Repeat Rules

Overview of Repeated Courses

Repeated courses are tagged in the ConnectCarolina Course History and Tar Heel Tracker when students:

• successfully complete (with a passing grade) the same course at Carolina more than one time;
• earn transfer credit for coursework completed at an external institution and you complete the same course at Carolina; or
• earn credit for a course through an exam (for example, AP or on-campus placement exams) and you complete the same course at Carolina.

While repeated courses do not count toward Undergraduate degree requirements, repeated courses that are completed at Carolina are included in the students’ GPA calculation as illustrated in the example below.

For example, assume a student earns a D in CHEM 101.  The following semester, the student repeats the course, and earns an A.  Once the second course is completed:

• The course with the lower grade will be flagged as a repeated course.
• The student will earn only 3 hours (rather than 6) toward the cumulative hours for graduation.
• The repeated course will not count toward the fulfillment of the University’s general education, major, and minor requirements.
• A total of 6 hours will be included in the cumulative hours that are used to calculate GPA.
• The A and D will be included in both the term and cumulative GPA calculations.

Repeated Courses in ConnectCarolina Course History

Repeated courses are tagged in the Repeat Code column of the Course History page as described below:

Example 1 – Repeated Enrollment

In this example, the student completed two CHEM 101 courses at Carolina.  The 3 hours associated with the D is tagged as repeated and will be excluded from the student’s degree requirements and degree-applicable hours.  Both courses (hours and grades) will be included in the GPA calculations.

Example 2 – Repeated Credit by Exam
In this example, the student’s Course History page shows two occurrences of CHEM 102.  Since courses taken at Carolina trump course credit earned through an exam, the BE (by exam) is tagged as repeated and will be excluded from the student’s degree requirements and degree-applicable hours, while the course at Carolina will count towards the degree requirements and degree-applicable hours.

Example 3 – Repeated Transfer Credit
In the following example, there are two occurrences of CHEM 102.  Since courses taken at Carolina trump transfer courses, the transfer course is tagged as repeated and will be excluded from the student’s degree requirements and degree-applicable hours, while the A that was earned at Carolina will count towards the degree requirements and degree-applicable hours.

Example 4 – Repeated Transfer Credit (Transfer Course is Taken after Carolina course)
In the following example, there are two occurrences of CHEM 102. The transfer course was taken after the course was taken at Carolina because the student did not earn the required minimum grade of a C or better at Carolina. The course that was transferred is tagged as repeated and will be excluded from the student’s degree requirements degree-applicable hours. However, if the Carolina course did not receive a minimum grade for a requirement in a major or minor, the transfer course is eligible to fulfill the requirement upon review by an academic advisor and an adjustment to the student’s Tar Heel Tracker.

Repeated Courses in Tar Heel Tracker

Repeated courses are excluded from the degree, general education, major, and minor requirements in the Tar Heel Tracker and included in GPA requirements.

Global Limits
As shown in the example below, the repeated CHEM 101 was excluded from the degree requirements.

GPA Calculation

Repeated courses at Carolina count toward a student’s GPA calculation as reflected in the following Tar Heel Tracker minimum cumulative GPA requirement example:

Minimum Degree Hours

Repeated courses do not count toward the minimum number of required degree-applicable hours as reflected in the following Tar Heel Tracker example:

Non-Degree Applicable Courses
Repeated courses will be listed in the non-degree applicable courses section of the Tracker as shown below:

Repeated Course Codes

• Repeated courses are tagged in the ConnectCarolina Course History Repeat Code column with an REP code indicating that the course does not count toward Undergraduate degree-applicable hours.
• Repeated courses completed at Carolina are included in the GPA calculation.

For information on the University’s policies on repeated courses, refer to the Undergraduate Catalog.