6.1903 updates beginning Fall 2026
Starting in the Fall 2026, “Introduction to C and Assembly” 6.1903 will be offered every semester but it will run for the full semester. 6.1904 will no longer be offered since it is the same class and only needed to be distinguished from 6.1903 when run in the same semester.
Why are we making this change?
6.1900 (aka 6.1903, 6.1904, 6.0004) is a 6 unit course which is a prerequisite for 6.1910. Since it is a 6 unit course, it was initially designed to run over a half semester. Due to staffing constraints, it was run twice in the spring semester and not at all in the fall semester. Running it twice in one term enabled us to run each iteration with no more than 300 students which is the maximum that the lab space can handle. With 6.1903 completing by the middle of 6.1910, it was also possible to treat 6.1903 as a co-requisite for 6.1910 so students could take both classes in a single spring semester. Unfortunately, this led to 96% of students registering for the course preferring to take 6.1903 instead of 6.1904 and thus made the registration pressure for the two half semester classes extremely uneven and required us to run a lottery every semester to determine who could take 6.1903.
To address this, we have decided to run 6.1903 once but every semester. It will continue to be a 6 unit course but will now be spaced out over the entire semester This will enable students to better understand the material being taught and ultimately be better prepared for more advanced courses.
Running the course every semester will remove the need to hold a lottery to determine who gets into 6.1903 vs 6.1904. It will also allow 6.1903 to only be used as a prerequisite to 6.1910 and no longer serve as a co-requisite. This will result in students taking the two courses in different semesters which was the original intent and should lead to better learning outcomes. We hope that regular registration will not surpass 300 students per semester so that everyone can take the class when they register for it.
The other advantage of running the class at half speed is that it enables us to test students both in the middle of the term and at the end so that students have multiple opportunities to show their mastery of the material rather than just a single chance.
Why is this change happening in the Fall of 2026?
Making this course change in Fall of 2026 should enable a minimal number of MIT students’ degree progress to deviate from what they planned. If they were planning to take 6.191 in fall of 2026 they would need to be taking either 6.1903 or 6.1904 in this current semester regardless. If they were planning to take 6.191 in Spring of 2027, they can now either take 6.1904 this term or take 6.1903 in Fall of 2026.