ECE-035 is a challenging course and serves as an entry point to the core electrical engineering curriculum. The ECE Department has established a set of consistent grading criteria to be used in all offerings of this course, independent of the course instructor.
Specifically, ECE-035 is not curved and uses an absolute grading scale. Your letter grade is determined by the points you accumulate across the various course components.
In a quarter with MWF lectures, the points breakdown is as follows:
| Flexible components (see syllabus) | 15% homework and engagement |
| Lab | 5% lab participation |
| Exams | 13% max [ final, quiz 1 ] |
| 13% max [ final, quiz 2 ] | |
| 13% max [ final, quiz 3 ] | |
| 41% final | |
| max [ ] means that we take the maximum of the two scores. So effectively, “max[final, quiz]” means that your grade on the quiz is replaced by your grade on the final, if the latter is higher. |
In a quarter with TuTh lectures, the points breakdown is as follows:
| Flexible components (see syllabus) | 15% homework and engagement |
| Lab | 5% lab participation |
| Exams | 19% max [ final, quiz 1 ] |
| 19% max [ final, quiz 2 ] | |
| 42% final | |
| max [ ] means that we take the maximum of the two scores. So effectively, “max[final, quiz]” means that your grade on the quiz is replaced by your grade on the final, if the latter is higher. |
The points translate into your letter grade as follows.
| 80 – 85% A- | 85 – 95% A | 95 – 100% A+ |
| 65 – 70% B- | 70 – 75% B | 75 – 80% B+ |
| 50 – 55% C- | 55 – 60% C | 60 – 65% C+ |
| 0 – 50% F |
However, if you score on the final exam is below 45%, you will get an F.
Author: Electrical and Computer Engineering Department UC San Diego 2026