<p>Both my kids are in the sciences and they’ve both had to retake a class.
While it is true that to major in the sciences you need to start with your major pre-reqs freshman year, it is also true that college is a huge transition from high school, and many students take too many credits to manage freshman year.
It’s important to get the foundation down, rather than just checking off the class. Sometimes auditing a difficult class first can be a good idea before you take it for credit, or if you need to withdraw, to still attend class so you can get what you can out of it.</p>