to miss some time in the middle of the semester, as long as it doesn’t overlap with exams, and you keep up with the assignments.

Q12: I need to miss an exam. Is that okay?

We have a clobber policy for the midterms, so if you miss a midterm, you can use your scaled final exam score (i.e. z-score) to replace your midterm score.

There is no clobber policy for the final exam, so if you cannot make the final exam time, you should not enroll in the class.

Q13: Can I enroll in the class late?

If you plan on enrolling late, it is your responsibility to keep up with the class before you enroll.

If you enroll late, we will give you a grace period of 3 days after the day you enroll. After the 3 days are over, you should be fully caught up with the class (all assignments due up to that point should be submitted).

You can request extensions using the form on the website so that assignments submitted during this grace period are not counted late.

If you need more than 3 days to catch up, you can request extensions through the form, but we cannot guarantee that they will be approved. Please don’t email us asking about extensions - use the form on the website.

You can attend lectures and discussion sections before you are officially enrolled. The course website will publicly post any recordings, videos, and resources.