Fundamental Skills
As part of the general education program, all students are required to be competent in three fundamental skills at entrance: reading, writing and quantitative analysis. Students may demonstrate competence in these skills in one of three ways: 1) completion of approved, college-level courses at an accredited college or university; 2) satisfactory performance on an approved, nationally administered examination; or 3) satisfactory performance on examinations given at Pacific during new student orientation or shortly thereafter.
Students can meet these fundamental skills by taking course work to improve their skills as follows:
- To show competency in quantitative analysis (math), students must successfully complete MATH 5 (Intermediate Algebra) or MATH 35 (Statistics) with a grade of C- or better, or complete an equivalent course from another accredited college or university with a grade of C or better during the first full year of study including summer sessions.
- To show competency in writing, students must successfully complete WRIT 21 (Writing for College) with a grade of C- or better or complete an equivalent course from another accredited college or university with a grade of C or better during the first full year of study including summer sessions.
- To show competency in reading, students must successfully complete READ 31 (Reading for College) with a grade of C- or better during the first full year of study including summer sessions.
- Successful completion of course work in quantitative analysis, writing and reading at Pacific requires a grade of C- or better. Course work taken in quantitative analysis or writing at another college or university requires a grade of C or better and must be approved in advance.
- Failure to make progress toward fulfilling Pacific's basic skills requirements during the first year of study will be grounds for being placed on academic probation. Failure to satisfy the basic skills requirements (as summarized in the three points above) by the end of four semesters of full-time study at the University will be grounds for academic disqualification.
- Students with documented disabilities that directly affect their mastery of these skills or students concurrently enrolled in an approved English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) Program of instruction in reading and writing may seek a written extension of the deadline for demonstrating competence.
- The quantitative analysis (math), writing, and reading requirements must be met before a student graduates with a bachelor’s degree or a first professional degree.