Remedial and Non-credit Classes

Some students have to take a non-credit, remedial, or basic skills class before enrolling in classes for college credit in the subject. For each non-credit class the student must take, the credits will have to be made up in summer school or by taking an extra semester. A student placing into non-credit classes is not uncommon and is the result of a few issues:

1.              The student has taken a placement exam (often part of the orientation process) and from the scores earned on the test has been placed in the remedial class. Let’s face it, sometimes students coast through their senior year of high school and don’t put forth the effort required to maintain their skills in a specific subject, especially one they don’t like in the first place. Once June, July, or August rolls around and they take the placement test as part of college orientation or enrollment they haven’t even thought about the subject for six to twelve months. If this is the case, there is virtually no way they can improve their skills on the subject in time to jump right into a college level class. Basically, they need a refresher to be successful in a regular college class.

2.              The student’s grades and SAT or ACT scores are low enough in the subject to warrant remediation. If your child has always detested reading and writing and has the grades and standardized tests scores to prove it, he will probably not be able to succeed in college level composition classes without strengthening his skills in the subject. You probably already know what subjects your child has always struggled in so remedial placement is rarely a surprise. Even if your child earned grades high enough to pass these classes in high school, you can guarantee that the college level classes will be much more challenging.

3.              It is far better in the long run that your child enroll in the remedial class, even if it does not offer credit, because the alternative is to enroll in the higher level class and struggle all semester just to fail or perform poorly in the class.

Having to pay for and take non-credit classes is not fun and can be disheartening to a student who feels ready for college, but it is important for students to accept their academic challenges and work to overcome them before making the leap into a high stakes college level class. In addition, most non-credit classes are graded as pass/fail and grades in these classes are not calculated in the student’s GPA. Whereas, a student who enrolls in a regular college level class and fails it will have the grade permanently etched on his transcript.