<p>So, for my school, we have quarter and semester grades but quarter grades do not count for GPA, class rank, go on our record, etc. It's basically like a progress report so lots of teachers don't input all their grades in, etc.</p>
<p>I had all A's except for one class, a 69 aka a D in math. My teacher was going to put in assignments in 2nd qtr, etc. so assuming, I would have a B at the end of the semester which is the grade that's supposed to count for my school. </p>
<p>how do I explain this to Duke? Do I get my counselor to write a letter, etc?
Will this hurt my ED chances?</p>
<p>So the 69 is the result of you not doing well in math the first quarter? Or the teacher not putting in assignments? Because that's somewhat important....</p>
<p>Both. I was absent the first two weeks of school and I was somewhat behind, and caught up workwise but didn't get to learn all the material that I missed=not so happy on test. I talked about this concern to my teacher but she said it would probably be fine by the end of 2nd qtr. as more assignments would be put in (she simply eliminated ones that I weren't there for) So, will an explanation with that grade be sufficient?</p>
<p>Are you sure this is going on the transcript that is going to Duke right now? My D's school doesn't have anything for senior year on the current transcript. Senior year grades won't be given to colleges until the mid-year report is sent in January. Can you order a transcript for yourself from your high school so you can see for sure what the college is getting? We had to pay a few dollars but my D requested a transcript for herself from her high school just to make sure all the information was correct.</p>
<p>actually, for Early Decision Applicants, Duke requires a first-quarter grade report. And yes you need some kind of letter/explanation to explain the D on your grade report.</p>
<p>Sometimes, schools will attach an explanation of their grading system along with transcripts sent to college. At least my school did as its GPA system used some peculiar weighting mechanism. Maybe you can ask your math teacher to write a letter of explanation then ask your school's secretary to include the letter along with the transcript packet. Otherwise, you can write a concise letter of explanation yourself and maybe include that as extra information along with your application.</p>