So, as stated in the title, I’m a sophomore in high school.
The semester ends in a few days and I majorly screwed myself over in Spanish with ONE assignment.
It was a conjugation table, and I was stupid enough to think that we didn’t have to fill out the entire thing.
My teacher graded it and it dropped me from a B to a F+. I was absolutely devastated.
She won’t let me do it over for half credit because she’s “given me enough chances already” (I’ve never asked to make up an assignment in the past.)
I somehow managed to do well on a test and that brought my grade up to a middle D.
If I can ace my final and turn in all of my review worksheets, it’ll bring me up to a 69.5%, which is still a D+, and I don’t really count on her rounding it up.
I also have a C in Honors Math II due to my teacher having a stupidly strict grading system where you can still get an F if you get all of the answers correct.(Yes, I know how whiny I sound.)
I really want to go to UCLA, and this worries me.
I’ve gotten straight A’s and two B’s (in Math Honors) each semester back in freshman year.
How bad is this gonna hurt my chances?
I’m freaking out about this. I was almost at the finish line, and somehow managed to trip.
If I manage to get straight A’s for the rest of High school, will colleges notice this?
Will I need to go to summer school for this if I do manage to get straight A’s for the rest of my tenure in High School?
You’re not going to get straight A’s the rest of HS. Lots of kids say that, “what if I get all A’s from now on?” but while its easy to have a rosy view of the future and how hard you’ll work, the reality is its more likely to look like what you’ve done today then a miraculous change to a model student.
Which brings up another point. ** You seem to have a real problem with teachers and since you don’t even see it then it isn’t going to change.**
Let me explain.
In Spanish the teacher said she’s “given me enough chances already” and yet you don’t even understand what she means by this. Did you try asking her what chances you’ve been given? It may be literally true that you’ve never asked to make up an assignment in the past but its hard to believe a teacher would say this to a kid that had never asked for exceptions to be made for several other things in the past.
Now it is possible this is one strange Spanish teacher, but in yet another paragraph you give a clue she may not be off her rocker. You talk about your math teacher’s “strict grading system”. Couple of things here. First, in college you have to show your work. The right answer is not the point, the answer is in the Teacher’s Guidebook. The point is to see you show the work to get to it. Point two is you have known about this policy the entire school year. Maybe it was a surprise on the first quiz but it isn’t now. Yet you stubbornly refuse to change to the rules. You’re sure showing that teacher you’re no pushover, right?
As for summer school, it’s up to you. The UC system allows you to replace grades of D or lower by retaking the class. Otherwise the original grade is part of your GPA. Up to you whether you want that or not. You probably want to check whether or not you’re going to satisfy the language requirement with the D on your record; if you don’t you are automatically inelegible for UCs.
What have your other grades been Freshman year besides the Math grades noted? If you get a D or F in any a-g course you will need to repeat that course or that grade will be included in your UC GPA. UC’s only use grades from 10-11th grades in their GPA calculation but will review grades from 9-11th to make sure you meet a-g course requirements.
UC’s also allow grade validation for Foreign Language and Math, meaning if you do not pass either of these courses, by taking a higher level of FL or Math and passing, you validate your non-passing grades. Caveat is that if you do not repeat the specific courses, then your non-passing grades are included in the GPA calculation.
UCLA is a top UC and they reject applicants with perfect 4.0’s. As stated in the above post, you need to figure why you are having issues (even if teacher related) and how you can overcome them to get a decent grade in these classes. Meet with your teachers and ask for help. Find a tutor and volunteer for extra credit.
Best of luck and do not worry about any colleges at this point. Just worry about doing well the next few years in HS.