Will getting a B in one course ruin my GPA? Answered
I’ve always been a straight-A student. Right now I’m a sophomore in high school and taking AP bio, and it’s been super hard on me. I got an A last trimester but I’m not sure if I’ll get one this trimester. Besides this class, I have all A’s (My school doesn’t do A+ or -). If this is the only class I get a B in in high school, will my GPA ever be able to get to a 4.0 again? Plus, if I do well on the AP test, will I be able to get a 4.0 in college if the B transfers over since it’s also dual credit? This has been stressing me out a lot because I’m afraid i’ll be 20 and super pissed off at 16 year old me for ruining my chance at having a 4.0 in college. Thanks!
Earn karma by helping others:
4 answers
I am in a similar situation. I took an incredibly difficult class and lost my 4.0. While I was super stressed about that and worried that my GPA would never be the same again, colleges understand that no one is perfect and one awful class can mess up your GPA. While I wish I still had my 4.0 my GPA is very high and so I'm not worried. Unless your school does weighted GPA's you can't get a perfect 4.0 anymore. You will simply be closer and closer like a 3.9. Don't stress about it, you are obviously a hard-working student and that is what colleges want to see.
One B won't ruin your GPA if it's weighted. Weighted GPA takes into account on the difficulty of the classes you take. In my school, I have 5 extra points added to my AP class because of it's difficulty. 3 points are added to honor classes. So basically, as long as your school uses weighted GPA, you will be fine. However, if your school uses unweighted GPA, you probably have to work harder in your class because what get on your AP exam doesn't transfer over in GPA. Only your grade in the class.
Hi @Kozbu!
One B will not ruin your GPA and prevent you from getting into a great college! As long as you have a strong academic record besides that one B, you should be completely fine. That being said, you will not be able to get a 4.0 in high school once you receive a B - like @Brennan said, you will still be really close to a 4.0, though! Additionally, do not worry about that B affecting your college GPA. If you do well on the AP test and the college you decide to go to accepts AP credit, then you will just get automatic credit for that class instead of a letter grade, so it will not factor into your college GPA.
Hope that helps!
If your school uses unweighted GPA with no chance to get a grade over 4.0, one grade that is not a 4.0 will make it impossible to make your GPA a 4.0 again. As to how impactful the bad grade will be, you will have to determine that for yourself. The best way I have found to do this would be a GPA calculator: https://www.collegesimply.com/gpa-calculator/high-school-gpa-calculator/. As you continue to take classes, if you do well, your GPA will slowly rise.
Second, the grades you got in the AP class rarely get transferred to your college transcript. The AP test score simply determine what credit you get. Check with the individual schools policies on that.
Your chance of acceptance
Your chancing factors
Community Guidelines
To keep this community safe and supportive:
- Be kind and respectful!
- Keep posts relevant to college admissions and high school.
- Don’t ask “chance-me” questions. Use CollegeVine’s chancing instead!
Ugh this makes me nervous. Are there colleges that do weighted GPA's? because my school does unweighted, but apparently my unweighted one, like, still exists and is the one that most colleges will want to see.