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APU Student Handbook
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Last Revision: January 24, 2025

Failing Grades - Repeating Courses

Students are eligible for a one-time course retake for a failing grade “F”. They may retake the same course if it is still offered at APUS or a course equivalency has been established for the curriculum.

APUS allows the opportunity for all undergraduate, master's, and graduate certificate students to retake a passed course, limited to one retake per passed course. The new grade, regardless of whether it is lower than the first attempt, will replace the previous grade earned in the student's GPA. The previous grade will show as “R” on the student's transcript. Students should contact academic advising at [email protected] to make the retake request for passed courses. Please note that not all funding sources will pay for the student's second passed retake, so students should check with their funding source before registration.

Retaking a Failed Course:

APUS now allows students one opportunity to retake a failed course and have their original failed grade forgiven from their GPA. The original failing grade will show as “R” on the student's transcript, and the previous failing grade will be removed from their GPA as long as they complete the course retake. However, students will still see their original failing grade on their personal online academic plan and their individual online grade reports.

If a student is an undergraduate student who fails ENGL101 or ENGL110 twice, they may be placed on academic suspension pending dismissal from the university. Students should contact their Academic Advisor for additional assistance.

If a student fails any other course required in their program twice, they will either be required to change their program or they may no longer be eligible to continue at APUS, depending upon their academic progression and if they have attempted too many courses to qualify for a program change.

Before August 2008

  • If the course start date for a student's retaken course was before August 1, 2008, the retake does not impact the original failing grade. Both failing grades will be displayed on the transcript and both will be incorporated into the GPA.

August 2008 to April 2014:

  • If the course start date for a student's retaken course was on or after August 1, 2008, the retake removes the impact of the original failing grade on their GPA.

On or After April 2014:

  • Any courses starting in April 2014 or after, will only be allowed one retake. 
  • All failed attempts of the course before April 2014 will count as one failure, so as of April 2014, students will still have one attempt available to pass any previously failed course.
  • If a student fails a required course twice in their program, they will need to change their major to a program where that course is not required.

Important Information:

  • The course retake policy only applies if the exact course that the student previously failed is still offered or if a course equivalency has been established in the curriculum and University systems.
  • This policy does not apply to Comprehensive Exam courses. Students should review the Failing a Comprehensive Exam section of the Student Handbook for the retake policy on these course types.
  • Original failing grades of retaken courses will still be used to calculate SAP (Satisfactory Academic Progress) for financial aid and the 150% rule of course credit attempted vs course credit earned for graduation eligibility.
  • The retake policy does not apply to courses that a student took in programs that they have already completed. For example, if a student failed a course in their Associate's program, and has already had that degree conferred, they cannot have the original failing grade forgiven in their GPA by retaking it now in their Bachelor’s program.
  • The Army does not follow AMU’s course retake policy when it is calculating a student's overall GPA for TA eligibility. The Army’s GPA is independent of the GPA of a soldier's home college. It is calculated by averaging the grades for each completed course in the soldier's Army Education records.
  • UNDERGRADUATE ONLY: If a student previously took a split science lecture/lab course combination, and failed one of the component courses, they will not be able to retake this science combination. Students will need to take a different Science course selection to fulfill their General Education requirement. If the specific course they failed is a required course in a student's program, they should contact their Academic Advisor to help with this process.