California A-G Subject Requirements for UC and CSU Admission

To be eligible for admission as a first-year freshman at the University of California or the California State University, you must complete the California A-G requirements: 15 yearlong high school courses spread across seven academic subject areas, each passed with a grade of C or better.¹ Both systems use the same seven categories and draw from the same approved course list.²

The 15 Courses Across Seven Subjects

Each letter, A through G, stands for a subject area. The required years add up to 15:

A — History/Social Science: 2 years. One year of world history, cultures, or historical geography, plus one year of U.S. history or one semester of U.S. history and one semester of civics or American government.
B — English: 4 years of college-preparatory English covering writing and reading of classic and modern literature.
C — Mathematics: 3 years required, 4 recommended. Coverage must include elementary algebra, advanced algebra, and two- and three-dimensional geometry.
D — Laboratory Science: 2 years required, 3 recommended. Courses must cover at least two of the three disciplines: biology, chemistry, or physics.
E — Language Other Than English: 2 years of the same language, reaching at least the second level of instruction. American Sign Language and classical languages such as Latin qualify.
F — Visual and Performing Arts: 1 yearlong course in dance, music, theater, visual arts, or interdisciplinary arts. Two one-semester courses from the same discipline also work.
G — College-Preparatory Elective: 1 additional approved course, either from one of the A-F areas or from the dedicated elective list.

CSU points applicants to UC’s approved course list for the “G” elective, so a course that qualifies for one system qualifies for the other.²

Grade and GPA Minimums

Every A-G course must be passed with a C or better. Grades of D or F don’t count, and plus or minus designations are ignored by both systems.³

For UC, California residents need at least a 3.0 GPA in A-G coursework. Non-residents and international applicants need a 3.4 or higher.⁴ CSU also requires a C or better in every A-G course and sets GPA thresholds that vary by campus.²

These are eligibility floors, not admission targets. Most admitted students at competitive UC campuses carry GPAs well above the minimum.

UC calculates the A-G GPA using only courses completed between the summer after ninth grade and the summer after eleventh grade. Ninth-grade courses themselves are not included in the GPA. Letter grades convert on a four-point scale with no credit for pluses or minuses.⁴ Note that UC no longer uses SAT or ACT scores in admissions decisions.⁵

Finish 11 Courses Before Senior Year

UC requires that at least 11 of the 15 A-G courses be completed before your final year of high school begins.¹ You cannot save the bulk of your A-G coursework for twelfth grade. The remaining four can be in progress during senior year when you submit your application, but they must be finished before you enroll.

This timing matters most for students who switch schools mid-high school or move between academic tracks. Check where you stand well before junior year ends.

Making Sure a Course Counts

A course only satisfies A-G if it appears on your high school’s approved course list. The official record is the UC A-G Course List, maintained by the University of California Office of the President at hs-articulation.ucop.edu. Search by your high school’s name and every approved course shows up organized by category. Both UC and CSU rely on this list.²

A class can have a demanding title and still not count if it isn’t on the list for your school. Check before you enroll, not after. If you transfer schools, verify whether your previous courses were approved at the old school and whether equivalents exist at the new one.

A-G courses generally cannot be taken pass/fail or credit/no credit. A narrow exception exists for courses taken between winter/spring 2020 and summer 2021, when both systems accepted pass or credit grades due to the pandemic.⁶ Outside that window, you need a letter grade.

Fixing a D or F

If you earn a D or F in an A-G course, you have two ways to recover. The straightforward option is to repeat the course and replace the grade.

The other option is validation. Earning a C or better in a higher-level course in the same subject can prove mastery of the lower-level material. A C in Algebra II, for example, validates a D earned in Algebra I because you demonstrated the foundational content well enough to succeed at the next level. The same logic applies to foreign language sequences. Validation satisfies the A-G subject requirement for that year, though the original grade still appears in your GPA calculation.

Alternatives to High School Courses

AP and IB Exam Scores

Qualifying exam scores can satisfy A-G categories directly. A 3 or higher on an AP exam, or a 5 or higher on an IB Higher Level exam, generally covers one or two years of the corresponding subject, depending on the exam:¹

English (B): A 3, 4, or 5 on AP English Language and Composition or AP English Literature and Composition satisfies one year. An IB HL English: Literature score of 5, 6, or 7 does the same.
Math (C): A 3 or higher on AP Calculus AB or BC satisfies two years of the math requirement, though not the geometry portion. AP Precalculus requires a 4 or 5.
Language Other Than English (E): A 3 or higher on any AP language exam satisfies the full two-year requirement.
Visual and Performing Arts (F): A 3 or higher on AP Art History, AP Art and Design, or AP Music Theory covers the one-year requirement.

UC’s admissions site publishes the complete accepted-exam list for every A-G category.

Community College Courses

Transferable college coursework offers another path. UC requires that the college be accredited, that the course carry at least three semester units or four quarter units, that it be taken for a letter grade, and that you earn a C or better. Math and English can also be satisfied by non-transferable college courses of three or more semester units. Science courses must include at least 30 hours of actual laboratory work.¹ These credits appear on the college transcript, not your high school transcript, and must be reported separately on your application.

Out-of-State and International Applicants

High schools outside California don’t have a pre-approved A-G course list.⁷ UC asks out-of-state applicants to self-report their grades and treat the California A-G list as a reference for the types of courses that qualify. Coverage should be comparable in content. The minimum GPA for non-residents and international applicants is 3.4 rather than 3.0.

International students who sat external secondary exams such as GCE A-Levels, IGCSEs, or the Indian AISSC should report those subjects and marks rather than teacher-assigned course grades. External exam results go in the “International Exams” section of the test score page on the UC application.⁸ Admitted students later provide official academic records from every institution attended starting with ninth grade.

If You Fall Short

Missing a course or falling below the GPA minimum doesn’t automatically end your chances at UC. Campuses can consider applicants through admission by exception, and the personal insight questions and additional comments sections give you space to explain circumstances such as a school that didn’t offer enough A-G courses, a family disruption, or a health issue that derailed a semester.⁵

Campuses use admission by exception sparingly. Applicants who hold a Certificate of Proficiency, GED, or equivalent instead of a standard diploma can still apply, but they must still meet the A-G and GPA requirements.⁵ For nearly everyone, finishing all 15 courses with strong grades well before the application deadline is the reliable path.

1
University of California Admissions. Subject Requirement (A-G)
2
The California State University. Freshman – Admission Requirements
3
University of California. UC-CSU Comparison of Minimum First-Year Admission Requirements
4
University of California Admissions. GPA Requirement
5
University of California Admissions. First-Year Requirements
6
California State University. 2026-2027 Admission Handbook
7
University of California. Out-of-State Students
8
University of California. First-Year International Records