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Graduate Sooner. Pay a Lot Less.

Gradical checks your degree requirements against transfer credits and credit-by-exam opportunities to build a term-by-term plan.

Build it yourself in the planner, have it built with you in a one-hour session, or learn the method from our guides.

Start planning free

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Two students walk through an open doorway under a sign that reads Enter to Learn.
Bethune-Cookman College. Students entering classes.Gordon Parks, February 1943. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI.

Fall 202615 units

Mathematics 1A. Calculus. (4) Fall, Spring. Starts the longest chain.Transfers

English 1A. Composition. (3) Every term.

Chemistry 1A. General Chemistry. (5) Fall. Counts at some campuses.Check

History 17A. United States History. (3) Fall.

Units toward transfer24 of 60

24 complete 15 planned 21 open

Illustrative sample plan.

An illustrative sample plan. Yours starts with your school.

How It Works

Three steps from a list of courses to a plan with a graduation date.

  1. 1. Chart against real requirements

    Search your school and its course catalog and degree requirements load into the plan. If your school isn't covered yet, type your courses in.

  2. 2. Lay out your terms

    Put each course in the term you'll take it and set the credits your degree requires. Credits remaining and cost update as you go.

  3. 3. Shorten the plan

    The longest prerequisite chain sets your graduation date. Start it early, then use exams, summer and online sections to collapse terms.

Open the planner

Course catalogs from 900+ colleges in all 50 statesDegree requirements wherever we have themEvery guide cited to primary sources

Bachelor's Graduates Average About 134 Credits for a 120-Credit Degree1

And 49.1% of first-time, full-time bachelor's students finish in four years.2

Three things set how long it takes and what it costs.

The longest prerequisite chain sets your graduation date.

Prerequisite chain: six courses, six termsSix boxes stacked one per term, joined by arrows: MATH 221 Calculus I, MATH 231 Calculus II, MATH 241 Calculus III, MATH 285 Intro Differential Equations, ME 310 Fluid Dynamics, ME 320 Heat Transfer. A placement gate (ALEKS PPL score of 80 percent) sits before term 1. A red dimension line spans the chain: 6 terms.The Math-and-Mechanics SpineMechanical engineering, Illinois, 2026–27 catalogTerm 0Placement gate:ALEKS PPL scoreof 80 percentMATH 221Calculus ITerm 1MATH 231Calculus IITerm 2MATH 241Calculus IIITerm 3MATH 285Intro Differential EquationsTerm 4ME 310Fluid DynamicsTerm 5ME 320Heat TransferTerm 6A summer sectionhere makes itfive terms.Or MATH 441,which itselfneeds MATH 241.ME 320 alsotakes TAM 335in its place.The capstonecomes after.6termsFig. 1. A six-course chain takes six termseven if you carry 18 credits a term.Source: University of Illinois catalog, 2026–27
Map your prerequisite chain

The same requirement can cost roughly twenty times as much.

One three-unit course, two pricesTwo hatched columns on a dollar ruler from $0 to $3,000. California community college: $138 ($46 per unit, 2026–27). Cal State Northridge: $2,726 (Fall 2026, part-time). A red bracket marks the gap: roughly twenty times the price.One Three-Unit Course, Two PricesTuition and fees for the same courseDollars$0$500$1,000$1,500$2,000$2,500$3,000$138$2,726Roughlytwenty timesthe priceCaliforniacommunitycollegeCal StateNorthridge$46 per unitFall 2026,part-time2026–27Fig. 2. Under an articulation agreement, the$138 course and the $2,726 course satisfythe identical degree requirement.
How transfer credit works

Credit by exam is capped, from 90 credits down to none.

Caps on credit by examA scale from 0 to 120 credits with four bars drawn as map-scale blocks of 10. Thomas Edison State University: 90 credits. University of Arizona: 60 units. CSU Chico: 30 semester units, excluding AP and IB. University of California: zero, marked in red; no CLEP or DSST credit at any campus.Caps on Credit by ExamMaximum credit by exam toward a bachelor’s degree0306090120Thomas Edison State University90 creditsCombined: CLEP, DSST, AP, ACE-reviewedUniversity of Arizona60 unitsCombined exam creditCSU Chico30 semester unitsExternal exams, excluding AP and IBUniversity of CaliforniaZeroNo CLEP or DSST credit at any campusEach block, 10 semester creditsFig. 3. Every institution writes its owncredit-by-exam policy.
How testing out works

Where Are You Starting?

The same method works at every stage. This is degree planning, not admissions coaching.

Students reading at long tables in a college library reading room.
In the library at Iowa State College. Ames, Iowa.Jack Delano, May 1942. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI.

  • High-school students and parents

    Dual credit, AP, and CLEP can put a semester or more of college behind a student before graduation. We make sure it's credit the eventual degree will actually use.

    How testing out works

  • Community college students

    Know before you enroll that a class counts toward your major at the school you're transferring to, not just that it transfers.

    How transfer credit works

  • University students and returning adults

    Find the longest prerequisite chain left in your requirements and what shortens it, or find out what your old credits still count for.

    Map your prerequisite chain

Plan It Yourself, or Have It Built With You

Start with the planner and the guides. Pay only for the parts that take real research.

Planner

$0

For anyone laying out their own degree.

  • Term-by-term plan, saved in your browser
  • Credits remaining and cost as you go
  • Course catalog and degree requirements for schools we cover
  • Prerequisite-chain coaching and the full guide library
Open the planner

Membership Opens soon

$20 a month

For doing it yourself, with the specifics filled in.

  • Coach: which courses to test out of, and with which exam
  • Coach: summer and online sections that shorten your plan
  • Full CLEP prep catalog
Get notified when it opens

Join the list and you'll hear as soon as it opens.

Planning session

$100 once

For a plan built with you, from your transcript.

  • 15-minute intro call to see if it fits
  • 60-minute working session, live on video
  • Written degree plan, source-cited
  • Email follow-up on the plan
Start with an intro call
Or book the $100 session

Built by Someone Who Did It

Every session is run by Gradical's founder, Ryan Brodsky.

Ryan Brodsky, Gradical's founder

Ryan Brodsky

Gradical's founder

Ryan earned 67 college credits before starting at the University of Illinois and finished a bachelor's there in two years. Two years at Illinois now cost an in-state student about $73,900 (university estimate, 2025-26). Ryan later worked as Implementation Manager at DualEnroll.com, on the institutional side of dual-credit programs.

We publish the entire method, with every claim cited to primary sources. The guides are the same analysis we run in planning sessions.

Read the method first

The Gradical Guides

Research-backed and cited to primary sources: statutes, system offices, federal data, and official catalogs.

All 12 guides

Plan Your Whole Degree, Term by Term

Lay out every term, and watch credits remaining and cost update as you go.

Start your plan

Rather talk it through? Book a 15-minute intro call