ECE 35 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 35 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