<p>Not sure there is any specific pattern for the numbers of courses. A few aspects are pretty firm:</p>
<p>001-099 are lower division, 100-199 are upper division and anything from 200 on is graduate level.</p>
<p>98 and 198 courses are group studies, classes that do not have a fixed curriculum from semester to semester but instead set up custom objectives for what will be addressed in that group for that one semester. It is also where DeCal classes are integrated into registration and transcript systems, each having a sponsoring department that assigns it as a section in their 98/198 ‘course’</p>
<p>99/199 courses are independent studies, where there is not a fixed curriculum but instead some unique objectives are agreed by the student and department. it differs from 98/198 in that the plan is for a single student instead of for the entire group in a section. </p>
<p>Now for some informal practices:</p>
<p>Introductory classes tend to have the lowest numbers in a range - often 1 or 10 is the intro level for a course - but this is not fully consistent. As just one example, the Math department has Calculus 1A and 1B but a parallel intro set of Calculus classes are at 16A and 16B, and the pre-Calc class, which in some ways is an introduction that would precede Calc, is numbered 32. Math and Biology have 1A and 1B as intro classes, Astronomy and Asian Studies use 10 for an intro class.</p>
<p>C in front of a course means it is a a cross-listed course listed under a course number in each department, often not the same number. Often it is jointly developed by the departments and may have professors from each department teaching, dividing up the semester. For example, Astronomy C10 is also listed as Letters and Sciences C70U. The schedule has them both active for Fall 2011, with 598 seats under the astronomy number and another 156 under the L&S name. Its discussion sections might have 24 seats under Astron C10 and another 6 open under L&S C70U. Sometimes the restrictions are different, so ALWAYS check both sides of a cross listed course to be able to register; the listing on your transcript will be based on the course number you register which may be a factor if for example you think that L&S C70U is less indicative on a future school or job application than Astron C10.</p>
<p>AC gets tacked onto a course number when the department weaves enough american culture material into the curriculum to meet the minimum requirements for an AC class. Although not correct, you could think of it as specifying that x hours out of the semester will be spent on some aspect of american culture related to the actual subject of the course, which consumes all the remaining hours you will spend. To use your made up example, a “Sociology 10AC” course might take the same approach as “Sociology 10” but replace some minor topics in the curriculum with modified topics that have an american culture dimension. </p>
<p>H suffix are honors versions of classes, often with a different and more in depth or more theoretical curriculum than the non-honors alternative</p>
<p>Just like with AC, if a department includes an amount of reading, composition and feedback that meets the mininum standards for the Reading and Comprehension requirements, then it will be given a R prefix and used to satisfy one or both of the R&C obligations. A department may design a class specifically to meet their duty to support some part of the R&C load, or they may adjust an existing curriculum to make it R&C eligible. For example, Letters and Sciences R44 is a course on western civilization that also qualifies as an R&C A or B course, while English R1A is focused specifically on R&C A</p>
<p>N courses can be a problem as they are summer courses that do not provide all the material and meet all the objectives of the same numbered course during a regular semester. They may not be accepted to meet major pre-reqs, pre-reqs for more advanced classes or other requirements. They might not be considered fulfillment of a requirement for graduate or professional studies. Just to make up something as an illustration that I am not claiming actually happens, there might be a course at Cal that is used to meet a pre-req for medical school admission, but the admissions committee might not accept an N version, thus an applicant might take a course that has a N lab version, that hypothetical med school might not credit that as a semester of lab, and thus the student might not meet the minimum of a year of a lab-based course in that subject even though the student took the two courses and worked through two labs, because the one lab is marked N for not equivalent to . . .</p>
<p>Departments assign their topics to various course numbers as that proposed class is finalized and listed in the Catalog. The Catalog is persistent with entries generally in their for years. A class might be defined in the catalog but not given at all in a semester, in a year, or perhaps for a few years. While the class remains “on the books” and in the catalog, it keeps that assigned number. Thus, historical reasons affect which numbers are ‘available’ when a new course is being formalized and put into the catalog, but it can also be a tradition or preference within that department for numbering which need not match how others do their course numbering. Section numbers for a class during a semester also seem to vary among departments, each having their approach to numbering.</p>
Some classes are marked, for example, Sociology 10 (made this up off the top of my head), while there is the Sociology 10AC. What’s the difference, other than that Sociology 10AC gives you the American Cultures credit?</p>
I also think SOCIOL 130AC and PSYCH 167AC sound interesting, but they have prereq classes, so I’m guessing they are for the Sociology/Psychology major only?</p>