repeating course - askastudent

admissions, applying for U of T, grades, repeating course

am i helpful or am i delusional

June 28, 2024
Hello, I am planning on going into life science (or biochemistry, health sciences) and I am currently stressing about my grade 11 grades, I am going to end up with a low 80 in chemistry and advance functions. I have decided to redo these courses over the summer (aiming to get 90s). Will universities care about me redoing 2 grade 11 courses? Will my chances of getting into the program be better vs me not redoing it at all?

hey there,

that sounds like a stressful situation! when i was in high school, i remember being confused about how much my grade 11 marks mattered for university admissions too.

but now, i know all the secrets about admissions. jk not really, but in the process of answering questions, i’ve spent hours perusing U of T websites and have cross-referenced everything they officially release. weird flex sure, but it means i can help you.

so tune in while i take some really confusing information and present it to you in a slightly less confusing way. (i hope? y’all would tell me if i wasn’t making sense right)
1. how your high school marks matter in admissions
at U of T, all applicants are considered based on their top six academic grade 12 courses. the marks of these courses are used to calculate your admission average.

meanwhile, when you apply to U of T, you’ll apply to one of six admission categories. these are basically just a way that the university sorts all applicants, because, well, when you’ve got 340 something programs, it can get complicated. instead, there are just general admission requirements in six different categories. to get into the life science admission category, you have to take two pre-requisite courses: english 12 and calculus 12. as pre-requisite courses, those are going to have to be included in the six grade 12 courses that determine your average.

so what does that mean for you? well, that means your grade 11 marks shouldn’t be the make-or-break factor, and they’re generally considered alongside your grade 12 marks. eg. if your grade 11 courses are low, you can have your application re-considered using your grade 12 marks when they come out. according to the general admission requirements website, grade 11 marks are mostly considered in pre-requisite courses for early or conditional offers of admission. (note that chemistry is not included in your pre-req list!)

the way i understand it is that the balance of your grade 11 and grade 12 marks really just depends on the space the program has, and how soon your grade 12 marks in pre-requisite courses come out.

i hope that all makes sense, it’s a bit of a complicated process to understand and nothing is clear-cut. but it really helps to know all this when making your decision.

2. repeated courses

meanwhile, does UofT care about repeated courses? officially, the site on admission decisions says that “while we recognize that there may be valid reasons for repeating a course, we urge you to do as well as possible on your first attempt. in some instances, repeated courses will not be accepted for competitive admission categories”.

wow, that was sO clarifying of them.

but yeah, this doesn’t really tell you that much. i believe life sciences lands kind of in the middle of the spectrum for competitiveness — it’s harder to get into than social sciences and humanities, though it’s not as bad as computer science or rotman. personally, i think it might be fine to repeat courses if they’re grade 11 courses, since grade 12 courses seem to matter more. but if you do repeat them, just make sure that you disclose the repeated courses in your application.

anyway. that’s it from me. i hope this helped, convoluted as it was. good luck with everything, i’m rooting for you!

over and out,

aska
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admissions, commerce, repeating course, UTM

a grand total of one fact

March 16, 2024

Hello!

I applied for UTM Commerce but the problem is that I retook one of my grade 12 courses. I checked the program details and it says that they use the higher of the two marks when calculating my average but reserve the right to treat applicants who did the course in one go with preference. I was just wondering how much retaking a course will weigh against me and what the chances of getting into the course are (My average currently is in the range that they look for)

hey there,

i don’t blame you for being confused (this implies i sometimes blame people for being confused). if i was in your situation, i would have the same question. but honestly, it’s really hard to say. u of t doesn’t have a specific statement on this, and i hate to say it, but it makes sense. things change every year, since the chances of getting in all depends on the number of applicants and how brutal the competition is. there’s really no way to make an exact projection of your chances.

i think that it would depend on which of your grade 12 courses you repeated. according to utm’s admissions page, you need six grade 12 courses, including english, advanced functions, and calculus & vectors. if it was one of those three courses, i’m sure they would matter more than if you repeated a random grade 12 course. if a repeated course even matters for admissions. it is so unclear.

i know my answer is not much better than what u of t websites officially say, but that’s because i honestly just don’t have insider knowledge on utm commerce first-year admissions. i’m a student, not a recruitment officer. but i do have an identity crisis about this every time i answer an admissions question!

i did find some info about upper-year program admissions, which might give you a feel for the competitiveness. on the undergrad programs FAQ page, they say that they receive about 600 applications for the commerce program and accept around 300 students. i’d say those are pretty good odds, at a 50% acceptance rate! for reference, the management program accepts 60 students out of 300 applications. the competition is pretty bad in that one.

keep in mind that i’m talking about the acceptance process that happens when everyone applies to their POSt (program of study) after first year. so this is not about first-year admissions, where you are at right now. it’s just meant to give us an idea of the numbers. overall, we’ve learned that commerce is less competitive than management, and that many more students get accepted into commerce.

i’m working with crumbs here, guys. it’s just that the 3D world is holding me back from unleashing my omniscient powers today, or something.

then we finally come to the one and only concrete fact we’ve really got about your chances. the admissions site says that the approximate competitive average for first-year commerce admissions is in the mid 80s. so if your average is in that range, i think you should be fine. but keep in mind the site says “meeting these minimum requirements does not guarantee you admission to the university”. again, this is because “admission is subject to space availability and competition”.

anyways, sorry i couldn’t be more helpful. i recommend checking out my previous answer about retaking grade 12 courses, and reaching out to a utm recruiter. if you want to know specific details, definitely please reach out to a recruiter. good luck with everything! i think you will do great.

over and out,

aska

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admissions, repeating course

why so ambiguous

March 15, 2024

Hi. I am retaking MH4U1 (12 Advanced Functions) and SCH4U1 (12 Chemistry) in private school. I already got a conditional offer from UTSC in neuroscience, but was wondering if it hamper the decision later on? UofT websites are not that clear on repeating courses.

hey there,

yay, congrats on getting an offer!

you know, this is such a fair question. i looked on u of t websites, and i agree, they really are not clear on how repeating a course might impact your admission offer. it’s almost like they’re trying to be ambiguous (they probably are, idk).

all that the utsc admissions page says is: “while we recognize that there may be valid reasons for repeating a course, in general we urge you to do as well as possible on your first attempt”. and then the arts & sciences admissions page just really clears things up with: “in some instances, repeated courses will not be accepted for competitive admission categories”.

i mean, yeah… wouldn’t it be nice if they elaborated a bit? well, while we can’t fix the lack of communication skills, we can go through a couple different scenarios here:

if you disclosed the repeated courses on your application, there shouldn’t be an issue. since you’ve already received a conditional offer of admission, all you can do at this point is to meet the conditions on that offer. but if you had specific questions about your offer or the conditions, you should definitely reach out to the utsc recruitment team.

meanwhile, if you didn’t disclose the repeats on your application and were admitted based on your first attempts, it probably is still not an issue. the only scenario where you might have a problem is if you are repeating a course and didn’t disclose an earlier, lower grade on your application. you honestly might still be okay if you fall into this camp, but i really recommend reaching out to the utsc recruitment team to clarify. *points at you* i know we’re scared of human interaction, but you can do it!

over and out,

aska

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failing, prereqs, repeating course

prereqs do be wrecking

December 19, 2023

desperately need some help. i kinda did really bad in 3/5 of my courses. i passed my bird courses but the 3/5 that I’m pretty sure I failed….kinda need them. I’m taking the part 2 of those classes next quarter. and I’m taking extra required courses in the summer….what do I do…

i saw this thing on reddit that the part 2 of classes, I might be kicked out if I did bad first semester. do I take those courses again second semester? can’t I take those in the summer…or do I take my part two classes next year. I’m scared for my life I’m sorry for the long question

hey there,

first of all, do not be sorry, my dude. this is not a long question at all.

just to be clear on the situation: you may have failed courses that you need as prerequisites for your classes next quarter and over the summer?

what i’d do is double-check if there’s a certain grade threshold you need to meet in these courses to fulfill your prerequisite requirements. if there isn’t a grade threshold, you don’t need to worry about being kicked out for doing poorly in those prerequisite classes. you just need to make sure you pass the courses.

if there is a grade threshold you need to meet and you don’t meet it, or if you fail the courses, then you unfortunately won’t be able to take the “part 2” courses you have scheduled, nor will you be able to take anything else that has the same prerequisites. the likelihood is that someone in the department will check whether you have the prereqs at some point in the semester, and if they find out that you don’t have them, you can be removed from those courses at any time.

so if you don’t fill your prerequisites this semester, it may be best to focus on filling them next semester, and taking your “part 2” courses in the summer instead.

also, remember not to trust everything on reddit! it’s a good starting point but we see well-meaning misinformation on there all the time. the best thing to do is usually to hit up your registrar. it’s definitely best to ask them what to do since they help people in your exact situation all the time.

i hope everything turns out okay, sending love and encouragement! this sounds really stressful too, so if you ever need extra support, here is a resource that might be helpful.

over and out,

aska

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prereqs, repeating course

the sky’s the limit! and by “sky”, i mean “second time”

June 7, 2023

Do extra repeated courses count as prerequisites for a course?

hi there,

ah, a short, sweet, and simple question. i like it. i like you.

yes. according to the academic calendar’s policy, you are able to repeat a previously passed course to meet a prerequisite.

here are some things to note about extra repeated courses: first, they don’t count towards degree credit or your GPA, and you are only allowed to repeat the course one time — you won’t get a third try at it. also, you have to request to enrol in one at your college registrar’s office. and finally, if you reaally want to make sure that it would be counted, you could check with the department that’s requiring the prerequisites by emailing them.

over and out,

aska

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admissions, prospective student, repeating course

second chances: technically possible, probably hard

March 5, 2023

So I failes my advanced functions class and I am retaking it. Am I still gonna get accepted if I have a repeat? I know that Rotman does not count MHF4U but how about Scarborough and Mississauga. Will they accept?

hello hello,

so from the utm, utsc, and utsg admissions websites it looks like all of them have the same somewhat vague stance against repeated courses, which is basically that generally they’ll allow it but “urge you to do as well as possible on your first attempt” (and that’s word for word on all three sites — a lot of repetition there, ironically).

Mr Bean Copy GIFfrom Mr Bean GIFs

so while a repeated course won’t take you out of the running, it’ll probably be an uphill battle especially for more competitive programs, and students without repeated courses might be given greater preference. to be honest it’ll be really important to try and ace the course this time around to show that ultimately you can do well (yeah i know, no pressure or anything…)

utm was also kind enough to specify that they’ll only take the highest grades of the repeated courses, but the others weren’t as clear, so as with many admissions-related things, it’s kind of a black box.

Wnyx News Radio GIFfrom Wnyx GIFs

you could also apply for special consideration if you have proof of any extenuating circumstances that affected the first time you took the course. no, i’m not gonna link all that for all three campuses but i promise it’s out there and it’s a thing. google is your best friend 😉

oh also, interestingly, rotman allows repeated courses too, though i was under the impression that they didn’t for some time. like all the others, they also “urge you to do well on your first attempt” and all that, and they do prefer candidates without repeated courses. but as you mentioned they don’t require advanced functions, just calculus and vectors, so hopefully that all goes well in case you’re interested in applying.

best of luck,

aska

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current student, dropping courses, repeating course

third time’s the charm

March 10, 2022

Hello! I have an urgent question, I am currently on my 3rd year of study and one of my courses I need to take to graduate needs a first year prerequisite which I took back in my first year and got a very low mark and dropped it, now I’m taking it again I am failing it again, can I drop it again and retake it during the summer of 2022 after I had taken a refresher course for it? Or will that show up in my transcript now because I have dropped it twice?

hello there!

to my knowledge, you should be able to drop the course and take it again in the summer. there are limits for retaking courses that you have already completed, e.g. to get a better mark, but as far as i know, if you’ve just dropped the course both times without completing it, whether it be a normal withdrawal or late withdrawal, that shouldn’t have any impact on enrolling in it again in the future.

Its All Good No Worries GIFfrom Its All Good GIFs

fyi, the deadline to withdraw from winter session courses is coming very very soon on march 14th (4 more days!), so hope this gets to you in time! after that you can also apply for late withdrawals or cr/ncr on winter and year-long courses until april 8th.

hope this helps! if you have any other questions, definitely reach out or try booking an appointment with your registrar, who can provide more advice specific to your situation.

best wishes,

aska

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economics, extra courses, repeating course

ECO102 is that course for you, huh?

June 6, 2020
Hi there, I took ECO102 in my first year and did LWD as I was unsure about University policies at the time… For my second year I was doing part-time job and did ECO102 but got a 50%. I am thinking of doing economics as a major as I am not much of a fan of others except for politics and geography. I am doing ECO102 but realize doing MAT235 with this course is a bit much for me, I dropped ECO102 before the drop date. Am I now allowed to not take ECO102 again? Do you have answers?

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hey,

to my understanding, you should be able to take ECO102 again, yes! you meet all the necessary criteria in the rules and regulations for retaking a course:
- you obtained credit for ECO102 only once (when you got 50%)
- AND you need to achieve a minimum mark in ECO102 for entry into the economics major
if you do take ECO102 again, it may be important to note that you won’t receive a record on your transcript for it beyond the notation “EXT.” in other words, the course will be counted as an extra course: the course won’t be counted towards your 20 credits required to graduate, and the final grade will not make it to your permanent academic record/will not be calculated into your CGPA.

if you’re ever unsure about uNiVeRsiTy PoLiCieS again, feel free to reach out to me or contact your friendly ol’ registrar’s office. i hope this helped and that you have a solid saturday night!

be Boundless,

aska
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repeating course

third time’s the charm… unless there is no third time i guess

September 9, 2019

I have taken mgm101 2 times already in the year of 2015-2016 first time I passed but with not a high enough mark and second time I left the school without dropping the course which obviously resulted in a fail. Recently Im trying again is there a way to take mgm101 again? I need it for the program I want to do

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hi there,

i looked into this for you, and unfortunately, it does seem like you won’t be allowed to repeat the course. according to the rules and regulations, it seems like you can only repeat a course you already passed once.

not sure what you can necessarily do in this situation, though you’re not alone in it– i have seen it before. i just dunno what the fix is– you may need to consider another program, or consider transferring to a different school to take a similar program. i would recommend that you talk your options over with your registrar, just cos they’ll have fuller access to your academic record and maybe be able to make more specific recommendations.

sorry i can’t be more helpful, dude. best of luck.

be Boundless,

aska

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graduation, repeating course

one more then we out

April 27, 2019
Hi there, I’m almost near graduating but I seemed to have messed up quite a bit. I was taking a course that would have counted towards my program requirement and because I was going through a lot at the time i chose to cr/ncr the course so my lack of focus on it wouldn’t hurt me too bad. however it seems that i need to retake this course to fulfill my program requirements. can i retake the course for it to count towards my program?

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hello friend,

retaking the course shouldn’t be a problem! the artsci rules and regulations allow you to retake a course you already have credit for in the following cases:
- if you need it as a prereq for a course in your program
- if you need it to get into POSt
BUT if you need to take a course for any other reason, you can do so up to 1.0 FCE. they’ll mark that course as extra on your transcript. this loophole applies as long as you haven’t previously retaken that specific course, so assuming you’re not a chronic repeater you should be fine. you’ll want to get in touch with your registrar so they can approve your request to repeat, and just confirm that it’ll count towards your program (but as far as i know you’re fine).

really hope this helped and best of luck meeting your grad requirements! you gots this.

cheers,

aska
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arts & sciences, courses, CR/NCR, credits, enrollment, enrolment, GPA, prereqs, repeating course

we love a good second chance

February 18, 2019

Hey, so I wanted to know if you can retake a course you “no credited”? I want to major in sociology but I took only SOC102, LWD SOC103, and NCR SOC150 ( first 2 yrs were tough) There’s only certain combinations allowed and my only hope really is if I’m allowed to try SOC150 again. Any advice?!

Thanks!

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hi there,

did some digging for ya, and i’m not gonna lie– initially, it looked like it was gonna be bad news. as far as the artsci website says, you shouldn’t ever cr/ncr a course if there’s even a remote chance you’ll need it for program enrolment. the implication being, you don’t have many options if you’ve already done so.

HOWEVER. i read through half of the faculty of arts and sciences rules and regulations to see if i could find you a loophole, and it looks like there might actually be one.

apparently if you’ve already passed a course, you’re not allowed to retake it; that includes courses you’ve passed with ‘CR’. but under the ‘repeating passed courses’ section, the rules allow for a single repeat of a course to achieve the minimum entry mark for a program like soc. this retake won’t count towards your gpa or graduation requirements, but it will be on your academic record.

either way, what’s important in your case is that yes, you are able to give SOC150 another shot!

in order to make it happen, you’ll need to get in contact with your college registrar. they’ll be able to give you further advice as well as enrol you in the course (from what i’ve read, i don’t think you can enrol in it yourself). i believe you’ll have lower priority to get in than students taking the course for the first time, but don’t let that stop you from going after this.

best of luck,

aska

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academic success, extra courses, repeating course

learning about learning

August 13, 2018

if I failed courses (first year) would you recommend not retaking them this year? or should I retake them? gpa is kinda awful right now.

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hi!

good news: if you want to take a course that you’ve already taken and failed, there shouldn’t be any issues for you enrolling in it on ACORN. keep in mind that you wouldn’t be able to enroll in a course that you’ve passed but wanna retake (let’s say, to get into a POSt) on ACORN by yourself. that’s something you’d have to see your registrar’s office about. those courses (courses you’ve passed but want to retake) will be marked as EXT (“extra”) which means it won’t count towards your GPA or your 20 credits needed to graduate.

i don’t know if i can explicitly recommend retaking or not retaking a course. that’s ultimately up to you; only you know why you’d wanna retake a course and only you can gauge whether or not you can boost your GPA by retaking the course.

i suggest that you should make an appointment with an academic adviser at your registrar’s office to discuss this. they can go through your academic record with you and help you come up with a plan of action– whether that be retaking courses you’ve failed or looking for new courses to take. they can also point you in the direction of some really cool academic resources. a resource that they may show you is the academic success centre. they’re awesome. you can attend workshops, make one-on-one appointments with learning strategists, and meet peer mentors. i highly suggest checking them out. learning about learning and how you can learn better is a great first step in improving your marks. at least, that’s what i’ve always found.

i hope this helps!

xoxo,

aska

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applying for U of T, engineering, grades, repeating course

don’t forget to drop your courses when you move

January 16, 2017

Hey I failed grade 12 calculus, chemistry, physics, and biology. All uni level. This was because I only attended the first week and then moved kinda far away, but I FORGOT to drop the courses! I retook them all achieving high marks:

SBI4U – 84% (failed first time)

MHF4U – 85% (passed first time)

SPH4U – 99% (failed first time)

SCH4U – 98% (failed first time)

MCV4U – 99% (failed first time)

ENG4U – 73% (this one sucks, passed first time)

GPA: 89.6%

My question is, do the courses that I failed, due to the reason stated above (moved away), count towards my GPA? Or do the higher, newer marks count towards my GPA? I was wondering because uoft doesn’t use repeated marks, so do my new ones count as repeated, or not? What is the procedure if you failed a course and then retook it? Which number do they use for GPA admission?

And will my average be high enough to have a good chance at being accepted for mechanical engineering, physics, computer science, and engineering science? I haven’t decided which one yet lol.

Thanks so much!!

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sup,

this is quite the predicament that you’re in! can’t say i’ve ever heard of anyone else doing this.

arts and science has a blurb in their policy which states the following:

“The Faculty of Arts & Science does not recommend that students repeat courses and reserves the right to give preference for admission and scholarship consideration to students whose marks are the result of a single attempt at each course. Students with extenuating circumstances requiring them to repeat such courses should send an explanation to Enrolment Services at the time of application, i.e. prior to the admission decision.”

long story short, you might be able to attach some sort of an explanation to your transcript. it does say in the FAQ for engineering admissions at UTSG that it is their policy to only count the first attempt, but it also says that you can provide documentation to explain any extenuating circumstances.

perhaps something along the lines of:

“i moved and foolishly forgot to drop my courses lul so i failed but it’s k cuz i did them for real and i got good grades, see?”

since you haven’t indicated which campus you’re planning on attending, i’m going to assume you’re referring to UTSG, since UTSC and UTM don’t offer engineering courses. here are the averages that you would need to get into engineering (below), and physics, and computer science at UTSG.

Low 90’s Engineering Science

High 80’s Chemical, Computer, Electrical, and General First Year

Mid 80’s Civil, Industrial, Materials, Mechanical and Mineral

hope this helped,

good luck with your application!

peace and love,

aska

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Low 90’s	Engineering Science
High 80’s	Chemical, Computer, Electrical, and General First Year
Mid 80’s	Civil, Industrial, Materials, Mechanical and Mineral