<p>I don’t think in this case, as in most case, that it will make a bit of difference. As an 8th grader, it makes no difference at all for most anything. Did he miss a cut off for a specific program that an additional .03 in GPA would open up for him, and that is a program he really wants? That is the only possible reason i would do this.</p>
<p>My son did not get into the top level of courses for freshman year of high school. He was very sick when he took the placement tests and really should not have sat for them, but he did, and just missed the cut offs for the honors courses. I insisted that he get a retake on the math, as he did have Algebra and he missed the cut off not to retake it by 1 point, and he handily passed it (with distinction) on the retest. I suspect he would have done well enough to be in the honors courses fro everything, but in looking at the situation, I did not think it was worth it. He got a 4.0 freshman year which most of the honors kids did not, and is doing well sophomore year moved up into the honors track. I think things worked out just fine, in that case. If there were a true issue or differential, I would have looked at it differently. So unless there is something truly at issue, at stake, I would not bother with the summer school. Time will come soon enough when this sort of gauntlet needs to be run.</p>