I'm getting a 1 in a course and the final exam will basically determine whether I pass or fail.
If I fail, will the mark of 0 have a huge impact when I'm applying for grad school in the future?

It's not the end of the world. It WILL affect your average, but if it's a one time occurrence, it won't be by much. I can't speak for all grad schools, but I know most MBA programs are interested in seeing your most recent 2 years. Since your profile indicates you are in first year, you would be alright given those criteria.

Is the answer to your question going to determine the extent to which you study for the exam?

Chill bro.

I went into ACcounting with a failing mark and got a 2 after writing the exam. xD

but jack said it good too.

Originally Posted by Banshee

I'm getting a 1 in a course and the final exam will basically determine whether I pass or fail.
If I fail, will the mark of 0 have a huge impact when I'm applying for grad school in the future?

Some schools require a cumulative average and some just from your last two terms; so depending on what your marks are like as a whole, it could have a huge affect.

FYI: if you're in Soc Sci and/or the Humanities you're going to need a 9+ in year three to even be considered.

Originally Posted by Banshee

I'm getting a 1 in a course and the final exam will basically determine whether I pass or fail.
If I fail, will the mark of 0 have a huge impact when I'm applying for grad school in the future?

It depends on what you're applying for.

Some schools take your cumulative average. Others take your last two years (60 units), while some take your best two years.

Don't forget that if you're applying to a non-McMaster school, they usually convert your marks onto the 4.0 scale.

What grad schools are you looking at?

Even if they say they only want your last 2 years, they'll look at all your marks regardless.

I never failed anything, but I had a D in a second year course and when I applied for grad school the supervisor who wanted me still had to write a letter to the chair explaining why he's asking for a student who had such a mark at one point. A fail would probably be harder for them to digest than that.

It was just that one mark, so they accepted it easily. My suggestion is that if you're going to fail this, make sure you never get anything less than C in any courses again.

Hey, I pretty much bombed my first year, i failed 2 courses and had a garbage average... does Mac grad school look at all your marks or just the last 2 years?

Originally Posted by ThatGuy

Hey, I pretty much bombed my first year, i failed 2 courses and had a garbage average... does Mac grad school look at all your marks or just the last 2 years?

Depends on what you want to go into.

There's no answer that applies to all programs. Please be more specific.

I want to go to grad school for earth and environmental science.
First year average: 3.1 (2 failed courses)
Second year average: Will be around 9-10

Originally Posted by ThatGuy

I want to go to grad school for earth and environmental science.
First year average: 3.1 (2 failed courses)
Second year average: Will be around 9-10

It shouldn't matter too much. Most grad schools look at your last two years. Most graduate scholarships (like OGS) look at your final 2 years. As long as there is an upward trend of increasing marks you should be fine. There may be a requirement for a certain cumulative average, make sure you hit that.

Also, it depends on what you failed. If you did poorly in enviro sci 1A03 it would look worst than failing at Psych 1A03. Grad schools care about courses that are relevant to the field that you're going to get into.

Hope that helps.

Originally Posted by larp

Even if they say they only want your last 2 years, they'll look at all your marks regardless.

I never failed anything, but I had a D in a second year course and when I applied for grad school the supervisor who wanted me still had to write a letter to the chair explaining why he's asking for a student who had such a mark at one point. A fail would probably be harder for them to digest than that.

It was just that one mark, so they accepted it easily. My suggestion is that if you're going to fail this, make sure you never get anything less than C in any courses again.

Really? I thought they would not look at first year marks because first year students usually don't do as well since they are still adjusting to university life.
Oh man...

Originally Posted by Jay

It shouldn't matter too much. Most grad schools look at your last two years. Most graduate scholarships (like OGS) look at your final 2 years. As long as there is an upward trend of increasing marks you should be fine. There may be a requirement for a certain cumulative average, make sure you hit that.

Also, it depends on what you failed. If you did poorly in enviro sci 1A03 it would look worst than failing at Psych 1A03. Grad schools care about courses that are relevant to the field that you're going to get into.

Hope that helps.

Makes me feel better. xD

Originally Posted by Banshee

Really? I thought they would not look at first year marks because first year students usually don't do as well since they are still adjusting to university life.
Oh man...

Just because they may be 'adjusting' doesn't mean they should be failing or getting around a ~3.0 GPA (on the 12 scale), assuming every other year their marks are closer to 9.0.

Originally Posted by Banshee

Really? I thought they would not look at first year marks because first year students usually don't do as well since they are still adjusting to university life.
Oh man...

Really depends on the course you did badly on. If you want to get into grad school in math and you failed first year calculus, I don't think they'd be very excited to take you in.

But you also need to show an upward trend in your marks. My GPA for the last 2 years was 10.5, and the cutoff for admission was something like 10.0. Now although this GPA restriction only applies to last couple of years of your study, it doesn't mean that they ignore everything else, you still need a 8.0 overall or something. This is for CAS department at Mac where I am, not sure about other programs requirements but I imagine other science and engineering programs have very similar restrictions.

Repeating courses that you didn't fail is generally frowned upon, and elective courses are generally ignored regardless of how good or bad you did on them.

To the OP: You should also take all this information with a grain of salt. None of us happen to be on the selection boards, so we are only speculating at what these schools are looking for.