Course Selection Process
Current Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors
The Most Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Putting in back up classes in computer course selection. Please only include these on your planning sheet for our reference if needed.
- Not putting enough classes or too many classes.
- Not paying attention to the course code and signing up for the wrong course. Be careful — many course numbers are very similar. For example, the difference between a zero hour and regular hour is one digit (-0) at the end.
- Be aware of the difference between economics (more challenging) and consumer economics, which is the standard course required for graduation.
Step One | Watch the course selection video
We have created an overview video of the planning and registration process for you. Watching this video is the first thing that you should do before considering which classes to select. It will show you how to log into Infinite Campus where you will see the classes teachers have recommended for you. You will need this information to complete your course selection worksheet.
Step Two | Make sure you can login to your Infinite Campus Student Portal
- You must be able to log into your own student portal (not parent) in order to register for your classes online.
- If you forget how to login to your portal, go to portal link on the SHS website under "find it fast" or go to www.syc427.org/portal. If you forgot your username, password, or both, click on the “I forgot….” link. This will send a recovery email to your school email unless you have already added a personal email to their account. You should check your email and follow the link from there to reset it. Please make sure that you are able to access your Campus Portal as soon as possible.
- Make sure that you choose a password that is 100% strong or it will not work.
- If your family has trouble accessing their account, they can send an email to communications@syc427.org.
Step Three | Understand your graduation requirements
In order to graduate from Sycamore High School, there are both credit and course requirements that must be met. For those students who wish to go directly to a four year university, there are often class requirements beyond what SHS requires for graduation. Click below to see requirements for high school graduation and for college admission:
Step Four | Map your courses (optional)
You are welcome to use the Four Year Planner to help guide you as you select courses. You can track the graduation requirements you have met and plan for those you need to take for each future school year. This form is for your own use — you do not need to submit this form.
Step Five | Fill out the paper course selection sheet
- Students will be given a course selection sheet that will be used to plan classes for next year. Login to your Infinite Campus portal (which opens on Tuesday, January 16) to see which classes have been recommended/locked by your teachers for English, math and possibly science. Write the locked recommendations on your sheet. These show up as "required" courses.
- If you have more than one locked class option for a subject, write the one that you want on your course selection sheet. You can contact your counselor to ask them to remove the other - but counselors will remove the one you don't list on your sheet when you hand it in. If you want to see if you can take an English or math course other than the one locked in your account, you will need to talk to your teacher about whether they would support a change in recommendation. Your teacher must contact your counselor to confirm this before there will be an online course change.
- The course selection process will only be complete once students return their complete course selection sheet to Sycamore High School and select courses in their Infinite Campus portal by Wednesday, January 31. Sheets must be turned into the SHS Counseling Office by this date along with any required forms.
- If you have an IEP, you will be completing this process with your case manager.
- Requested courses are NOT guaranteed to be in your schedule next year. The counseling department will work hard to meet your requests but these will be dependent on how your courses fit into your day based on the master schedule. Changes may need to be made to your course requests to allow your other classes to fit. This could mean changing from blended to non-blended class periods, brain break instead of FLEX 1 or FLEX 10, etc
- Meaning of Course Codes (pay close attention so that you pick the correct class)
- (1)= 1st semester
- (2)=2nd semester
- (1 Sem)=class is one semester long and can be put in either semester
- DC=Dual Credit
- B=Blended
- H=Honors
- 0=Zero Hour
- -1 or -2 (XXX-1 or XXX-2) Year-long courses are designated by the course code. You must select both courses to fulfill the year-long requirement.
- Study Halls (if desired) should be included in your course requests to complete your list of classes. However, study halls are not graded and do not provide credit to students. You cannot request a study hall for specific hours - including the end of the day. Freshmen and Sophomores should have a maximum of 1 study hall in their day.
- Senior Lounges - Seniors who want to request a senior lounge instead of a study hall must fill out a contract for Senior Lounge. All applications will be reviewed by SHS administration for approval and can be denied due to concerns listed below. Even if a student is initially granted permission to put these requests in their schedule, they can be removed if issues arise per the student handbook, “These incentives may be revoked when a student is not passing a class or has ANY disciplinary consequence, including tardies.” If a student is not granted permission or loses the privilege during a semester, a study hall will be put into their schedule instead.
- Juniors and Seniors requesting FLEX study halls should enter FLEX on line 1 (indicating 1st hour) or line 7 (indicating last hour) or 6 and 7 (indicating the last two periods of the day — you MUST be taking a Zero Hour class AND be enrolled in 6 courses to qualify for a double FLEX at the end of your day) Students should NOT be on campus during a FLEX hour. Juniors are only allowed 1 FLEX and must be taking 6 classes in order to ask for a FLEX. FLEX is a priviledge and all students must fill out a form if they are requesting a FLEX in their day. All applications will be reviewed by SHS administration for approval and can be denied due to concerns listed below. Even if a student is initially granted permission to put these requests in their schedule, they can be removed if issues arise per the student handbook, “These incentives may be revoked when a student is not passing a class or has ANY disciplinary consequence, including tardies.” If a student is not granted permission or loses the privilege during a semester, a study hall will be put into their schedule instead.
- KEC Classes – Please fill KEC classes on your planning sheet using 3 class periods. You will only select a KEC course one time per semester in the Campus Portal. See more information below about KEC including the required registration form (online link) and contract (paper).
- Designate (2) backup classes on the sheet below. Do NOT enter backups in the computer. These will be used if one or more of the 7 classes you picked does not not run or there is a conflict with your schedule. The classes listed on these lines are not guaranteed to be in your schedule next year. These classes could also move up into your schedule if you complete a class during the summer that was listed as one of your 7 classes.
- Please note that taking extra PE during your sophomore year DOES NOT exempt you from PE in future years. You must take PE every year in high school except when you have Health or Driver Ed.
- Course Catalog — the SHS course catalog provides information about prerequisites, course descriptions, credits, and more
- Summer School
- Help Scheduling Driver Education, Physical Education, and Health for Sophomores
- Dual Credit (DC) Courses — Kishwaukee College Credit on SHS Campus
- (KEC) Kishwaukee Education Consortium Registration (juniors and seniors only)
- Zero Hour Courses
- Forms Required for Specific Classes
- Teacher Assistant (seniors only)
- Physical Education Exemption (junior and senior two sport athletes)
- Physical Education Peer Educator (juniors and seniors)
- Academies (seniors)
- Early Permit Class (not Driver Education)
- Eligibility
- Audition-Based Courses
- Blended Learning
Summer School
Help Scheduling Driver Education, Physical Education, and Health for Sophomores
Dual Credit (DC) Courses — Kishwaukee College Credit on SHS Campus
(KEC) Kishwaukee Education Consortium Registration (juniors and seniors only)
Zero Hour Courses
Forms Required for Specific Classes
Teacher Assistant (seniors only)
Physical Education Exemption (junior and senior two sport athletes)
Physical Education Peer Educator (juniors and seniors)
Academies (seniors)
Early Permit Class (not Driver Education)
Eligibility
Audition-Based Courses
Blended Learning
Step Six | Sign up for your courses online (in your Infinite Campus Portal)
- When the Infinite Campus portal opens on Wednesday, January 17, students will receive an email providing detailed information about how to correctly complete this important process of choosing your classes.
- When you log into Infinite Campus, choose "More" in the menu on the left and then choose "Course Registration." DO NOT choose Online Registration — you will receive a message that it is closed. (See the graphic below.)
- Make sure that you look closely at the course code designations because these will help you identify what type of class it is (honors, zero hour, dual credit, etc)
- Meaning of Course Codes (pay close attention so that you pick the correct class)
- (1) = 1st semester
- (2) = 2nd semester
- (1 Sem) = class is one semester long and can be put in either semester
- DC=Dual Credit
- B=Blended
- H=Honors
- 0=Zero Hour
- -1 or -2 (XXX-1 or XXX-2) Year-long courses are designated by the course code. You must select both courses to fulfill the year-long requirement.
- Students will be given a course selection sheet that will be used to plan classes for next year. Login to your Infinite Campus portal to see which classes have been recommended/locked by your teachers for English, math and possibly science. Write the locked recommendations on your sheet.
- If you have more than one locked class option for a subject, write the one that you want on your course selection sheet. You can contact your counselor to ask them to remove the other - but counselors will remove the one you don't list on your sheet when you hand it in. If you want to see if you can take an English or math course other than the one locked in your account, you will need to talk to your teacher about whether they would support a change in recommendation. Your teacher must contact your counselor to confirm this before there will be an online course change.
- The course selection process will only be complete once students return their complete course selection sheet to Sycamore High School and select courses in their Infinite Campus portal by Wednesday, January 31. Sheets must be returned to the SHS Counseling Office by this date.
- There is NO “save” button when requesting classes — it will automatically save your choices.
- There is not a set number of “units” that must be registered for when you look at the percent complete at the top of your course request page in Infinite Campus. Just be sure you have all the required classes and other desired electives. You must have a minimum of 5 classes each semester.