In context, my public school tends to have classes that are drastically more rigorous than those of others. Although APCSP is known as an “easy” AP in the general consensus, my teacher’s version of the course has been outrageous in terms of how difficult it was(even with the standards of my school). We were required to complete the Explore task as part of the first semester final; the class average happened to be a 40%, with the lowest score being a 5%(yes… 5% from being a straight up zero) Of course, my classmates and I were infuriated and the teacher received a bombardment of emails calling her out on this. The worst part being that she did not explain why she failed everyone, especially with this being a really simple assignment with a 2-page write-up and poster that is hard to mess up on being put in the final exam category. I do not plan on attending an ivy league, just a UC probably. How do you think this one letter grade will be seen compared to the rest of my applications?
One bad grade won’t necessarily ruin your chances. Go sit down with your guidance counselor and find out what that person thinks. Your counselor knows the places students with grades and test scores like yours have been admitted in the past, and will be able to give you good advice.
A D will be seen as worse than the As and Bs that probably constitute your 3.6. There’s no way around that.
It’s also one of 25-ish grades you’ll have on your transcript, which is part of an entire application. So it will be a weakness in the big picture, but only a small part of the entire picture.