if you fail a course (ie get a 49 or lower) do you still get the units? Sorry if this is dumb, just the fact that a 0-grade point for a class is still calculated into our CA makes me think that a person would still receive the units for the course. However, everything on the web is unclear.

Yes, you will get all units added to your total, thus lowering your average.

thank you so much! I really just did not want to have to take anymore first year courses beyond first year!

Originally Posted by loverofwisdom

thank you so much! I really just did not want to have to take anymore first year courses beyond first year!

What??? NO! You think you can fail a course and it counts towards your degree????????? Our high school education system is fully regressed... All GeorgeLucas said was that it goes on your degree that you failed a course. By your subsequent logic, do you realize that you wouldn't ever have to pass a University course if all you needed was a record that you took it?

Just to be clear - the units get added to your total when calculating your average, however you do NOT get the credit for the course. It does not count towards the 30 units of first-year courses that you need (or whatever the number happens to be for your program) and if you need the course as a prerequisite and you failed it, then you won't have the prerequisite.
Otherwise anybody could just register for courses, fail half of them and as long as the overall average is enough not to get kicked out, they could advance. That makes no sense. Obviously if you fail a course, it doesn't count as having "passed" and you didn't earn those credits. At the same time, it has to count towards your overall average, otherwise getting a 1 would be worse for your average than failing, which also makes no sense.