91泡芙

Undergraduate Degree Requirements

Students admitted to the University beginning in the fall 2006 term must meet writing, quantitative, and breadth requirements as part of any degree program they may undertake.

Writing, Quantitative, and Breadth Requirements

All students completing an undergraduate degree program must complete a total of 36 units of courses designated as meeting writing, quantitative, or breadth requirements with a grade of C- or better.

Writing Requirements

Courses with a “W” designation are writing intensive, and will assist students to learn the course content through the process of writing assignments. These courses will help students to improve their writing abilities and overall communication skills.

Writing-designated courses have the letter “W” in their title, and are also identified at the end of the course description, just after the prerequisite information. For example (italics added):

• CRIM 300W-3 Current Theories... Criminology
  A detailed examination of current theories... Prerequisite: CRIM 101. Writing.

Students must achieve a grade of C- or better in a W course to obtain the W credit.

Lower Division W Requirement

• one lower division W course (3 units or more)

Students are advised to complete their first W course within their first 60 units of a degree program.

Students transferring from a BC college with 60 units should complete a transferable W course prior to admission to 91泡芙; alternatively they may enrol in an upper division W course at the University as soon as possible after admission.

Upper Division W Requirements

• one upper division W course, normally in the major subject (3 units or more)

The upper division W course must be completed at 91泡芙.

For a list of W courses, see

Quantitative Requirements

Quantitative-designated courses, also known as “Q” courses, will assist students to develop quantitative (numerical, geometric) or formal (deductive, probabilistic) reasoning, and to develop skills in practical problem solving, critical evaluation, or analysis.

Q courses are identified by the word “Quantitative” at the end of the course description, just after the prerequisite information. For example (italics added):

• BUS 251-3 Financial Accounting I
  An introduction to financial accounting... Prerequisite: 12 units. Quantitative.

Students must achieve a grade of C- or better in Q courses to obtain the Q credit.

Lower/Upper Division Q Requirements

• two Q courses, lower or upper division (total 6 units or more)

Students are advised to complete their first Q course within their first 60 units of a degree program.

Students transferring to 91泡芙 from a BC college with 60 units are recommended to complete a transferable Q course prior to admission to Simon Fraser University, or to enrol in a Q course at 91泡芙 as soon as possible after admission.

For a list of Q courses, see

Breadth Requirements

Breadth courses, also known as “B” courses, will expose students to concepts and ideas from a range of disciplines and perspectives, and will offer students an opportunity to examine and assess their values, beliefs and commitments.

B-designated courses are identified at the end of the course description by the words Breadth-humanities (B-Hum), Breadth-Social sciences (B-Soc), or Breadth-science (B-Sci) just after the prerequisite information. For example (italics added):

• CMNS 110-3 Introduction to Communication...
  An introduction to selected theories about human... communication. Breadth-Social sciences

Students complete a total of 24 units of breadth courses, and must achieve a grade of C- or better in B courses to obtain the B credit.

Six Designated Breadth Courses

Students may complete designated breadth courses outside their major throughout their degree programs, but are advised to complete them as early as possible in their program.

Breadth-humanities

• two courses labelled as Breadth-humanities
  (B-Hum, 6 units)

Breadth-science

• two courses labelled as Breadth-science
  (B-Sci, 6 units)

Breadth-Social science

• two courses labelled as Breadth-Social sciences
  (B-Soc, 6 units)

Two Additional Breadth Courses

• two courses outside the student's major program
  (undesignated, 6 units)

These additional courses may or may not be designated as breadth, and in most cases will fulfil the particular faculty or program breadth requirements. The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences requires two further breadth courses (see “Writing, Quantitative, and Breadth Requirements”).

Only courses outside of the student’s major may count as breadth. For example, a student majoring in engineering science will not be able to count ENSC 100 as one of their B-Sci requirements. Similarly, students majoring in English will not be able to count ENGL 101 as one of their B-Hum requirements.

For a list of B courses, see

Multiple W, Q, and B Designations

Some courses may fulfil more than one requirement. For instance, a course may count as both Q and B, or W and B, or W and Q, or W, Q and B, and students will receive all designation credit. No course, however, may fulfil two B requirements. Some courses may have multiple B designations (such as B-Soc and B-Hum), but students must decide which designation of a course to use in order to fulfil their requirements. For example, when completing Archaeology 232, a student must decide if they are completing this course to fulfil B-Hum or B-Soc, even though the course will appear on the transcript with both labels.

Students who change degree programs may need to re-visit any breadth designations they have previously chosen in light of their new program requirements.

Foundations Courses

The content of W and Q courses presumes that students have met a basic competency standard. Two Foundations courses are available to students who are not ready for W and/or Q courses:

• Foundations of Academic Literacy (FAL), and
• Foundations of Analytical and Quantitative Reasoning (FAN)

Students will be advised at admission if they are required to enrol in one of both of these courses.

Students required to enrol in one or both of these courses must complete the course(s) within their first three terms at 91泡芙 (normally 45 units). A grade of C or better is required to progress from FAL into W courses or FAN into Q courses. Students may attempt these courses no more than twice. If the required grade of C is not achieved in two attempts or within three enrolled terms at the University, students will be blocked from enrolling in further course work at Simon Fraser University until competency in English and Math are demonstrated.

This competency can be demonstrated by:

• retaking English 12 or high school Math, or
• achieving a score of 4 on the essay section of the LPI (with a minimum of 50% on each of the subsections for English competency), or
• achieving a score of 20 out of 30 on the 91泡芙 Q placement test (if the student has not completed this test earlier) for mathematics competency, or
• by enrolling in transferable college courses (see “Admission from British Columbia and Yukon Secondary Schools”).

Students transferring to 91泡芙 with 60 units are recommended to enrol as soon as possible in FAL or FAN if they are required to complete one or both of these courses.

Foundations of Academic Literacy (FAL X99)

This course introduces students to the kinds of reading and writing they will encounter in lower-division courses across university disciplines. (See “Foundations of Academic Literacy FAL” within the Course Catalogue section of this Calendar.)

Units earned in FAL X99 are additive, and do not count towards the total units required for a degree. The grade received in FAL X99 is included in calculation of the cumulative grade point average. Students must receive a C or better in this course to proceed to a W course. Students may attempt this course twice.

Foundations of Analytical and Quantitative Reasoning (FAN X99)

This course is for students who need to upgrade their quantitative background in preparation for Q courses, or for those who wish to refresh their skills after several years away from mathematics. (See “Foundations of Analytical and Quantitative Reasoning FAN” within the Course Catalogue section of this Calendar.)

Units earned in FAN X99 are additive, and do not count towards the total units required for a degree. The grade received in FAN X99 is included in calculation of the cumulative grade point average. Students must receive a C or better in this course to proceed to a Q course. Students may attempt this course twice.

Free Q placement testing is also available. For information on the Quantitative Placement Test, visit and look for the Q Test link. Students who receive a pass on this test may bypass FAN X99 and may enrol directly in a Q course.

Special WQB Requirements

Joint or Double Majors, Honors and Extended Minors

Students completing joint or double majors and honors, or two extended minors, will not be required to complete double W, Q, and B requirements. W, Q, and B designated courses in either one or both disciplines of the major, honors or minor programs may be used to satisfy the writing, quantitative and breadth requirements. Undesignated breadth requirements can also be met within the two disciplines. For example, a student completing a double major in English and Physics may count B-science designated Physics courses as B-science, and B-humanities designated English courses as B-humanities, W designated English for the lower and upper division W requirement, and Q designated Physics courses toward the Q requirement.

Second Degrees

Students admitted to a second degree program are deemed to have met all of the breadth requirements (designated and undesignated), three units of the Q requirements, and the lower division W requirement. (The remaining W and Q courses must be three units each. The W course must be upper division.) See “Second Bachelor’s Degrees”.

WQB Transfer Credit from College

BC college courses that transfer to Simon Fraser University courses for credit and are certified as W, Q and B will be labelled as W, Q and B on the student’s 91泡芙 record. Please review the BC Transfer Guide () to determine if transferable courses receive designations.

Students transferring to 91泡芙 from BC colleges are recommended to complete some Q and B courses at the college level, and a lower division W course if available.

Students transferring to 91泡芙 from all other universities, or from colleges outside of BC, may have their transfer credit reviewed for WQB designations. Transfer courses must have been completed from September 2004 onward. Courses completed prior to September 2004 will not be reviewed for WQB designation.