There are a lot of meanings of the term “PDF.” The classic Portable Document Format consistently makes me happy because it’s usually books and articles I’d otherwise have to buy. Apparently, it also stands for Pretty Damn Funky, which sounds like something only middle-aged dads say, and the Panamanian Defense Force, which is good to know in case World War III goes super weirdly.

But there’s one PDF to rule them all: Pass/D/Fail, a grading option you can request for one class each semester. This is important because it means you can insulate your GPA from that surprisingly hard elective you decided to take, and you have until Friday, February 1st at 9 pm to “uncover” the grade, which puts the letter grade back on your transcript as if you never decided to PDF the class. As a note, if you leave a “Pass” grade covered, most departments will not let it count toward your major, so read up on the department website! The same goes for the Core and for many language classes.

Anyway, here’s how to do it if you haven’t yet (click on the images for a zoomed-in view):

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

And there you have it! Enjoy your slightly less stressful semester!

Screenshots via SSOL and my poor Preview annotation skills