Please explain the course numbering code

Colleges and Universities A-Z The University of Texas at Austin
1

<p>I've spent untold hours on the UT site and still can't find the answer so perhaps someone here can help. What do the letters at the end of course numbers mean and what does it mean if there is no ending letter? For example the core classes for History are:</p>

<p>History 314K, 315K, 315L, 317L, 320L, 320P, 320R, 329K, 333L, 333M, 334L, 334M, 336L, 340S, 341N, 345J, 345L, 345M, 351N, 351P, 355F, 355M, 355N, 355P, 355S, 356G, 356K, 356N, 356P, 356R, 357C, 357D, 357F, 357P, 365G, 366R, 366S, 376F...</p>

<p>The first number would be the credit hours.</p>

<p>The middle two numbers indicate lower and upper levels.</p>

<p>But what about the letters k, l, c, f, p, r, s, j, d, etc.?</p>

2

<p>They typically indicate their place in a sequence. For Example, M408K is the first in a sequence for calculus (an alternative to M408C). But I’ve also seen it mean absolutely nothing, at least in terms of a sequence. According to the Registrar page (<a href=“http://registrar.utexas.edu/schedules/102/using/index.htm[/url]”>http://registrar.utexas.edu/schedules/102/using/index.htm&lt;/a&gt;) courses within a department are alphabetized by field, so it is likely the final letter is something assigned by the specific department according to a key they have established for their course offerings.</p>

3

<p>The first digit is the number of credit hours.</p>

<p>The second digit indicates course level: 0-1 is intro, 2-7 higher up, and 8-9 is graduate level.</p>

<p>The third digit is more or less meaningless except to indicate sequence (e.g. 301/302).</p>

<p>The lettering is also random, except to indicate sequencing. Sometimes the lettering indicates an alternative version of a class (for engineering majors, for example), but it also happens that the lettering is designated for some purpose, then the purpose changes, but the letter remains as an artifact, making it essentially meaningless.</p>

<p>There’s a longer explanation here: [4</a>. Academic Policies and Procedures | General Information, 2009-2010 | Registrar | University of Texas at Austin](<a href=“http://registrar.utexas.edu/catalogs/gi09-10/ch04/]4”>http://registrar.utexas.edu/catalogs/gi09-10/ch04/)</p>

4

<p>Ok weird, my link somehow was edited, should be:</p>

<p>[Using</a> the schedule | Registrar | University of Texas at Austin](<a href=“http://registrar.utexas.edu/schedules/102/using/index.html]Using”>http://registrar.utexas.edu/schedules/102/using/index.html)</p>

<p>Although spdf seems to have more info than that specific page.</p>

5

<p>Alrighty. In other words it’s, “hey, today’s a good day for a “Z” course number”, huh.<br>
Thanks.</p>

6

<p>H is honours, W is often heavy writen component. many letters do have meanings.</p>

7

<p>H for honors is true, but a quick search also turns up honors courses ending with L, M, N, T, and no letter at all. W for Writing Component seems entirely fictional, though – if you go to the Registrar’s web page, click on Find Courses for Spring 2010, and scroll down to Substantial Writing Component, you won’t find a single course with a W in the course number. [Course</a> Schedules | Registrar | University of Texas at Austin](<a href=“http://registrar.utexas.edu/schedules/]Course”>Course Schedules | Office of the Registrar)</p>