Certain conventions are useful in reading parts of the Calendar that deal with requirements, whether for courses (prerequisites, corequisites, recommended preparation) or programs.

Element	Examples	Explanation
Course Code	ENG150Y1, STA313H1
Course Designator	ENG, STA	This three-letter designator identifies the program offering the course. In these examples, ENG and STA refer to these two programs: English; and Statistical Sciences.
Course Number	150, 313	Every course in a program has its own identifying digits. For-credit courses run from “100-level” (starting with a 1) all the way to “400-level” (starting with a 4), and as they go up, broadly they indicate more advanced or more focused study. The “level” does not restrict student access. For example, a third-year student could take 100- to 400-level courses, but a first-year student should be careful taking 200- or high-level courses.
Course Weight	Y (1.0), H (0.5)	This is only one of two letters, either a “Y” or an “H”: a “Y” indicates the course is a “full course” and is worth 1.0 credit; an “H” indicates a “half course” and is worth 0.5 credit.
Campus Indicator	1	This digit indicates the campus where the course is offered. In the Arts & Science Academic Calendar, normally a course has a “1” (one), indicating the downtown St. George Campus. Other indicators include a “0” (zero) meaning it is taught off-campus, a "3" (three) meaning it is taught at U of T Scarborough, or "5" (five) meaning it is taught at U of T Mississauga.

Course Title

Indicates the topic and theme of the course. Some courses may have a general title of a “special topics course” in the Academic Calendar but the actual course content varies year by year; in such a case, seek out the department or program’s website, or the Timetable offerings, to learn more about what will be offered. On the transcript, course titles are abbreviated.

Types of Instruction (Lecture/Tutorial/Practical/Seminar Hours (L/T/P/S))

All courses comprise a certain number of hours dedicated to instruction. There are four types. Often courses may have more than one.

• Lectures are standard in almost every course as the fundamental type of instruction, where the instructor will present course content to students. All instructors have individual styles and approaches to lectures. For example, some instructors may take questions differently or present slides/visual aids differently.
• Tutorials are smaller group meetings where students can discuss and ask questions about lecture material with either the instructor or (more often) a TA (tutorial assistant). Tutorials may also be used for some kinds of evaluation, like small quizzes or to be assessed on a student’s participation in the course. Like practicals, tutorials always are part of a course that has either lectures or seminars (see below).
• Practicals involve students being able to learn and apply their learning hands-on, for example, laboratories (“labs”) for science courses. If a course has practicals, then it always has either lectures or seminars (see below).
• Seminars are a small-class experience, common for very advanced courses, where the in-class process is a combination of some lecturing mixed with structured class discussion and often student presentations.

In brackets after the title, the number of hours that students will spend in lecture (L), in tutorial (T), in practical sessions (P), or seminar (S) for the course are listed. These are most often a multiple of 12, as the term is 12 weeks in length.

Calendar Description

This paragraph highlights the course content and themes to be delivered in the course. The description will state anything special about the course, from special aspects of the class experience (for example, language of study or field work), to the intended audience of the course (for example, a science course intended for non-science students as an elective), to any special ancillary fees (for example, lab material).

Prerequisites, Co-requisites, Recommended Preparation

These fields indicate courses which a student must complete before taking the course in question (prerequisites), sometimes with a minimum grade, take at the same time or prior to this course (co-requisites), or courses that are suggested to take (recommended preparation). The academic units that offer a course can remove students who do not have needed prerequisites or corequisites, though they usually try to do so near the beginning of the course to allow students to add a different course. Students are responsible for reviewing this information for their course planning.

Exclusions

Some courses overlap in content. This can be because the same kind of material may be offered in the context of different areas of study (like introductory statistics), or because there may be certain similar course material that is offered at different levels of difficulty, or because some courses have content that used to be offered in an older and now “retired” course. When reading a course description, if a student sees a course listed under “exclusions” that includes a course they already have credit for, they should not normally take this course. Departments or program offices can remove students who have course exclusions, and even if they choose not to, the new course will not count for degree credit and will be marked “Extra”. 

Breadth Requirement

Almost all courses are categorized in terms of one of the five breadth requirement categories:

• 1 (Creative and Cultural Representations)
• 2 (Thought, Belief, Behaviour)
• 3 (Society and its Institutions)
• 4 (Living Things and Their Environment)
• 5 (Physical and Mathematical Universes)

Half-credit courses offer 0.5 credits towards only one of the categories; full-credit courses offer either 0.5 credits in two different categories, or 1.0 credit in one.

Distribution Requirements (old)

Courses still list what is called the “distribution requirement” which normally categorizes a course as either Science, Social Science, Humanities, or a combination thereof. (In rare cases, there may be no category assigned.) This is only of interest to students who started their degree before September 2010.

 

About Programs of Study

All degrees awarded by the Faculty of Arts & Science require and are defined by the program(s) of study a student completes as a degree requirement. These programs identify the subject area(s) the student has pursued and completed. A program of study is a sequence of courses in certain areas, normally with some choice of options within the sequence.

Elements of a Program Description

Programs of study can be searched directly using the Program Search. Programs of study usually fall under a page dedicated to the department or academic unit that sponsors the program, but sometimes on their own page if they are very distinct from the usual programs that unit offers. Usually the program information is divided up this way:

• Description (optional) – A small bit of text to indicate what is notable about this program and why a student might select it as part of their academic or professional plans.
• Enrolment requirements – This describes what requirements, if any, a student must meet to enter the program. A program can be entered only if a student has obtained 4.0 credits or is on track to doing so before the start of the next September.
• Completion requirements – This lays out – often year by year – the courses a student must complete to complete the program itself. This information is translated for use in Degree Explorer tool to help a student track their progress and plan future courses.
• Notes (optional) – If either the enrolment requirements or the completion requirements need some clarification, there may be special notes inserted in either area.
• Course Groups (program dependent) – Many programs, especially programs that can recognize a selection from a number of courses from many other departments to fulfil program requirements, will list courses grouped by category.

Specialist, Major, and Minor Programs of Study

Programs offered by the Faculty that may be used to complete a degree can have the status of a Specialist, Major, or Minor.

• Specialist programs (from 10.0 to 14.0 credits to complete) offer the deepest and most extensive study of the subject matter in question, and almost always represent the key area of degree studies.
• Major programs (from 6.0 to 8.0 credits to complete) offer a comprehensive study of the subject matter, and may be the primary area of degree studies, complemented with another Major or some Minor programs.
• Minor programs (4.0 credits to complete) offer a fundamental study of the subject matter and complement degree studies where a Major or a Specialist is also being pursued.

For more information on what combination of programs of study ensure completion of a degree, and the allowable combinations of programs of study, refer to the HBA/HBSc or BCom Degree Requirements.

Open and Limited Programs

Programs in the Faculty of Arts & Science are either open or limited; in the Academic Calendar, the enrolment requirements section of each program will specify the program type.

Open programs have no enrolment requirements except the completion of 4.0 credits. The enrolment requirements section for an open program may contain additional information that is useful for a student to know prior to enrolling in the program.

Limited programs have enrolment requirements in addition to the completion of 4.0 credits. These enrolment requirements are broken down in the following ways:

• Completed courses (with minimum grades)
  • For reasons of academic success, entry into the program relies on students having completed one or more specific courses, normally with a specific grade beyond a pass (50%).
• Variable Minimum Grade or Variable Minimum Grade Average
  • Limited programs with this requirement are in very high demand, and every year the program must establish a specific minimum grade (or a minimum average grade across multiple courses) based on how many students have applied and how many of the limited spaces are available. As such, this minimum changes each year and it is not possible to publish a guaranteed minimum.
  • Some programs may identify a minimum grade or minimum grade average that is required in order to ensure students’ success in the program, however obtaining this minimum final grade or minimum grade average does not guarantee admission to the program.
• Special
  • Any requirement listed as “special” is a requirement that is beyond courses completed and grades achieved; for example, a supplementary application, or audition. 

Streams

Streams are categorizations of special emphasis for a Specialist or Major program of study. The difference between Streams shows itself in upper-year courses, while the courses usually taken in first or second year are similar across all Streams in the Major or Specialist. Streams are presented in the Academic Calendar like a distinct program of study.

Focuses

When focuses exist in an area of study, they are taken in conjunction with a Specialist or Major, and they allow a student to select a special cluster of course options that all contribute to study of a particular theme, topic, or sub-discipline within the area of study. Focuses are normally not mandatory and enhance how a student plans the completion of their programs. A completed focus will show on a student’s transcript.

Certificates

The University has three categories of Certificates. The Arts & Science Academic Calendar only includes those that must be completed by students pursuing a degree in the Faculty of Arts & Science. Certificates are composed of a sequence of 2.0-3.0 credits relating to an identified topic or theme that may complement a degree program. Pursuit of a Certificate may offer structure to elective course choices; these certificates do not offer any kind of professional certification. A completed Certificate will show on a student's transcript. Note that a Certificate is not a program, and will not contribute toward the program(s) required to complete the degree.

Language Citation

This is a special recognition available at the Faculty of Arts & Science that shows advanced study of a language. The Language Citation will consist of a notation on the transcript that reads: “Completed Requirements of Language Citation in [name of language].” This notation will appear in the Faculty of Arts & Science sessional segment of the student’s academic record on the transcript listing the courses and marks for the session in which the Citation is assessed as complete. Note that Language Citation is not a program, and will not contribute toward the program(s) required to complete the degree.

The list below identifies the academic units that offer a Language Citation. For details, including the languages in which students may achieve a Citation, see the relevant entries in this Calendar.

• Classics
• East Asian Studies
• French
• Germanic Languages & Literatures
• Hungarian
• Indigenous Studies
• Italian Studies
• Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations
• Portuguese
• St. Michael's College
• Slavic Languages & Literatures
• Spanish