Straight A's and an F

Chance Me / Match Me
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@Intercollege If you are working the process you have described in Posting #13, something is clearly wrong. As many of the previous posters have noted, you need to find a good tutor and show them copies of your exams. Some questions:

(1) Are you finishing the exam or do you have trouble doing the problems in the allotted time?

(2) Are you careless and make a lot of errors?

I find it very hard to believe that someone who is capable of scoring 1520 (which means minimum 720 Math) on the SAT can be failing Algebra 2 given how central that subject is to that test.

As others have noted, retake the class (not online) and get a good tutor and show them your homework and exams.
Is Algebra 2 offered over the summer at your school?

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FWIW, and I know this is anecdotal, among the pre-med students I have seen who are debating between a top school and a state flagship, the ones who choose the state flagship seem to do better with med-school admissions. Just something to keep in mind.

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@billchu2 We don’t get our tests or quizzes back. She just shows us our grade and then collects it. I’ll try to explain a little bit how the help period works to give a little context. Her help period starts at 7:30 and ends at 8:15. Because I have to care for my younger brother, I usually get their around 7:45. The first thing I do at help period is to check the practice problems I did in the textbook with her teacher copy. Now my teacher has easily 120 students or more. She teaches 6 classes, 3 algebra, and 3 pre-calc. A lot of people go to her help, so I try to ask all my questions at once because I have to stand on a line to ask her questions. She’ll briefly explain whatever problems I have trouble with and then the next person on line will go. When I’m lucky I’ll be able to get on line twice or maybe three times because easily she gets 30+ students a morning. I don’t think I’m particularly careless on tests and I don’t have trouble finishing on time. I get the SAT thing a lot because my counselor somehow thought I cheated the math section. And yes the class is offered in summer school but I would not be able to do it because I am going away for a week and wouldn’t be able to do summer school. (The trip isn’t a vacation, but an academic conference and I wouldn’t be able to reschedule or not go)

If I took the sat subject test in math and somehow did decent, how would that look? Would my chances be higher?

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It’s not your GPA that is the biggest issue here. It’s that Big Fat F in Algebra2. There are a lot of problems with that F. The biggest question is why you failed the course. Did you fail to learn the tenets, concepts, materials in the course? Can you pass an on line Algebra 2 final? If you truly are at failing level for the academic materials in Algebra 2, you have a problem in moving on in math. Highly unlikely a top school will accept you if you cannot show mastery of that course, and that’s not by taking. SAT2 Math test. You need to get a good grade in Algebra 2. My suggestion is to take it in summer school if you can get into a course in any school district in your area. Or take it at community college.

Something is definitely wrong here. You are a good student otherwise; your test scores are excellent. Your teacher has quite a few math students and it’s not like a lot of them are failing her classes. You need to pinpoint the problem and fix it.

Is it the course materials, conflict with teacher, problems dealing with course requirements that do not relate to understanding the math precepts that caused this failure?

If your high school will permit you to graduate with an on line pass of this course, you’ll likely find a college that will take you. But, the likelihood is high that the top schools are not going to take you. The chances of getting into those schools is small enough because ever so many students apply to them for the seats they have. Why on earth would any of them take someone who failed a course? There would have to be a very strong reason or a super hook to get consideration. Yes, top D1 level quarterback with your record and a single fail like that might get exception. Or if your parent donated millions to a school over the years and was actively part of the development circle. Or if you have a compelling story along with being homeless or poverty level, a refugee , something that shows makes heads turn. But nothing like this here. So, given the circumstances, I see no reason a top school would over look the F. Why should they? They have enough kids like you without the F. You need to stand out at a school and bring something to the table. What you have that makes you stand out is that danged F.

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@Intercollege Even if you do not get your exams back, you need to sit down with a math-experienced person (either a family member or a tutor) and review the contents of your exams with your teacher. The clues are all on the exams. The disconnects should be obvious since you have, presumably, more than one exam with low scores. At this point, you should be focused not on mitigating this bad mark, but figuring out what went wrong and fixing it ASAP. You need to retake this course, but you need to figure out what went wrong first.

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A big part of the issue: “Amherst, Bates, BC, BU, Bowdoin, Clark, Holycross, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Northeastern, Northwestern, Penn State, Princeton, Rutgers, Syracuse, Tufts, UChicago, Upenn, and Villanova.” Rutgers, Villanova, maybe HC are easier than the others.

Then, the fact it’s a stem course and you want a stem path.

For the tippy tops and tops, the competition is fierce and many kids will have both the scores and only A grades.

If you’re firm about aiming high, you need to resolve this. Or will have trouble progressing in math, in hs and in college. You need to understand what it is about the tests vs homework that’s slaying you. What feedback have you gotten from the teacher after tests? Ever ask peers for study help?

How truly important is the academic conference vs college options? What is it?

For the record, a summer teacher might not explain better, have convenient times to chat, or grade easier. Online is not necessarily a bad idea. But in either case, you’d need a strong grade, dedication to every effort it needs.

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Daily help from the 1st quiz of the year, getting an A on homework but failing every single test for a year simply does not add up- especially with a 760 SAT math score. The idea that you are simply not neurologically capable of grasping the concepts of Algebra doesn’t fly.

OP how is there nobody else in the mix? Sometimes something as simple as a different teacher, with a different style approach can make things click.

For a capable student who is aiming (very) high, the first quarter F should have sent you into serious problem solving mode. Going to morning help sessions was clearly inadequate support. The top schools will be wondering what got between you and getting more / different help. Your ECs are excellent, but the AOs may wonder if that is why you didn’t have the time to find other solutions or get the right kind of help.

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There’s one thing you absolutely need to understand:
Algebra 2/ Trig is essential for EVERYTHING you do in math from now on.
Like, literally, everything
I’m in calculus right now and everything builds on algebra 2, much more than you may expect. If you do not understand Algebra 2, you are almost guaranteed to fail math analysis/precalculus and then you will not be able to understand calculus. It keeps building on itself. Algebra 2/Trig builds up to precalc and then calc and any knowledge gap from Algebra 2 can cost you in the future. Taking Algebra 2 online is the perfect way to have a weak foundation for those classes and your chances of understanding go down. I’ve taken 3 virtual courses, and trust me, the retention for online courses is MUCH lower in math than a classroom setting (hint: zoning out during a dry online math lecture with no accountability for it? You might think it won’t happen to you, but it happens to everyone). Again, as others have said before me, online is not necessarily bad, but it presents unique challenges, especially for math. See if there is any way you can retake the class next year. (Online algebra 2 will not provide an effective transition into calculus if that is the class you are planning on taking next!!!)

Good luck, and I really hope this works out for you.

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@Intercollege

I’m truly no help here, but it seems as though you’re getting some good advice from those who are posting. I just wanted to chime in and say that I’m rooting for you. Crossing fingers…

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Hello Everyone! I just want to thank you all again for the tremendous amount of advice and support. I have a little update incase any of you are interested. So my school does our unweighted gpa out of 4.5 and weighted out of 6. I did not know this before since they keep our GPAs a secret until you are a senior. My gpa before the F grade was inputted was a 4.4573. After the F my grade dropped down to 4.3778. I’m not sure what that is in 4.0 scale but I am genuinely surprised my grade did not drop more. I have decided to take the course online and so far I’m doing decently well (again I’m only on the 3rd chapter and the beginning chapters are pretty easy) and my grade as of right now is a 93.85%. I have found a tutor (who coincidentally is one of my old soccer coaches) who I mesh well with and will help me through this course. We were discussing what could have possibly have been the issue this year and he came up with many probable issues (the teacher, the class environment, the timing of the class(it was my last class of the day), etc. ) and I still can’t concretely say why. However, I am putting both the teacher and the grade behind me and just focusing on retaining and understanding the material this time around to prepare me for this final year. And I do have one question. My counselor told me that with the F on my transcript it will be virtually impossible to get into most schools as a pre-med/biology major and told me to instead apply to all of my schools as “undecided”. However, when I told this to my chem teacher, he completely advised against it. What should I do?

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My daughter failed APUSH in high school (undiagnosed ADD.) Her GPA and test scores were still strong (the F brought her GPA down to something like a 3.8.) With the help of a college counselor we decided she should apply to schools that only looked at numbers. Nothing else - no deep dives into her transcript. She was accepted to and attended Penn State, University Park. Graduated with dual degrees in engineering and French and really did well. She continues to succeed. It’s possible and you’ll be fine. Maybe you have to rethink what “top tier” means and look at “top tier for you.” And you’ll still be fine.

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I wonder if things are not so dire. OP, you do realize that life exists outside T20/T30 (whatever that even means!), right? A student like you will have lots of great options when it comes to college, even if there’s an F on your transcript. It troubles me when students (and parents/posters) think of college admissions as a finish line (I must get into one of these schools because then I win!) instead of a starting line. Do the best you can. Pull up that grade or retake the next year. You’ll be fine. Oh, and the earth is littered with the bones of once hopeful pre-med students, so have other plans just in case. One pre-med friend of mine went to law school instead. Another went to dental school. And as @4gsmom stated, “Maybe you have to rethink what ‘top tier’ means and look at a ‘top tier for you.’” Wow, those words should be put in a permanent banner on this site.