SemiAcademy micro-credential
Quantum Computing Foundations
The first of three quantum computing micro-credentials. Qubits, gates and entanglement in Python with Qiskit-compatible circuits, with labs that run in your browser and an optional run on a real IBM quantum computer.
At a glance
- Time needed
- About 22 hours, at your own pace
- Level
- Beginner
- Who it is for
- Undergraduates in any STEM major, technicians and career changers with basic Python
- Prerequisites
- None
- Badge
- Quantum Computing Foundations digital badge
What you will be able to do
- Describe a qubit state with Dirac notation and on the Bloch sphere, and predict its measurement probabilities
- Write single- and two-qubit gates as matrices and verify them in code
- Build and recognize entangled states, and explain what entanglement does and does not allow
- Run a circuit on a simulator, interpret results from real quantum hardware, and explain how noise changes the results. Running your own circuit on a real quantum computer is an optional extension
- Implement Bernstein-Vazirani as a quantum circuit in Python and explain how it differs from a classical search for the hidden string
How the course is organized
- Start Here — Course Orientation
- Module 1 — From Bits to Qubits
- Module 2 — One Qubit
- Module 3 — Single-Qubit Gates
- Module 4 — Two Qubits and Entanglement
- Module 5 — Simulators and Real Hardware
- Module 6 — A First Quantum Algorithm
- Course Completion
How to earn the badge
- At least 8 of 10 on every lab check and at least 16 of 20 on every module quiz . Each score is required on its own, not as a combined module total: for example, 6 of 10 on a lab check with 18 of 20 on the quiz does not pass that module, and the next module stays locked.
- A course total of 90% or better, including the final quiz and the final coding task.
- The final quiz scored at least 16 of 20 (80%). Each attempt draws 20 questions from all six parts of the course, and your highest score counts.
- The final coding task (a three-qubit GHZ state) scored at least 8 of 10, which needs both the verification value and the explanation question correct.
- The Module 5 simulator run completed in the Module 5 lab (checked by its lab check). A run on a real quantum computer is optional.
- The post-course survey submitted.