if i decide to drop a course this semester due to failing at it and the work load to be too big to deal with, would it be wise to take inquiry(soc sci) on top of my other 5 courses next semester so that i still have all my credits intact at the end of the academic year and still be eligible for my honors program? or what should i do

First, if you are applying for a major this year and you don't get in, it's usually not an issue to mirror the program and apply for honours at the end of year II. Every year you have to confirm your program when you apply for your courses.

It is also not an issue to pick up three credits during one of the two summer school terms.

If Soc Sci inquiry is set up like Science's inquiry you won't be able to add the course because even though it is worth three credits you are responsible for attending classes in both terms.

Also, if you need to reduce your course load next term as well, it's not a bad idea. Some courses are more difficult than others and it's a bit easier to focus on 4 opposed to 5, 6 or 7. People often think that you need to finish all of the courses at once and may sometimes fail courses that they could have done well in.

I do not think it is wise to take an added course in your second term. Why? Well, you said that you are currently having difficulty doing well in one of your courses. Have you previously taken the courses you have next term? I didn't think so. How do you know if you won't have difficulty with a course next term as well, maybe even two courses since you'd have too many to focus on.

You can easily finish a credit or two in summer school. You can stay an extra term. There are other solutions. I personally think that burn out will occur if you take 6 courses in one term that's why sometimes I feel bad for the engineers. If you can prevent the added stress then do so. You also don't need to be at Mac to take a course in summer school, you can go to a university in your own home town!

I'm also having the same problem, but weirdly enough, the course I want to drop is Inquiry 1SS3. I'm doing alright in it but I just can't stand the class and working on the assignments is taking my focus away from the courses I do need to focus on (like Poli Sci, so I can ensure I get a B- to get into Honours).
I was wondering about whether I would still be able to gain admission into level II Honours Political Science with only 27 credits from level I, under the condition that I earn the the last 3 level I credits later on (either in second year, or during the summer or something). I'm worried about dropping the class and then discovering that I can't get into level II.

And to the original poster, I would strongly advise against adding Inquiry to your course load for next semester. I've found that it's a really time-consuming course and that it just adds stress to my life. I would definitely look into taking something different (during the summer) that would be of interest to you, because I've found that those are the easiest ones to succeed in.

I'm in the faculty of Science, not Soc Sci, so I'm not sure if the same things apply, but I'll give you my experience. I finished first year with 27 credits, planning on taking my final course through the summer. I took my course, no problem, but the huge headache came when it was time to choose courses for second year. The first problem was that I wasn't eligible for any of my selected programs, since I didn't finish the course requirements for first year. Instead, I was placed in Science II, a generic BSc program. That wasn't a huge dilemma, like lorend said, you can reapply for any program when you choose your courses for the next year. I would have had no problem shadowing my chosen program without actually being in it. The big problems came when it became clear that many of my selected courses were only open to people in an Honours program (which Science II was not). By the time I was granted entry into Honours Life Science, many of the courses had filled up. I'm still working on getting permissions to take some of my courses. My advice to you would be to talk to an academic advisor for your faculty BEFORE dropping Inquiry...just to make sure you don't create more problems for yourself.

Hey, I dropped a course on SOLAR the other day, and it does show that I now have a total of less units for the academic year...is this alll that's necessary, or do i have to confirm it by going to some office or something?

Hi. I dropped a course in October and before I did, I went to the academic counselling and talked with the cousellor so I'll tell you what I found out.
To apply for a second level program, you don't necessarily need 30 units. The minimum requirement is 24 units (well... at least for science). HOWEVER here's the catch: you need to have completed the total of the units required (30 units/year x whatever years you need to get your degree) by the time you graduate. This means that you need to complete that missing 3 units either during summer or by overloading on your upper years (I'm not so sure if you can do this).
Remember to check the requirements for the 2nd year program admission as they vary and remember to fulfill that requirements for both your 1st year program (for ex. life sci and physical sci have different 1st year requirements) and for second year program.
I believe the deadline for dropping courses was yesterday. Usually during the first week of term, they let you drop it and it won't show up on your transcript at all. But if you drop it later than that, it will show up as "cancelled" on your transcript without any grade. But after the deadline, if you happen to drop it, the grade is counted as F.
Hope this was helpful in any way.