Continuing Year One

Students who take more than one Winter session (September-April) to complete their First-Year program requirements are referred to as Continuing Year One students.  

At the end of the Winter Session (September-April), BASc students go through sessional evaluation to determine their Academic Standing and if they can be promoted to the next year level for the next Winter Session. Students who do not successfully complete 27 credits out of 37 credits of our first-year engineering curriculum and/or do not have at least 55% overall average at the end of the Winter Session, will not be promoted to Year 2 and continue in the following Winter Session in Year 1. 

Expectations and Guidelines

Continuing Year One students are required to register for a minimum of 24 credits* in their Winter (September-April) Session to be considered for Second Year Placement

When reviewing what courses to take during this continuing year, a student should consider: 

  1. Completing all First Year Engineering Program courses that they have not yet completed before considering which additional courses to take. 
  1. BASc complimentary study courseshumanities electives, Impact requirement or technical communication course 
  1. Common upper year Engineering courses 

*If a student is registered with the Centre for Accessibility and has an approved reduced course load for the Winter Session, this will be the new minimum requirement for being considered for Second Year Placement

Course Planning 

When planning these courses, a student should consider which programs they are hoping to be placed in. As the engineering programs at UBC are highly specialized, there are no courses that are common between all programs. For this reason, students will need to decide which programs they are aiming for if a student plans to register for common upper year courses. 

After considering those three areas: First Year Engineering Program, BASc complimentary study courses and Common upper year Engineering courses, a student can consider what surplus to their degree courses may be of interest to them. If they are intending on pursuing a minor, they may also consider taking some courses toward their minor during their Continuing Year One. Please refer to the Minors page for more information. 

First Year Program Courses

CourseCreditTitleIncluded in STT?
APSC 1003Introduction to Engineering IYes
APSC 1013Introduction to Engineering IIYes
APSC 1603Introduction to Computation in Engineering DesignYes
CHEM 1543Chemistry for EngineeringYes
MATH 1003Differential CalculusYes
MATH 1013Integral CalculusYes
MATH 1523Linear SystemsYes
PHYS 1573Introductory Physics for Engineers IYes
PHYS 1583Introductory Physics for Engineers IIYes
PHYS 1591Introductory Physics Laboratory for EngineersYes
PHYS 1703Mechanics 1Yes
WRDS 150*3Strategies for University Writing or Engineering Communication

*WRDS 150 or equivalent (ENGL 100, 110, 111 or 112)
No
Complementary Studies Electives
Humanities or Social Science Elective3One course totalling 3 credits of a humanities and social science elective. This is a non-scientific and non-technical course that is generally found in the Faculty of Arts. It is recommended that you select a 100-level course. If you are intending to pursue a minor in your third year, consider taking courses that might be applicable to the minor program. Please see Complementary Studies for further details and exceptions.No

The complete standard First Year Engineering curriculum consists of 37 credits

Complementary Studies Courses

Humanities

Engineering students must take 6 humanities credits during their degree, with 3 credits taken in the first year and 3 during an upper year. A student may choose to do their second humanities course during their continuing first year to fill out a student’s schedule. Please visit our webpage on Humanities Electives for a list of approved courses.

Technical Communication

If a student has already completed WRDS 150B or equivalent, they may want to consider taking their Technical Communications course. Although most programs have their own version of the second-year Technical Communications course, some programs may allow APSC 201 to be used for the requirement if taken before placement occurs. 

Engineering ProgramTechnical Communication CourseDoes the program accept APSC 201 as equivalent?
BMEGBMEG 201Yes*
CHBE/CHMLCHBE 201Yes*
CIVLCIVL 203Yes*
CPENCPEN 281Yes*
ELECELEC 281Yes*
ENPHIGEN 201Yes*
ENVLENVE 201Contact ENVL for further information
GEOEAPSC 201Already approved
IGENIGEN 201Yes*
MANUMANU 201Yes*
MECHMECH 226No
MINEAPSC 201Already approved
MTRLMTRL 201Yes*
*Accepted if completed before being placed in the Engineering program

Impact Course

BASc students must take a 3-credit complimentary course on the impacts of technology on society, sustainable development and environment stewardship or Impact for short. Most Engineering programs allow students to pick an option from the general list of Impact courses to satisfy this requirement. However, there are a few that require a specific course. If a student is considering taking an Impact course during their Continuing First Year, please consider which Engineering programs they are interested in. 

If a student is interested in an Engineering program that is not Chemical (CHML), Chemical and Biological (CHBE) or Environmental (ENVL), all other Engineering programs will honour an Impact course chosen from the list if it was taken before being placed in a specific program and will satisfy this requirement once a student is placed in their specific program. 

If a student is interested in CHBE/CHML, please take APSC 261 or APSC 262 

If a student is interested in ENVL, the impact course for this program is specific and a part of the 2nd year curriculum for this program. This impact requirement cannot be taken ahead of time. 

Common Upper Year Courses 

The chart below shows the courses that are common between 3 or more programs. 

Please note: there can be a risk in taking common upper year courses, as a student may be placed in a program that does not use that course. Please speak to an EAS advisor if you would like to discuss this further. 

Program/CourseMATH 253MATH 255MATH 256STAT 251APSC 278APSC 279MECH 260CIVL 215EOSC 210CHBE 241CHBE 244Notes:
BMEG✔*✔**Free Elective course
CHML
CHBE
CIVL
CPEN✔*✔***Probability/Stats Elective
**Science Elective
ELEC✔**ELEC Biomed option, only
ENPH✔**Technical Elective - Sustainability specialization
ENVL
GEOE
IGEN
MANU
MTRL
MECH
MINE

Summer Courses 

If a student would like to take courses in the summer between their First Year and Continuing Year One, please book an academic advising appointment with EAS to discuss their options. 

Summer courses for Continuing First Year students are reviewed on a case by case basis. Some students may benefit from taking a few of their missing first-year courses to fulfill prerequisites for more courses to take during the Winter Session. However, some students may struggle to reach the 24-credit minimum in the Winter Session if they take summer courses. 

Registration

These registration recommendations are based on the courses mentioned in the first year Engineering curriculum, Complimentary studies, and common upper year courses sections above.

When a Continuing Year One student is registering and they see a:

General Seat: please register directly into it 

Waitlist Seat: please register for the waitlist for the specific course. If no waitlist is available, please contact the department that supervises registration for that course. (i.e.: APSC courses are administrated by EAS, MATH courses are administrated by the MATH department etc). 

Restricted Seat: please register for the waitlist for the specific course. If no waitlist is available, please contact the department that supervises registration for that course. (i.e.: APSC courses are administrated by EAS, MATH courses are administrated by the MATH department etc). 

If a student requires any assistance during registration, please contact EAS.