Course Planning Basics (Part 1)

There are many pieces of information you need to know during the course planning process. In this entry, let's talk first about the graduation requirement for all students.

In British Columbia, under the current graduation program, a student must complete 80 course credits. For a linear school such as Templeton (i.e. where courses go from September to June), each course you are taking are worth four credits. This means, in total, you would need to complete 20 courses, required and electives, to qualify for graduation. The breakdown of these required credits go like this:

Required Credits

• Language Arts 10 - 12: 12 credits
• Social Studies 10 and 11 or equivalent: 8 credits
• Science 10 and 11: 8 credits
• Mathematics 10 and 11: 8 credits
• PE 10: 4 credits
• Planning 10: 4 credits
• Applied Skills or Fine Arts 10/11/12: 4 credits
• Graduation Transitions: 4 credits
  

Elective Credits

• Grade 10/11 Electives: 16 credits
• Grade 12 Credits: 12 credits

People are sometimes confused over how the elective credits can be calculated. Here are a few examples:

1. Student A has taken Food Studies 10 and Mechanics 10 in his grade 9 year. In this case, one of his courses can be used towards the applied skills/fine arts credit. The other course, subsequently, would be counted towards his grade 10/11 electives credit.
2. Student B is taking Biology 11 and Chemistry 11. In her case, one of these courses would count towards her science 11 required credits, while the other will count towards her grade 10/11 credits.
   
3. Student B went on to take Biology 12 and Chemistry 12 in her grade 12 year. In this case, because she has already fulfilled her science 11 requirement, both her courses would be counted towards her grade 12 elective credits.

One final, but very important note about graduation requirements: completing your graduation requirements does NOT mean you have met the basic admission requirements nor the program-specific admission requirements for post-secondary schools. I will talk more about admission requirements in my next entry.