Three ways to count a retaken course
When a course appears twice on your grade sheet, there are three ways an average can treat it:
- Both grades count. Each attempt is a separate row in the calculation, and the points of both are included. The old low grade keeps affecting your average.
- The latest grade counts. Only the later attempt is counted, even if it is lower than the earlier one.
- The highest grade counts. The attempt with the best grade is counted, regardless of when it happened.
Which method applies to you is set by your school’s rules and not by a calculation tool. This article does not say what any particular school does; it only compares the arithmetic effect of each method. In all of the methods, the average is a weighted average by credits, as explained in the weighted average guide.
Example 1: the second grade is higher
A student took three courses in the first year and got 55 in Course B. In the second year they retook it and got 80:
| Course | Grade | Credits | Grade × credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course A | 90 | 4 | 360 |
| Course B (first attempt) | 55 | 4 | 220 |
| Course C | 78 | 3 | 234 |
| Course B (retake) | 80 | 4 | 320 |
The average under each method:
| Counting method | What goes into the calculation | Calculation | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Both grades | All four rows | 1134 ÷ 15 | 75.60 |
| Latest grade | A, C and the retake of B (80) | 914 ÷ 11 | 83.09 |
| Highest grade | A, C and the retake of B (80) | 914 ÷ 11 | 83.09 |
The difference between the first method and the other two is large: 75.60 versus 83.09, about seven and a half points. When both grades count, the old 55 stays in the calculation and drags your average down. When only one of them counts, the 55 drops out, and the course’s credits are counted once. Here the second and third methods give the same result, because the later attempt is also the higher one.
Example 2: the second grade is lower
Same situation, but this time the first grade in Course B was 70, and the retake produced only 60:
| Course | Grade | Credits | Grade × credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course A | 90 | 4 | 360 |
| Course B (first attempt) | 70 | 4 | 280 |
| Course C | 78 | 3 | 234 |
| Course B (retake) | 60 | 4 | 240 |
| Counting method | What goes into the calculation | Calculation | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Both grades | All four rows | 1114 ÷ 15 | 74.27 |
| Latest grade | A, C and the retake of B (60) | 834 ÷ 11 | 75.82 |
| Highest grade | A, C and the first attempt at B (70) | 874 ÷ 11 | 79.45 |
Here the methods diverge, and the gap between latest and highest is more than three and a half points (75.82 versus 79.45). When the latest grade counts, retaking a course can lower your average, because the lower grade replaces the higher one. When the highest grade counts, an extra attempt cannot hurt, and the good grade stays.
What to do before you retake a course
Find out which method applies. This comes first, and it depends on the academic regulations of your school and your program. There may also be additional rules, for example a limit on the number of attempts or on the grade you can receive on a retake, so do not settle for a generalization.
Calculate before you decide, not after. Calculate your average twice using the method that applies to you: once with your existing grade and once with the grade you expect to get. If the method is “latest grade counts”, it is worth calculating a scenario where the new grade is lower than the old one too, as in Example 2.
Remember the credits. When both grades count, the credits of both attempts go into the denominator, so the bigger the course, the more a low old grade affects you. In Example 1 the retaken course is 4 of 15 credits, over a quarter of the calculation.
In the app you can set the counting method for each degree, and plan a retaken course in advance to see what will happen to your average, without changing your real data. You can also check the effect on your overall average in How much can your average still change?