Well, just took finals and now I failed geometry semester 2. I ended up with a 57% and don’t know how because I put in a lot of effort and tears and I just will never understand geometry. Now I have to go to summer school, my parents are furious with me and I feel so hopeless. This is my first F ever, failing has never been an option for me. Will I still be able to go to a decent college or university? I can’t even believe this, I feel as though this is a nightmare and I can’t wake up. Any advice? All of my other grades are good except this one. I don’t even know what to do right now, I even tried asking if I could retake anything. I feel so stupid when I know I’m not. Will I still make it in life, how bad will this affect me?
Oh, you poor thing. High school is so stressful. If you retake geometry in summer school and get a passing grade, will your school take the F off your transcript? Can your parents pay for a tutor to give you one-on-one help over the summer?
In any case, one terrible grade won’t keep you from getting into a decent college or university. There are literally thousands of colleges and universities in this country, lots of which are “decent.” Keep working hard and getting good grades in your other classes, and you will be just fine.
Take solace in the fact that it’s not uncommon for someone who is good in other kinds of math (statistics, algebra, trigonometry) to just not “get” geometry, and vice versa. My daughter was the former. I was the latter. Our brains are just wired differently. Don’t give up. See what happens in summer school. You wouldn’t be the first one who had a little hitch on the path to college.
I failed algebra and got a D in geometry. I eventually passed algebra and went to college. Math is not and has never been my thing, but I excel in language arts. You probably excel in soemthing too. One failed class is not going to derail your future. Retake, get a tutor or go for extra help, scrape by with whatever grade you can get, and go to college. You will be fine, trust me. I have a nice life, a great hubby, kids, pets. Your life will not be hopeless. Okay? Now please cheer up and think positively. After this summer, you never have to do geometry again, ever! Be happy about it:-)
I was in a similar situation. I struggled with Geometry and eventually passed with a C and was proud of that! The part of the brain that deals with geometry just wasn’t well-developed for me. However, I went on to graduate from two UCs. It is not impossible to go a good college. At least in summer school you will only have to focus on this one class.
Can you take it on line or do you have to actually attend?
@lostaccount unfortunately I have to attend but part of its online too
You can make it through this. I like math well enough, however I cannot stand geometry. Two of my friends failed a semester of geometry, but they still graduated on time and got into college. I just want to let you know that you are not alone.
Retaking a class is not the end of the world and you will be able to get into college. And as Lindagaf said, after this summer you won’t have to think about it again!
My S who is generally very good with math (and is a CPA today) really struggled with geometry. I suggest you try to get a tutor (can even be a student who did well in the class) help you from the very start of the summer class. Agreed, that once you make it through geometry you never had to deal with another proof again!
@GeneralNeel and @happy1 thanks for the advice! I can’t wait to do better get it over with. My mom has brought up the idea of getting a tutor.
Does anyone know, So if I got an F and lets say I retake it and get a B or an A, will the F still show up on my transcript? Will the new grade count towards my GPA and replace the old one?
How each school treats redone courses will be a school policy thing you have to ask your guidance counselor.
If you don’t want to ask your guidance counselor you can access the school’s “Student Handbook”. Most public schools and some private schools have them on line. Sometimes they are simply listed on the home page but other times you have to hunt them down-look for things like “resources” or such. Also, if that does not work you might simply google “Your High School Name” and “Student Handbook”. If that fails, you can see if it is explained on the school’s “School Profile”. That is a report that is sent with your transcript to colleges to explain your high school’s grading system, spread etc. The “School Profile” is often available on your schools website. If so, it will also be on the home page and/or in the section called “counseling” or " guidence Counseling" or “college prep” or some such.
- Talk to your guidance counselor to see if your school has a grade replacement policy. Also be sure he/she knows that you are upset with what transpired and that you are planning to learn from it and remedy things as best you can with the summer course.
- Since your mom seems willing, I’d suggest you get a tutor from the very start of the summer course. This will help you to stay on top of things from the start. No matter how well you might be doing, keep the tutor throughout the course.
- Going forward, if you are ever struggling with a course at any school (HS, college, grad school…), don’t keep snuggling along and doing poorly. Talk to the teacher. talk to your parents and try to be pro-active in getting a tutor, getting extra help, switching levels of the class if necessary etc. Use this as a lesson that can help you as you move forward in life.
One F in a transcript with otherwise good grades, followed by better performance in a makeup course, can be explained as needed and you’ll be fine. A pattern would be a different issue, but don’t worry about this one glitch. Just demonstrate that you can learn from it.
One thing to note is that most of the advice you are receiving is a form of math - hence math’s importance. For example: don’t go off the deep end of hopelessness given that your grades will average out; one bad grade in a string of good grades is an outlier that is of lesser significance; a second attempt with more time and energy applied will almost certainly result in a better performance. Often, students who aren’t very good at math are not very good at the mental math that goes into a coping strategy for ameliorating a problem - and then sometimes make a problem worse.
It sounds like you are doing a good job taking advice and quickly developing a good plan of attack (other than hopelessness). That is much better math.