Hello! Im currently a quebec cegep student looking to go into life sciences / animal physiology at U of T and would like some advice on admissions. I struggled quite a bit in calculus this year and my cal 1 grade is only a 72… I was wondering if this is way to low for getting accepted and if its recommended that I retake this course. I’m very worried about this right now so any advice on this or admissions in general is greaaaatly appreciated!!
hey there,
i’m so sorry for the long wait on this one, but hopefully this still helps.
according to the admissions website, cegep students need an r score of mid-20s or higher – specifically, utsg arts and science has an r score cutoff of 26. it does mention that they will see your full transcript with the actual percentage marks, but i’m not sure if there’s a specific cutoff for that.
you’re probably familiar with the cegep r score, so hopefully that magic number 26 means something to you because frankly after digging around a bit i still don’t really know what it really translates to in terms of a percentage. i mean, you got a 72, but did you really, compared to the course average and then comparing your school to all the other schools… quebec really went all out with this whole scoring thing and tbh it’s just too much stats for me.
hopefully you already know your r score by the time you apply, which will give you a much better idea. if not, it might help to generally follow the recommended grades for the equivalent grade 12 high school subjects? it’s not a perfect comparison since cegep courses might be harder (?) but uoft life sciences recommends mid to high 80s in high school english and calculus.
based on that, i’d say the safest plan is to retake calc if possible, and aim for a higher mark in the 80s just in case. but then again, if all of your other marks are in the 80s-90s and you are generally at or above the course average, it also doesn’t hurt to try and apply. although 70s might be on the lower side for calc, i don’t think it’s necessarily a dealbreaker, especially if you have a good average overall.
best of luck!
aska