Most University courses are assigned a unit value. During the regular semester, one unit represents three hours of work per week by the student, including both class attendance and preparation. Laboratory, discussion, quiz, or review sessions may or may not be given unit value. See Academic Expectations & Workload for advice on how to calculate weekly workload during the summer.
UC Berkeley is on the semester unit system; this means the main part of the school year calendar (not including the summer session) is broken up into two parts called “semesters”. Many other schools use the quarter unit system; this means the main part of the school year calendar (not including the summer session) is broken up into three parts called “quarters”. If you should ever need to convert semester units to quarter units, refer to this chart:
| Unit Conversion Chart | |
|---|---|
| Semester | Quarter |
| 10 | 15.0 |
| 9 | 13.5 |
| 8 | 12.0 |
| 7 | 10.5 |
| 6 | 9.0 |
| 5 | 7.5 |
| 4 | 6.0 |
| 3 | 4.5 |
| 2 | 3.0 |
| 1 | 1.5 |
| 0.5 | 0.75 |