<p>I’m just an average student, my grades always vary around high B’s and A’s. But this year was something different. My school district opened up a new high school for which I happened to live in the zone of. I began my year (11) there and was having a rough time (lots of visits to guidance counselors) and after many trials and tribulations, I was switched back to my old school. While at this school, my teacher for AB was teaching two classes of AB and Algebra II. This is her first year teaching Calculus
so needless to say, it was difficult to grasp the material, and being a new school, it didn’t offer any other options (no Discrete or Stats). Once I switched schools, I was put with a teacher with much more experience, but I didn’t have a strong foundation. I am failing and there is one more test left before the final exam and AP exam (which I decided against taking). I have been through tutoring and the like. I believe I’ve hit my wall in math as well. Is there any way that this could be explained to colleges?
I’m taking APUSH, AP Calc, AP Psych, and AP EnviSci. I have a B in US but expect an A, an A in Psych, B in EnviSci, and of course F in AB. I expect a high A in Honors Chem, and I am also in training to become editor-in-chief of our school’s yearbook next year.
I don’t plan on an engineering major, or to apply to Yale, Harvard, or MIT, but maybe Brown and RISD, which are my reaches. Otherwise, the other schools have 35% or above acceptance rates.</p>
<p>
Don’t try to explain it, IMHO. Here’s the thing: from your point of view, not fully your fault since you had a bad teacher, new environment, etc.</p>
<p>But let me give you another point of view. Students are not passive vessels, filled by teachers with knowledge, and dependent on their teachers for learning. A strong student takes responsibility for learning the material, and the teacher is just one aid in the process. There are entire intro calculus courses on iTunes. There are workbooks, websites for help, etc. In your class your fellow students are a resource, unless absolutely everyone failed the class. Then there’s the question of study time; in a college calculus class it would be common to spend 6-9 hours every week outside of class studying and working problems.</p>
<p>The point is that colleges know you’ll be taking tough classes, even if you decide to avoid further math classes. And they know that (viewbook promises aside) not all of the faculty are wonderful teachers. So they like to see students that manage to figure out a way to get it done. And when they have far more applicants than they can take, well…</p>
<p>@mikemac: There’s a difference between lazy students and this situation, imo. If the OP had had one crappy teacher the whole time, yeah, then I’d say it was mostly their fault. But having a crappy teacher and switching schools and entering a different teacher’s class in the middle of the year in a difficult subject: that’s not laziness, that bad luck.</p>
<p>OP: I’d try to take calc over the summer at a local college, if possible. That will show colleges that you realize you didn’t understand the material the first time, and that you’re trying to improve. If you take the class again and get a passing grade, but the ‘F’ is still on your transcript, I’d try to explain it in interviews. Don’t make it sound like ‘oh, it was all the teacher’s fault, she sucked’ but talk about how you had to switch schools in the middle of the year while dealing with a difficult subject and an all/mostly honors/AP course load. You should be fine. (Also, being a junior in calc: respect!) 
I had a friend almost fail ABCalc this year as a senior (she dropped into regular calc 2nd semester) and she got into Reed ED, so it shouldn’t affect you too much.</p>