<p>Last year, my junior year, I took Honors Algebra II. Although English is my best subject, I'm fairly good at math as well (I was even on Math Team the year before and have a slew of ribbons to show for it). By chance, I got my school's bitter department head as a math teacher. He has a school-wide reputation for being the most difficult math teacher and for failing the most students. Even those who excel at math struggle to maintain Bs and Cs in his class. I studied for my first semester final for 10 hours and got a 34%. I talked to my counselor and was able to switch into the same course but with a different teacher. My grade second semester rose to a B, but my first semester GPA and class rank suffered (as a result I couldn't join National Honors Society even though I had straight As in all of my other classes). Since I knew junior grades were the most important, I decided to retake first semester of the same course over the summer at a nearby high school. I finished with something like a 104% and my summer school teacher asked how I even ended up in his class.</p>
<p>Now, this is my high school's course retake policy copy and pasted directly from our 2009 program of studies: "Students may retake any course. The original course will appear on the transcript with a grade of 'R.' The GPA will be determined by using the grade from the most recent course. Duplicate credit will not be issued."</p>
<p>Since I received a much higher grade in the course, I expect my GPA/class rank to recover. Now, when colleges look at my transcript, what will they think of that R? Did anybody else have a problem like this and still get into the college of their choice? I'm worried they'll infer that I failed the course... but even if they did, would they appreciate that I retook it and received a much higher grade?</p>
<p>On a related note, I got a 28 on my math ACT (31 overall) and plan on retaking it... will this redeem me in the eyes of my colleges? I'm also taking the math I SAT subject test... will all of that help?</p>
<p>I am in the same situation. I took Alg 2 Hons as a freshman, but halfway through I was hospitalized with the flu and missed three weeks of school. My grade in that class suffered (I received a D), and I retook the class and got an A. Honestly, as long as you have a justifiable reason for why you received that poor grade in the first place and your GPA isn’t affected, I don’t see any reason why it would hurt you.</p>
<p>You may want to expand upon this in the extra information category. Just make sure it doesn’t sound like you’re making excuses or anything/mention it gracefully.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Would it sound bad if I talked about how I was very involved in my school’s theatre production at the time (because we were participating in Illinois Theatrefest)? Or would that just make it seem like I can’t handle both extra-curriculars and academics?</p>
<p>I would NOT mention that personally because it does sound exactly like that even though that was not that case =(</p>
<p>On a transcript otherwise populated by A’s I wouldn’t give another thought to a single R in a class you ultimately got yet another A in. The A you ended up with combined with your 28 math ACT and a decent subject test tell enough of a story to ignore the R IMO. I would suggest you take the math II subject test, however, because my understanding is that it covers material through Algebra II; taking math I might actually raise a flag, IMO.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t mention it unless they ask. The “R” doesn’t look nearly as bad as an “F,” and there are many legitimate reasons for retaking a class. The A+ looks good, too. If they do ask, explain that the teacher used skewed grading and failed most of the students, even those who worked very hard like you. It really shouldn’t affect your overall application and I doubt you’ll get many questions about it.</p>
<p>Schmoomcgoo: I considered taking the math II, but I’ve read that it’s much harder/different than the math I… my math score on the PSAT was something like a 600, so I wouldn’t expect to do well on a subject tests of greater difficulty. :/</p>