For my segment, I'm going to discuss how you calculate your GPA and strategies that can help you get off of probation. So let's start with the hypothetical situation with me starting college, and these are my grades. I took English 101, Math 102, HD 101, and Comm 101. And no matter the reason, let's say I had too many hours at work, I didn't have money to buy my books, or I had problems with transportation. At the end of the semester...
these are my grades. So when we're calculating GPA, whether it's high school or college, the grade points that you earn for each letter is the same. So in high school, if you got an A, you got four grade points, a B were three, C's are two, D's are ones, and F's are zero. So that's the same whether it's in high school or college, but it's actually how we do the calculations that are different. So let's review high school.
I took four courses, and let's make math easy. I just got four A's. A's are worth four grade points, and so it's plus four, plus four, plus four, plus four. So we take the number of grade points, which is 16, and we divide by the number of courses I took.
I took four courses. I have a 4.0. In college, we factor the same grade points, but we factor in... the unit value of the class.
So an F is zero grade points and then we're going to multiply that times three, three for the units and obviously zero times three is zero. So for my English, my math, and my communications class I earned zero grade points. For my HD 101, which is my human development course, I received a D and D's are one grade point.
So one times three is three. So in college We take the number of grade points, which is three, and we divide by the number of units attempted. On your transcript, it won't say units attempted.
It'll say grade point hours. It's the same thing. So I just like to say great units attempted.
So three grade points divided by 13 units equals a 0.23. So at the end of my first semester of college, I have a 0.23. I have attempted over 12 units.
So I go on academic probation one. This is what your transcript looks like for the college. And so earn GPA hours.
Don't worry about that. We have GPA hours and points. So the points is 178 divided by the units attempted. Again, it's the GPA hours.
It's 50. The student has a 3.56. So let's say for my second semester. Well, let me review before I do this.
In my first semester, let's review, I have three great points and I have 13 units attempted. How many great points should I have earned to have a 2.0? So here's a little trick that you can do without even having a calculator. You take the number of units attempted, which is 13, times 2, and the 2 stands for a 2.0.
If I wanted to know what I needed for a 3.0, I would multiply it times 3. But in this example, I'm just trying to get to the 2.0. So 13 times 2 is 26. I needed 26 great points to have a 2.0, but I only earned 3. So I am deficient 23 great points. I needed 26 minus 3. I'm 23 short.
So it's like golf. The lower the number, the better you are. The higher the number, the worse it is. just to have a feeling for what 23 grade points that's kind of you're in a hole with 23 it's not that you can't dig out of it but it is kind of a little bit daunting okay so the second semester of college I don't talk to a counselor I don't talk to friends I just you know hated my classes I'm going to take three new courses because when again when you go on probation when you're less than a 2.0 we limit your units so let's say we caught you in time And you couldn't get in 15 units. We only limit you to 10. So you decide to take nine new units.
And you get C's the second semester. And again, C's are worth how many grade points? Hopefully you said two. So two times three is six, right? So I get 6.6.6 points.
At the end of the semester, I would have 18 grade points, right? 666 divided by nine, a 2.0. And then also, you know, if you get all C's, the average is a 2.0.
But the question becomes, why did I get that second email from the Academic Pride office? And it's because The GPA is cumulative. We take the first semester and the second semester and we put it together. So you can see in the first semester, I had 13 GPA hours plus three points.
The second semester, I took nine new units. Again, units attempted and I have 18 great points. You add them up, 21 great points, points divided by the number of units attempted, 22. I have a 0.9. So I went from a 0.23 to a 0.95. Is it better?
Yes, it is, but it's not above a 2.0 or above. So I'm on now probation two. How many grade points would I need it?
Again, you take the 22 units times two is 44. I needed 44 grade points to have a 2.0, but I only earned 21 total. So at the end, I'm 23 units short again. The 23 is the same 23 that you were short the first semester.
So taking new units helped a little, but not a lot. So getting C's in new courses didn't help. What would be a better strategy? Repeat, repeat, repeat. So the first strategy that we recommend is that you go back and repeat the classes that you didn't do well in.
So look at this example. I did terrible in English and math, and those are the first ones. If you haven't worked on your basic skills, English and math, we want to start with those. So I'm going to go back, and I'm going to repeat my English and repeat my math, and because I need to do better, I'm just going to go a little slower and put more effort into my coursework. So I'm going to retake the English.
I don't really like English that much, so I'll get a B, and math I love, so I'm going to get an A in my math class. So B's are worth how many grade points? Three.
Three times three units, I earn nine for my English. For the A in my math class, A's are four grade points. Four times four units is 16. So to the right, you see when you repeat courses, you've already been penalized the first time around, so you don't need Well, it doesn't count against you in units attempted the second time because you're repeating the D or the F.
And remember in this example, I had two Fs. So adding them together, units attempted for the second semester is zero, but I'm bringing in the positive grade points. So I have 13 units attempted and 28 grade points.
Do the trick. 13 times 2 is 26. to have a 2.0 i needed 26 grade points i have 28 i'm off probation okay so i know this is a little confusing but when you repeat a course it looks like you're not accumulating more new units now do i have seven units for my financial aid yes i do but for my academic gpa calculation it looks like A second strategy, let's say I can't repeat for some reason. I need to work on my English first before I repeat that psychology class, or I can't get in the class. It's full. I'm going to have to wait.
Then we go to our second strategy, which I call counterbalancing. And it's where you're trying to balance where if I have three Fs, I have a new class. This is in new courses.
I can't repeat, so I'm taking new coursework. So that's it. counterbalance with the F, I have to earn an A.
So if I have nine units of Fs, I have to have nine units of A the next semester to counterbalance, and the F and the A will average out to a 2.0, right? So if you're debating about whether you should start over and take new classes, or should you go back and repeat, I just want you to consider this one thing. Is it easier to go in a new situation and get an A or go back and repeat something that you've seen before and maybe get a C or B or an A?
And you'll never hear us talk about Cs. We want you to get Bs and As. But depending, you have to make that choice.
For some people, the new situation may be better. For others, it's actually going back and repeating. I like the repeating, but it just really depends on the student.
But there's no room for error in this scenario. If you take new classes, if you want to get out of probation, if you have three F's, you got to get three A's. If you had three D's, you have to get three B's.
But notice in counterbalancing, you cannot get a C because a C and an F does not average out to a 2.0. So some things you need to know about repeating. So number one, only D's and F's can be repeated. You can't repeat C's. C's are considered passing grades.
So you only can repeat a D and an F. If you repeat a course where you got a D the first time and then you get an F the second time, then the F is going to count. They're going to exclude the D out the GPA and put in the F because the rule is the most recent grade. So you got to be very careful when you repeat Ds.
A petition must be submitted to Admissions and Records when you have to take a course for the third attempt. So it doesn't matter the marking you get in the class. It could be WW. WF, DF, FF. Anytime you take a class for the third attempt, you have to get permission by Admissions and Records.
If, let's pick on English for a second. You have to have English to transfer and you have to have English 101 to get your AA. So if you take it twice, let's say I got it D the first time and I withdrew the second time and I need to take it a third time and they tell me no for some reason. then I have to go to another college to take English 101 because I am no longer eligible to take it at ABC.
So make sure if you're taking a course for the third attempt, you don't want to be in that predicament where you have to ask permission to take a class for the third time. You can, it's just that it's not guaranteed that they will approve it that you can take it the third time. But you can always ask.
You don't repeat a W, you're just retaking the course. So a W is not a repeat. If you're trying to improve your GPA, that involves taking repeating courses that have the D and the F. A W means you just redrew before the end of the term.
And so if you retake that course again, you're just retaking that course. W's, I's, and no passes don't affect GPA. They only affect your progress. And I'm going to go into that in a moment. Okay.
But if you're, again, if you want to improve your academic standing, your GPA, then you need to repeat the D or the F. So what is happening with progress, probation, and dismissal? Here's the deal.
If your completion rate is less than 51%, then you're in trouble. Okay. So with this, okay, I kind of said it wrong.
If your completion rate isn't 51% or better, you're in trouble. So where academic is on one side of the house, where we're looking at Ds and Fs. The progress side of the house, we're looking at how many Ws, Is, and No passes does the student have.
And if that is less than 51% completion rate, then you're in trouble with progress probation. So the only way to improve your progress is for you to past the classes that you attempt. And so that means you can't withdraw.
No more withdrawals. You have to stay in the course. So if you sign up for a regular 16-week semester and you need to get out of the class, you need to do it within the first two weeks of school. By the second Friday of the term, you need to withdraw.
After that, it's going to count against you. If it's a summer session, then the withdrawal may be one or two days. So you have to check your course reference number when you're registering and click on the course reference number go down to the dialog box and it'll tell you oh you must drop this class by blah blah before um if you don't want to be considered getting a w in that class okay progress is kind of confusing um we're a d and f when you repeat it the d goes away or the f goes away but not with progress we count if you got a w in english 101 and then you get an a in english 101 it's six units attempted.
It doesn't go away. It's a little bit more confusing. The only way you can really also see that you have a progress issue is if you go to your MyVC account.
So log in to your ABC account, go to your student success tab, and go down over here to the bottom. And you can see right here, this person, for this example, academic standing is dismissal and the progress standing is good. So they're not in trouble with progress.
It could be progress probation one. progress probation two or progress dismissal. So if it says that, then you have a progress issue.
And again, you can be in trouble with both sides of the house. You can be in academic probation, as well as in progress probation or progress dismissal.