Understanding Course Codes

The code always starts with 3 alphabetic letters. This is typically an abbreviation of the Faculty/Graduate unit that is offering the course. For example, all Information courses start with “INF”; all Museum Studies courses start with “MSL”; computer science courses start with CSC; all math courses start with MAT. To explore courses offered by other units at the University of Toronto, you may be interested in taking a look at the University of Toronto Programs of Study directory, or for graduate students, you may wish to more specifically peruse the Graduate unit directory on the SGS website.

The 3 alphabets are typically followed by 3 or 4 numerical digits. If there are 3 digits (e.g. INF123), that means it is an undergraduate level course. If there are 4 digits (e.g. INF1234), that means it is a graduate level course. You need to choose courses that at the level of study you are in. Our Master level courses typically starts with 1000 or 2000. Our Doctoral level courses typically start with 3000 and above.

The numbers are followed by either a H or Y. This refers to the credit value of the course.

• “H” means this is not a full-credit course. It could mean 0.25-, 0.5-, or 0.75-credit. It does typically refer to 0.5-credit in most cases. If otherwise, it will be often stated whether it is 0.25-credit or 0.75-credit instead.
• “Y” means this is a 1.0-credit course.

The H or Y is followed by a “F”, “S” or “Y”. This refers to the section code: the section in which the course is offered.

• F refers to the first section. In the regular academic year (Fall and Winter), that will represent the course is going from September to December. If offered during the Summer, that means the course will occur from May to June.
• S refers to the second section. In the regular academic year (Fall and Winter), that will represent the course is going from January to April. If offered during the Summer, that means the course will occur from July to August.
• Y refers to the full section. In the regular academic year (Fall and Winter), that will represent the course is going from September to April next year. In the Summer, that will represent the class will go from May to August.

INF1234H Y refers to a graduate-level, 0.5-credit course offered by the Faculty of Information. It is offered for the entire Summer Term (May-August).

INF1567H S refers to a graduate-level, 0.5-credit course, offered by the Faculty of Information. The course is offered for the second Summer subsection (July-August).

INF345H F refers to an undergraduate-level, 0.5-credit course, offered by the Faculty of Information. The course is offered for the first Summer subsection (May-June)