Repeating Courses
Students who wish to repeat a course for a grade should discuss the matter first with an adviser; repeating a course is often not the best option. (Repeating a course that was passed the first time results in no increase in hours earned and cannot be used towards the full-time status requirement of government financial aid programs such as TAP.) Those who decide to take a course over complete a "Repeated Course Form," available at the Lattimore Counter and submit it there. The second grade (which is not necessarily the better) is used in computing the grade point average. Course listings and grades for both courses appear on the advising record and on the official transcript. Only by repeating a course at the University of Rochester will the average be affected.
Students who have submitted signed "Incomplete" contracts requiring them to do the work again should make arrangements to audit the course, and not register again for credit as a "repeated" course.
When departments offer courses that are similar in content at different levels (e.g., PHY 122 and 142, MTH 141 and 161, MTH 143 and 162), students may not use the lower-level course as a "repeat" of the upper-level course. However, CHM 203/204 may be used as a "repeat" of CHM 171Q/172Q.
Students who want to repeat upper-level writing "tagalong" courses for a grade, such as those used toward the Psychology major, must also repeat the "parent" course. On the other hand, students who want to repeat only the "parent" course do not have to repeat or lose credit for the "tagalong" course.
Students may opt to use MTH 142 as a "repeat" of MTH 161, in which case only the 142 grade will be in the GPA, and any credit for 161 will be forfeited. However, students who are satisfied with their 161 grade may take 142 without losing credit for 161. The Department of Mathematics permits this because no more than one-third of the material in the two courses represents an overlap.
Students who pass MTH 141 or 161 after receiving AP credit for MTH 161 forfeit that credit. Students who pass MTH 141, 142 and 143 or MTH 161 and 162 after receiving AP credit for MTH 161 and 162 forfeit that credit.
Also note that students who receive credit for any of MTH 141-3, 161-5, or 171-4 will not receive credit for MTH 140A or 141A if taken subsequently.
Students who pass CAS 105 but with a grade below the "C" that is the minimum required may choose to take the course a second time for four additional credit hours, and with both grades in the GPA as long as they submit the special form by the end of the fourth week of the semester. Alternatively, a student may apply the standard "repeat" policy described in the first paragraph. In the latter case, submission of the "Repeated Course Form" is expected. (See Primary Writing Requirement.)
Students who choose to repeat a course they have failed, and who select the S/F option, must pass the course the second time in order that the first failing grade will be removed from the GPA.
Keep in mind that some courses may be taken more than once with credit and grade earned each time. The most common such course is Applied Music: lessons at Eastman with 130 or 160 as the course number. Students also may take 2-credit foreign language conversation courses such as FR 114 more than once. Students may take RUS 126 no more than twice.
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