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Fall 2026 FAQs

Last updated: August 27, 2026

Fall 2026 listing on classes.berkeley.edu

Enrollment

Q1: Will the course expand?

We don’t know. (And we still won’t know even if we know your waitlist position, so please don’t email us to ask.)

In recent semesters, we were able to expand the course to enroll all interested students, but we cannot promise that the same will happen in Fall 2026.

We will not have any information about potential course expansion until the first full week of the semester (August 31, 2026), at the earliest. Any updates will be posted on this page, so if you email us, you will just get redirected to this page.

Q2: What are my chances of getting off the waitlist?

We don’t know. You could check Berkeleytime for enrollment trends from past semesters, but there are no guarantees as to how past trends will extrapolate to Fall 2026.

Besides past trends, we have no way to estimate your odds of getting off the waitlist. If you’re on the waitlist, we strongly recommend having a backup plan in case you are unable to enroll.

Q3: I’m not a Computer Science or Data Science major. Can I enroll in the class?

We will try our best to enroll all interested students (including non-majors), but we cannot make any promises, and we have no way to estimate your chances of being enrolled. If you are a non-major, our suggestion is to stay on the waitlist, but have a backup plan ready.

For more details, see the message below from the CS enrollment team:

CS 168 is an open (non-restricted) class:

Any full time UCB undergraduate or visiting/exchange undergraduate student can join the waitlist for CS 168.

All seats in CS 168 will be reserved for declared EECS/CS/DS/non-EECS COE majors. Reserved seating will end on the first day of class and at that time the waitlist will automatically fill any open seats based solely on the waitlist position.

What does this mean for declared EECS/CS/DS majors?

If you are a declared EECS/CS/DS major who intends to enroll in CS 168, you should use phase 1 units to give yourself the best chance of being enrolled.

As long as the reserve caps are in place, the system will skip waitlisted non-majors when filling any open seats. This means you are only competing against other waitlisted EECS/CS/DS/non-EECS majors for enrollment.

Although the reserve caps will remain in effect until the first day of classes, you will be competing with non-majors who have used phase 1 units to join the waitlist once the reserved seating ends.

What does this mean for CS minors?

While you will be given access to the waitlist for CS 168, you will not be given priority enrollment for these classes. CS minors are still encouraged to take classes during Summer Session when there are no enrollment restrictions.

Joining the waitlist during phase 1 will give you the best chance of enrollment when the reserve caps end on the first day of class but it does NOT guarantee you will be enrolled in the class. We will do our best, but we may not be able to enroll everyone from the waitlist due to budget constraints. Unfortunately, we will not be able to tell you what your chances are of being enrolled from the waitlist either.

If you have questions about the CS minor, you can visit this page.

What happens while the reserve caps are still in effect, if all the seats fill and already declared EECS/CS majors end up on the waitlist?

As soon as a seat becomes available, the waitlist will fill the seat based on when the declared major joined the waitlist. Within the pool of waitlisted, already-declared majors, prioritization is given based on when each joined the waitlist. (This information is not publicly visible unfortunately, and staff do not have time to run reports to tell each of you what your odds are of getting into the class - sorry!)

What happens if I am waitlisted and become a declared CS Major while the reserve caps are in effect?

Until CalCentral shows you are a CS Major, you will remain in the pool of waitlisted non-EECS/CS majors and aren’t eligible to be enrolled in any open seats until the reserve caps end.

Once CalCentral reflects your status as a CS Major, one of 2 things will happen:

If there are open seats, you will be enrolled into one of them.

If the class is full when CalCentral shows you as a CS Major, you will then be considered with other declared majors for enrollment when a seat opens up. If you joined the waitlist earlier than other declared majors, you will be considered before other already-declared majors on the waitlist.

For Example

An undeclared major joins the waitlist for CS 168 or CS 188 on April 15th and ends up in position 10 on the waitlist. The class fills up and already-declared majors join the waitlist before CalCentral shows the newly-declared student to be a CS Major.

In June, a seat opens up - what happens?

The system will give the newly declared student in position 10 on the WL priority over an already-declared student who joined the waitlist on April 30th.

The system only considers that both students are declared EECS/CS majors and it enrolls people within that group based on when someone joined the waitlist, not when they were declared.

Course staff is not in charge of enrollment. If you have questions about enrollment, please email cs-enrollments@eecs.berkeley.edu.

Q4: I plan to declare CS this semester. Can I enroll in the class after I declare?

If your declaration is processed in time, and the enrollment system lets you enroll in the class, we can let you enroll. However, it is your responsibility to keep up with the class before you enroll. We can give you access to all the assignments while you wait to enroll (see Q5 below).

Q5: I plan to declare and enroll later. Can I keep up with assignments before officially enroll?**

Yes, we can add you to the course Gradescope and Ed forum. To request access before unofficially enrolling, please email cs161@berkeley.edu. This is only for UC Berkeley students who are blocked from enrolling; it is not for concurrent enrollment students (see Q6 below for concurrent enrollment), and it is not for waitlisted students (see Q8 below for waitlisted students).

Q6: I’m a concurrent enrollment student. When can I enroll in the class?

The department processes concurrent enrollment applications, not us. Concurrent enrollment applications are scheduled to be processed in the first full week of the semester. Please check this page later for updates; we have no additional information at this time, so please do not email us about concurrent enrollment until this page is updated.

In past semesters, we have been able to accept all concurrent enrollment applications, but we cannot make any promises for this semester, so we recommend having a backup plan. We have no way to estimate the odds of your application being approved, so please don’t ask us. (If you ask us, you will just be redirected to this page.)

If you have a pending concurrent enrollment application, please do not email us asking to be added to bCourses (or Gradescope or Ed). We will automatically add all students with pending applications to the course. It can take 3–4 days for us to add you after you submit an application, so please be patient.

If you submit an application after the first batch is processed, see the later questions for getting added to the class (within 48 hours), and the policies for enrolling late. If your application is approved late, you can request extensions using the link on the website, so that the first few assignments are not counted late.

Being added to bCourses (and Gradescope and Ed) does not necessarily mean your application is approved; we are just adding you so that you can follow along while you wait.

Q7: Can I audit the class?

All course materials that we can share with auditors will be posted publicly on the course website.

On the policies page, there is a link to a public Gradescope class that you can join. We do not add auditors to bCourses, Gradescope, or Ed for the current semester. (There’s nothing on bCourses except lecture recordings, which are also posted on the course website.)

If you are auditing the course, you can physically sit in on lectures if you’d like, though you may be asked to leave if the lecture hall is at capacity.

Q8: I officially enrolled in the class, or filled out the form requesting to be enrolled, but I don’t have access to Gradescope/Ed.

We sync the rosters once a day, so you may need to wait a bit before being automatically added to the class. If you’ve been officially enrolled for 48 hours and haven’t been added, send an email to cs168@berkeley.edu. Please don’t ask us about being added until 48 hours have passed; we don’t have time to manually add each student.

Waitlisted students will be automatically added, just like enrolled students. If you join the waitlist, please follow the instructions in the paragraph above.

If you have access to the class on bCourses, you can try clicking on “Ed” and “Gradescope” in the sidebar, which might automatically add you. If this doesn’t work, then please wait for us to automatically sync the rosters to add you.

Exams

Q9: When are the exams?

The midterm is on Thursday, October 22, 2026, 7–9pm PT.

The final exam is on Wednesday, December 16, 2026, 8–11am PT. (Source: Registrar website.)

Q10: Can I take this class remotely? Do you offer remote exams?

We don’t take attendance at lecture or discussion, so you can follow the class remotely if you need to.

In this semester, we will not be offering remote exams. All students should plan to take exams in-person at the scheduled time.

Q11: Do you offer alternate time exams?

If you are unable to take the exam at the scheduled time, we will be offering only one alternate exam time, in-person only:

The alternate midterm time is Thursday, October 22, 2026, 9–11pm PT (right after the regular exam).

The alternate final exam time is Wednesday, December 16, 2026, 11am–2pm PT (we’ll give you a few minutes to walk between exams).

This page will be updated once the exam times are confirmed.

There are no other alternate exam times. There are no remote exams at alternate times.

Note (added Wed Aug 26): The enrollment system now allows time conflicts, so if you have one, the alternate-time exam is intended for you.

We are only offering the alternate exam time if you are unable to take the exam at the normal time. For example, if you have another exam at the same time, you can take the alternate-time exam. However, wanting a break between non-conflicting exams would not be a valid reason to take the alternate-time exam, because in this case you are able to take the exam at the normal time.

We’ll release a form closer to the exams for you to sign up for an alternate-time exam.

Prerequisites

Q12: Do you formally enforce prerequisites?

No. The enrollment system should not block you from enrolling or waitlisting if you haven’t taken the prerequisites (CS61B, CS61C). We will not drop students who haven’t taken the prerequisites.

Q13: Should I take this class without CS61B or equivalent?

CS61B is a prerequisite for understanding of basic data structures, familiarity with testing your own code, and familiarity with working on large codebases. We try our best to re-introduce any specific CS61B topics as they appear in class, so the actual content of CS61B is not a hard prerequisite.

If you can implement a linked list from scratch, and you’re comfortable testing your own code, and you’re comfortable working in a codebase with 500-1000 lines of code, then you’ve fulfilled the CS61B prerequisite.

Q14: How can I study for the class ahead of time?

CS168 course content doesn’t change substantially between semesters, so to study ahead, you can reference any past semester website for publicly-available resources. For example, here is the Summer 2026 website.

Joining Late

Q15: I need to miss the first few days of class. Is that okay?

We don’t take attendance, so it’s okay if you aren’t in-person for the first few weeks of class. You do not need to contact us about missing class. However, it is still your responsibility to keep up with the assignments.

Q16: Can I enroll in the class late?

If you plan on enrolling late, it is your responsibility to keep up with the class before you enroll.

If you enroll late, we will give you a grace period of 3 days after the day you enroll. After the 3 days are over, you should be fully caught up with the class (all assignments due up to that point should be submitted).

You can request extensions using the form on the website so that assignments submitted during this grace period are not counted late.

If you need more than 3 days to catch up, you can request extensions through the form, but we cannot guarantee that they will be approved. Please don’t email us asking about extensions - use the form on the website.

You can attend lectures and discussion sections before you are officially enrolled. The course website will publicly post any recordings, videos, and resources.