I’m a sophomore student at a larger local high school (about 2,000-3,000 kids in the building at one time) and I’ve been a receiver of straight A’s up until I took this class. I first considered dropping the class after flunking the first few tests, but decided to get help and ask questions during class. No matter what, I will most likely be receiving a C or C+ as my final semester grade (my school weighs these classes higher so on my record it will show this weighted score as a B+). I have received straight A’s in all my other classes, so will this make colleges bat an eye when they get ahold of my transcript?
It won’t help. Is this just the first semester, or are you on a block schedule where this is the one-and-only final grade for the class?
If it isn’t the end, revisit this thread for some helpful advice:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/2026961-what-to-do-when-you-arent-doing-well-in-a-hs-class.html#latest
Are you saying that it will appear on your transcript only as a B+ and that colleges won’t see the C at all?
Not completely sure. Does the weighted or the unweighted GPA go on the transcript sent to college? If the weighted GPA goes on the application, then it will show a B+.
It is the first semester of the class, and I appreciate the link to the article. Ironically, I viewed that discussion post a few months ago back when I was doing poorly in the class. Despite the rough start, I have started to get better grades, but it is hard to come back from bad test grades with high points tacked on it.
You need to ask your GC exactly what colleges will see from the transcript your highschool sends to them. Most high schools have a format that they send to colleges that is not what you ordinarily get. It differs from school to school do you need to find out directly from the guidance counselor.
For colleges, Some schools only show final year end grades for courses. No quarterly breakdowns or even semester, no exam grades. Exceptions being semester long classes, first term senior year grades that Colleges want and if you switch from one course to another after a semester.
At my kids’ school, only unweighted grades show in the transcripts both to students and colleges. The weighted Gpa is given next to the UW. Only year end grades show up to the colleges at the end of each year unless the course is only a semester.
In my kids’ scenarios , dropping that C course would turn it into a semester course and it would then show up as a unweighted C. This is the case even if they switched to a regular Algebra course. Two different courses so two different grades would show in the transcript to colleges. If they stayed in the Honors course and brought the grade up to a B or A for year end average, colleges would never see the C and it t would not be computed in GPAs at all
My son had a 4.0 UW GPA and his highschool transcript to colleges showed zero courses with anything other than an A. Even though he did NOT in reality get straight As every single quarter. He had Bs sprinkled in there, certainly B+s and A-s , maybe even B-s. I’m sure some of his final exams showed such grades. But all the colleges saw were the year end grades which were averaged by his high school’s formula that included first semesters, second semester and the two semester finals to get that final grade. His weighted and UW gpa were given on the transcript. Class rank only given if specifically needed and requested and that was calculated with semester, maybe even quarter grades, I believe. I have no idea how school picked valedictorian which was grade point based , but no clue how the grades were picked. He was not the Val or Sal despite 4.0 gpa and very high weighted grade point as well that were both on college sent transcript. Other kids had better grades in semester breakdown basis.
So you need to talk to your GC so you know exactly what colleges will see from your school. It’s not that simple because high schools vary in this regard.
One C isn’t going to make a difference. What is important, and what it sounds like you’re doing, is to improve your study skills. This class has done you a favor by revealing an area that needs improvement while you’re only in 10th grade. Classes will get progressively harder in HS and college.
One book you might want to read over the holidays is “Make it Stick” which goes over what is known about learning with lots of tips for HS and college students.
I agree with you. I was already starting to get progressively better in the class, but a bunch of C’s on tests at the beginning of the year make it hard to bring up my grade, even with B’s and A’s on the recent tests.
Thank for the input! I am currently in the process of trying to get ahold of my counselor to see if I can get a meeting scheduled for when we come back from winter break (we let out yesterday). I have two B’s, a C, and the rest A’s for my final semester grades so there is still hope for me in terms of making myself stand out from other college applicants. It is only tenth grade, luckily.