So I’m a junior that has taken all honors and APs, with my lowest grade so far being an 86. However I’m taking all AP classes this semester, with a 63 in AP Calculus AB. The rest of my AP classes are either high B’s or A’s. I would like to get into Clemson of UofSC Nursing, but the 63 will really drop my GPA and look bad on my transcript. I don’t expect it to go up too much. I’m genuinely trying my hardest in the class, aswell. How would that affect my chances of Clemson nursing acceptance if I have a 1330 on the SAT (probably gonna go up soon), good extracurriculars, and legacy status???
might also be important to notice that clemson tends to take a lot of applicants from my school
Do you have semester grades or just full year? Nursing acceptance is nothing like acceptance in something else at Clemson. Anything that reduces your GPA hurts. I don’t know if anyone can answer if that grade would be a “poison pill”.
Just full year. We’re on a block schedule (4 classes a semester) so our “semesters” are truly only a quarter. Heard the second quarter is far, far easier but even then I could only get a low B overall. I’m hoping the weighted GPA boost from the other APs will balance out, but I haven’t been able to visit Clemson or ask anybody yet.
I have a 4.68 weighted and 3.77 unweighted right now so I really don’t want it to drop.
Have you done everything possible? Ex. see the teacher after school, use online resources (ex Khan Academy), get a tutor Can you drop to a non-AP level of calculus?
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Roger that.
I was flunking chemistry halfway through the semester as a freshman in college. Got a tutor (who was wonderful) who explained everything to me in easy-to-understand terms, got As on the final two tests of the semester, and an A+ on the final, replacing one of my failed exams. I got an A as the final grade.
DO NOT GIVE UP!
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I go every morning to his class, do all the sections on Khan and go to tutoring twice a week. I’ve tried to drop to calc honors but my school in particular really doesn’t let you do that. My grades have improved a bit since I’ve started doing that, but at this point if I got a 100 next semester I could still only get an 80 overall. Definitely gonna keep trying!! Teacher seems to fail almost everyone… including our supposed-to-be valedictorian.
An 80 is a heck of a lot better than a 63! I would put all your focus on this class and your other classes.
Hopefully, you’ll be coming back in a few months asking about your chances at Clemson Nursing with an 80! Best of luck, and without sounding trite, you can do it (and it sounds like you are already on that road).
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Tutoring is a very good suggestion. Definitely effective for calculus in particular…the topic lends itself to one-on-one teaching for the purpose of overcoming specific obstacles.
ETA: by someone other than the teacher (I was assuming your twice a week tutoring was with the teacher).
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Right now I actually do tutoring almost every morning with my teacher and twice a week with another tutor! A test before the tutor was a 18%… and after a week of the tutor my last test grade was a 87%.
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Keep up with the tutoring! It’s helping!!
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That is great progress! For some kids it helps a lot to have someone there to answer questions or explain it in another way.
But I think you’re going to find that a key is doing lots of practice problems (what they call in the learning biz “self-testing”). It’s a real key from learning research to success in tough classes. Some kids spend time copying over their notes or rereading the chapter but while the hours can roll by the return is small. Instead you need to actually try to produce the same things you’ll need to do on the tests. A great resource is the Calculus Problem Solver by REA you can get inexpensively on Amazon. It’s like a SAT review book for Calculus with thousands of worked problems. An hour a nite and I think your difficulties will be behind you. They have similar books for many academic subjects.
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Is the 63 included with the curve or without the curve or does your HS not curve AP’s?
See if you can drop the class and take a class through DE or similar over the summer as cover. Or, do your best and crush the AP exam. That can help. Your GPA won’t be that bad going in even with a C in that course.
Bit of an update!! Finished that last quarter with a 69, but will be finishing this quarter with an 89 
and a 100 on the final will make my final grade in the class a B
Also have a 1410 on the SAT now! No longer too worried about acceptance to Clemson…
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ultimately I did not get accepted into Clemson nursing or my second major (health sciences), but I was offered a spot in the non-capped majors.
could be a worse decision but I’m going to USC anyway so it all worked out
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You got into USC, but not Clemson?
Ah, I see University of South Carolina! Congratulations on college and calc!
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