ok so im taking a history class this semester quite frankly im doing quite badly in the class. Does doing badly in 1 course matter all that much?

Originally Posted by noghi

ok so im taking a history class this semester quite frankly im doing quite badly in the class. Does doing badly in 1 course matter all that much?

Not in my experience, but it depends on who you talk to.

Some people will drop a course the moment they get a lab/assignment/test mark lower than say 75% or something.

It really depends on the strength of your other grades and what you want to do/where you want to go. Some grad and professional schools look at all of your marks and others don't.

If you have a good average and your other courses are going well, than one low mark won't matter all that much.

Although it will lower your GPA significantly.

If, say, you were aiming at a graduate program where you needed about an 11.6 to be competitive, you could have four 12's and your History being a 6, and your GPA would become 10.8 - no longer competitive, even if you have four courses near perfect.

I agree with Alchemist.

Especially in the instance if you convert to the standard 4.0 scale where anything less than a 10 drops your average significantly.

When you have over 120 units in your cumulative GPA (30 units/year over 4 years), a single course won't have a significant effect.

Your sessional average could suffer however. There's a significant difference between the two.

Fair enough, but I just meant that it's hard to say whether out of 40 courses taken in four years, only ONE course will be "that one bad course".

More likely, for me anyway, there's always one course maybe per semester or year at best.

It's not as if History will be the only tough course, or a course that you don't feel like going to, or a course you don't do well in for whatever reason in all four years. In either case, no, this one course may not lower your final GPA, but watch out that there's not too many of those because then the lower marks will add up (for lack of a better term).

Originally Posted by Alchemist11

Although it will lower your GPA significantly.

If, say, you were aiming at a graduate program where you needed about an 11.6 to be competitive, you could have four 12's and your History being a 6, and your GPA would become 10.8 - no longer competitive, even if you have four courses near perfect.

It depends on the grad school. What I've found is that most grad schools (9 out of 10 that I'm interested in) only look at third and fourth year marks. But that might just be my specific program.

Also don't forget that you need a certain average to get into some second year programs. So make sure that your doing well in all your other courses to balance out this one.

Originally Posted by Taunton

When you have over 120 units in your cumulative GPA (30 units/year over 4 years), a single course won't have a significant effect.

Your sessional average could suffer however. There's a significant difference between the two.

Considering I've done 102 units so far:

4.0 scale, with one terrible mark added = 3.82 (versus the removal of that terrible mark = 3.87).

A 0.05 difference is huge on the 4.0 scale, especially if you're applying to a competitive program. On Mac's scale it doesn't matter though.

well... its going to bring down your GPA because macs grading scale is just stupid. You could try and take an easy course to try and average them out

Yup, you have next semester to kill (as in do well in) those courses you're taking, so try to do well on your final for history and see how it goes.

hmmm now im worried..... its to late to drop history isn't it.... Writing definately isnt my strong point....

Yes, the final drop date has passed. if you drop your course now, it will still appear on your transcript with your current mark, as opposed to a "cancelled".

as for the writing issue, check out CSD. They run essay writing workshops, which are extremely useful. There are also students who sign up through Peer Tutoring and will edit your papers for you for a small fee (my housemate, who is also Honours History IV has been doing this all semester for first year History / Geo students. You only sign up for the classes you feel you are an expert in)

What is most important is that you don't let one poor mark get you down.

Most places dont actually discriminate solely based on GPA (unless it's a 1). They take more factors, including where your good marks came from, and in what years you got them.

You can fail first year, do well after that, do well on your MCATs, and get into any MED school. My best friend failed first year, repeated it and did horribly (but passed), did horrible second year, but then did amazing in his 3rd and 4th year and he was a very competitive candidate. His GPA wasnt amazing, but his highest marks were in the hardest and most pertinent courses.

Your GPA is an important number, work hard to keep it high, but remember that there are other ways to make yourself an attractive candidate.

-Do research (get published! woohoo)
-Volunteer
-Show initiative and leadership
-Do co-op
-Serve abroad - (Canadian Forces, Engineers Without Borders, ect...)

Also, remember that what you learn is not reflected in your marks. Your marks are a trivial way for them to measure your success, it is just a system, so take advantage of the system and make sure you maximize your marks. Take advantage of any resources, editing, anything. Marks dont reflect what you know, but they are a big part of what other programs go on.

Originally Posted by Infinity

well... its going to bring down your GPA because macs grading scale is just stupid. You could try and take an easy course to try and average them out

anyone know why mac has a 12 pt grading scale. it seems totally pointless
and how do we convert from our mac GPA to a 4.0 GPA scale