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Important Takeaways for Instructors:
- Refer students to their academic advisors when considering an incomplete grade.
- For students with pending conduct cases, use the Review Deferred option instead.
- Instructor deadlines to replace incomplete grades for the fall 2025 semester are the first day of instruction of the fall 2026 semester, but students can negotiate for an earlier date.
- Students must complete their work at least 30 days prior to the instructor’s deadline for replacing the incomplete grade, and extension requests must be submitted at least 30 days before the posted deadline.
- A more detailed summary of this email is available on the Undergraduate Education website, and you can find additional information on the Office of the Registrar website regarding Incomplete grades.
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Dear Colleagues,
As we near final exams week, I would like to share important information regarding Incomplete grades.
When assigning Incompletes, we ask that you please bear the following points in mind:
Refer Students to Academic Advisors
Advisors can help students understand how an Incomplete may impact future class schedules and progress toward graduation. Advisors can also inform students of other academic options that may be available. Please refer students to the undergraduate advising office for their college:
- College of Chemistry
- The College of Computing, Data Science, and Society
- College of Engineering
- College of Environmental Design
- College of Letters & Science
- Haas School of Business
- Rausser College of Natural Resources
Criteria for Assigning an Incomplete Grade
Instructors should never assign an Incomplete grade unless the student has requested it, the student’s work in the course has been of passing quality to date, and the class cannot be completed due to circumstances beyond the student’s control. If you do not know why a student has failed to submit a paper or take an exam, or why a student is not passing your course (i.e., you do not know whether the reasons are within or out of their control), you should not assign an Incomplete grade. Instead, you should assign the student the grade they have earned for the course with the missing coursework graded as zero.
Examples of circumstances beyond the student’s control include but are not limited to: death of a close relative, global events, major illness, and/or mental health crisis. If you are concerned for a student’s well-being or safety, please consult the Gold Folder for assistance and consider submitting a Care Report to the Center for Support and Intervention.
Students with Pending Conduct Cases
For students with pending conduct cases that have been or are going to be referred to the Center for Student Conduct or the Graduate Academic Misconduct Process for review, instructors should use the Review Deferred (RD) option instead of assigning an Incomplete grade. RD is the appropriate grade placeholder for pending conduct cases and should be used exclusively for student conduct-related matters.
How to Assign an Incomplete Grade
- Inform the student in writing (or via your department or college’s contract form, if available) of the work they must complete
- Establish a timeline that will enable you to grade their work in time to meet the deadlines listed below, and a means for the student to complete this work
- Replace the student’s Incomplete on the grade roster in CalCentral with the final grade prior to the deadlines below. This should be done as quickly as possible once the student has completed the work and satisfied all remaining assignments.
Instructor Deadlines to Replace Incomplete Grades
- For Incompletes assigned fall semester: First day of instruction of the following fall semester (Wednesday, August 26, 2026)
- For Incompletes assigned spring semester or summer session: First day of instruction of the following spring semester (Tuesday, January 19, 2027)
IMPORTANT REMINDERS ABOUT INCOMPLETE GRADES
- Instructors can find additional detail about each of these guidelines on the Undergraduate Education website.
- Students must complete their work at least 30 days prior to the instructor’s deadline for replacing the Incomplete grade.
- You are under no obligation to allow your student the maximum time permitted by regulation to resolve the Incomplete grade. Instructors who negotiate an earlier deadline will be responsible for monitoring the student’s completion of work by the early deadline.
- Incomplete grades should be resolved as soon as is feasible for all concerned. If the student does not finish the work according to the agreed upon timeline, you can assign the student the grade earned at the time of the deadline.
- Students should never re-enroll in the same course to resolve an already-assigned Incomplete grade.
- The grading option that the student chooses in CalCentral by their college’s deadline will determine if the Incomplete will be resolved for a letter grade or a P/NP.
- When a student accumulates excessive Incomplete units (12 or more), their enrollment in next semester courses should be put on hold.
- A student may retain up to two Incompletes on their record permanently by petitioning their college to “freeze” their Incomplete grade. A student does not have to resolve an Incomplete to graduate, unless completion of that course is needed for a requirement.
Failure by the instructor to submit new grades via the grade roster in CalCentral or to sign off on a petition to extend an Incomplete grade prior to the deadlines will result in the Incomplete lapsing to an F or NP, depending on the grading basis. Requests to extend a deadline to resolve an Incomplete require approval from the instructor and the student’s college. These requests must be submitted to the college prior to the student deadline to resolve the Incomplete grade, which is July 26, 2026. The F or NP then becomes the final grade and cannot be changed back to Incomplete or any other grade. If the student still needs the course to complete a degree requirement, they must repeat the course. If the student has graduated, access to change the grade will not be available on the grade roster and the instructor must email egrades@berkeley.edu with student and class information.
For more information on Incomplete Grades and Grade Changes and Corrections, visit the Office of the Registrar website. For web-based content of this email, visit the Undergraduate Education website.
Wishing you a successful completion of the fall semester and thanking you for all that you are doing to support our students.
Sincerely,
Oliver M. O’Reilly
Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education
This message was sent to all UC Berkeley deans, department chairs, and instructors.