What TEAM Students Need to Know About KINE

Kinesiology courses are important at A&M; the Core Curriculum includes two credit hours of Kinesiology:  KINE 198 (1 hour) and KINE 199 (1 hour).  There is a lot to know about these two small courses, and now is the time you need to understand it.

Students enjoy taking KINE 198 and 199 as part of the 15 A&M credit hours needed to satisfy the TEAM automatic admission criteria.  KINE courses serve as ideal “second courses” to compliment your one A&M academic course each semester.  Adding a “second course” to accompany your required three or four hour academic course is prudent.  If you had to Q-Drop your academic course, and it was the only course on your A&M schedule, you would actually have to withdraw from the university.  However, if  KINE 198 or 199 were also on your schedule you’d still be an enrolled A&M student after the Q-Drop.

KINE 198:

• KINE 198 is called “Health & Fitness Activity.” Part of the course includes graded academic content (think “health class”), and part of it involves participation in a physical fitness activity such as a sport or aerobic exercise.
• When you register for KINE 198, by default you are taking it for a letter grade (A, B, etc.).   This is because the course includes graded academic content.
• You have the option of changing the grade type to pass/fall (“S/U”) up to the 60^th class day of the semester if you think it would be to your benefit.  For example, if you were not going to make an A or B you could change the grade type to S/U and your GPA would not suffer (unless you received an unsatisfactory grade).
• Students may take KINE 198 only once while at A&M.
• Blinn does not offer a course equivalent to KINE 198; you’ll have to take this one at A&M.

KINE 199:

• KINE 199 is called “Required Physical Activity.”  It does not include any academic content but may involve mastery of basic rules and/or fundamentals of a sport (i.e., Running, Snow Skiing, Tennis, etc.).
• When you register for KINE 199 the default grade type is satisfactory/unsatisfactory (S/U).  This is because the university faculty doesn’t think you should be able to raise your GPA by skiing, dancing, bowling, etc.
• If a student’s grade would have been a D (if taken for a letter grade), the student will receive an unsatisfactory grade (U), which has the same effect on the GPA as making an F.
• You need to perform at C level or better to pass and receive a satisfactory grade (S).  A satisfactory grade will not be used in your GPA calculation.
• Students may take KINE 199 as many times as desired, but at least one of them must be taken on a S/U basis to satisfy the Core Curriculum requirement.  For example, members of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band take a KINE 199 course every semester.  Only one of these needs to be on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis to satisfy the Core Curriculum.
• Much of your grade in KINE 199 is based on attendance.  Go to class!  These should be easy grade points to earn.
• It is recommended that you take KINE 199 at A&M where you will have a wider range of activity choices.  The Blinn equivalent course is PHED 1100 (1101, etc.).

Changing your KINE grade type:

Students have the ability to change the grade type for either/both KINE courses.  This is done through Howdy, under the My Record Tab, in the My Schedule box:

Student Rule 10.11 states:  “…All requests for KINE 198 and KINE 199 changes must be accomplished on or before the Q-drop deadline for the fall, spring or summer semester.”   The last day to change your KINE grade type this semester is November 15.

Why would I want to change my grade type?

Example 1:  If you can earn an A in KINE 199, it might be worth changing your grade type from S/U to a letter grade.  For example, if you are also taking HIST 105 and make a C, your GPA would be:

HIST 105              C

KINE 199              S

GPA = 2.0

If you made an “A” in KINE 199 to go with your C in HIST, your GPA would be:

HIST 105             C

KINE 199             A

GPA = 2.5

NOTES:  If you take KINE 199 for a letter grade it will affect your GPA but will not count toward the Core Curriculum requirement because the course doesn’t contain academic content.  You’ll either have to take another KINE 199 on a S/U basis in the future, or meet with your academic advisor at some future point to convert your letter grade into an S. (This does not work both ways– a letter grade of A or B may be converted into an S, but an S posted on your transcript can NOT be converted into a letter grade!)

Example 2:  If you are taking KINE 198 for a letter grade and realize the best you can do is make a C, you might want to change the grade type to S/U:

HIST 105               B

KINE 198               C

GPA = 2.75

HIST 105              B

KINE 198              S

GPA = 3.0

Q-Dropping a KINE Course:

If you need to drop a KINE course, you must see your advisor and initiate a Q-Drop.  Student rule 1.16.4 states:  “Q-drops in one-hour courses [including KINE 198 & 199] will not count in the Texas A&M limit of four but will be included in the State-mandated limit of six dropped courses.”  Don’t let a KINE course damage your GPA!