The waiver exams are designed for incoming students who have taken a C programming or circuits course at a community college and wish to receive transfer credit for UC San Diego ECE 15 or ECE 35. The purpose of these exams is to test a student's understanding of the material in these courses.

• Students who did not pass or received a W  in ECE 15 or ECE 35 at UC San Diego are NOT eligible to take the exam(s).
• Students are allowed only one chance to take the exams.
• The exams are offered only ONCE A YEAR during week 0 or 1 of the fall quarter, are OPTIONAL and there is NO FEE to take them.
• Students from California community colleges or 2 year universities/colleges, cannot submit a petition to get course equivalency for C programming or Circuits courses they completed at the community college or 2 year university/college. ECE 15 and ECE 35 must be taken at UC San Diego or waived by passing the exam(s).
• Students who completed a C programming or circuits course at an accredited 4-year university should submit a petition to get course equivalency to the ECE Department.
• Results will be e-mailed via the Virtual Advising Center (VAC).

EXAM	DATE	TIME	LOCATION	SIGN UP FORM
ECE 15	September 2025	TBA	Jacobs Hall 2315	Closed
ECE 35	September 2025	TBA	Jacobs Hall 2315	Closed

ECE 15 Waiver Exam:

ECE 15 Resource Website

Sample Question 1
Sample Question 2
Sample Question 3

If you are unable to answer or solve these questions, please take ECE 15.

ECE 35 Waiver Exam:

Sample Exam

If you are unable to answer or solve these questions, please take ECE 35.

UCSD Catalog Course Descriptions

ECE 15. Engineering Computation (4)

Students learn the C programming language with an emphasis on high-performance numerical computation. The commonality across programming languages of control structures, data structures, and I/O is also covered. Techniques for using MATLAB to graph the results of C computations are developed. Prerequisites: a familiarity with basic mathematics such as trigonometry functions and graphing is expected but this course assumes no prior programming knowledge.

ECE 35. Introduction to Analog Design (4)

Fundamental circuit theory concepts, Kirchoff's voltage and current laws, Thevenin's and Norton's theorems, loop and node analysis, time-varying signals, transient first order circuits, steady-state sinusoidal response. (Course material and/or program fees may apply.) Prerequisites: Math. 20A–B and PHYS 2A; Math. 20C and Physics 2B must be taken concurrently.

STUDENTS WHO PASS THE EXAM(S):

• must contact the ECE Undergraduate Advisors through the VAC (Virtual Advising Center) to enroll in courses that require ECE 15 or 35. Webreg will not recognize that students have passed a waiver exam. ECE 30 requires ECE 15. ECE 45 and 65 require ECE 35.

• will not receive a grade or units. The community college transfer course will also not be approximated or given equivalency to ECE 15 or ECE 35.

• will have a note on their degree audits indicating that the courses were waived (applies to ECE majors only).

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Should I enroll in ECE 15 or 35 if I'm planning to take the ECE Waiver Exams?

Yes, you should secure a seat in these courses in case you do not pass the waiver exams. If you do not pass the waiver exams, there is no guarantee seats will still be available in these courses after week 0.

Seats are filling up in ECE 45 and 65 in the fall. Can I enroll in ECE 45 and 65 before taking the ECE 35 Waiver Exam?

The ECE Department strictly enforces prerequisites in core ECE courses. Students must pass the ECE 35 Waiver Exam before they can enroll in ECE 45 and 65. A limited number of seats are saved in ECE 45 and 65 for students who pass the waiver exam.

When and how do I get my results?

Results are usually available a few days after the exam and sent to students through the Virtual Advising Center (VAC).

Is there an ECE 17 Waiver Exam?

The department has decided to discontinue the ECE 17 Waiver Exam.