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, August 24th (8/24). We will not be granting further extensions aside from exceptional cases.
- For project 3, the latest deadline will be right before checkoff session 2. We will send an email regarding the exact date after the content schedule is finalized for Fall 2025.
- If you are taking an incomplete on the final, you will take the Fall 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, May 2nd (5/2).
Requesting an incomplete
To request an incomplete, please fill out this form by Sunday, May 11th (5/11) 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 here to further discuss your case.
FAQ
Timeline
Q: When can I request for an incomplete?
A: You can request for an incomplete grade from now until the request form closes on Sunday, May 11th (5/11) at 11:59pm.
Q: When will I hear back regarding the decision of my incomplete request?
A: You should expect to wait for around 1 week (including business and non-business days) to hear back from us for a decision after submitting to the incomplete request form.
Q: When should I start working on my incomplete assignment? When should I complete them by?
A: You can start working on your incomplete assignment anytime after your incomplete request is approved. For all asssignments except project 3, you should complete them by the deadline established above (8/24, 2025). For project 3, you should complete it before the intended checkoff session you want to attend.
Q: When will my incomplete grade be resolved?
A: We will conduct two rounds of incomplete resolution processes:
- At the beginning of the Fall 2025 semester (after checkoff session 1)
- Near the end of the Fall 2025 semester (after final).
If you have an incomplete on project assignments, it will take us up to 3 weeks to resolve your incomplete after the deadline (8/24, 2025). If you have an incomplete on the final exam, it will take us up to 3 weeks to resolve your incomplete after Fall 2025’s final exam. It might take us longer to update your grade on CalCentral.
If you need your grade to be finalized and released at an earlier date, please reach out to us through cs61b-incompletes@berkeley.edu.
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 do I get my final grade result back after resolving my incomplete?
A: We will send you an email with the final grade and breakdown from cs61b-incompletes@berkeley.edu.
Exam Incomplete Logistics
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 Fall 2025 final, your z-score is calculated relative to the Fall 2025 scores). That z-score will be used when clobbering your midterm scores from the current semester.
You can find the exact calculation formula of your exam score here.
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 (Spring 2025).
Assignment Incomplete Logistics
Q: How would I submit assignments that I take an incomplete on?
A: For incomplete assignments submitted to the autograder, you should submit them the same way as you normally do during the semester (i.e. submit your most recent implementation to the corresponding assignment autograder on gradescope).
For Project 3, which requires a staff checkoff, we will be holding two checkoff sessions during Fall 2025:
- Checkoff session 1: First week of school.
- Checkoff session 2: Regular project 3 checkoff session near the end of semester.
Project 3 checkoff sessions will be hold separately by staff. We will send out information regarding sign ups before each checkoff session through email.
By default, to receive credit for project 3, you must get checked off by the end of Fall 2025.
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.
Access and Communication
Q: What should I do if I’m not sure my situation qualifies for an incomplete, or intend to request an incomplete on more than 2 projects or 1 project/1 exam?
A: Please sign up for a student support meeting here to further discuss your case.
We will have limited student support meeting slots from now till the end of the incomplete request window, so please reach out to us as soon as possible. If you are unable to sign up to meet, email cs61b-incompletes@berkeley.edu.
Q: What kind of course resources do I have access as an incomplete student?
A: If your incomplete require access to Fall 2025’s logistics (i.e. content schedule, office hour schedule, project 3 checkoff), we will add you to the Fall 2025 Ed as an observer. You will be able to read announcements, posts, and other people’s comments but will not be able to ask questions directly.
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.)