If you repeat a course, which mark do universities use?
Most universities use your highest grade, which is why repeating a course is usually a safe bet. The exceptions are the ones worth knowing before you register. Queen's uses the grade from your most recent attempt — repeat a course and do worse, and the lower mark is the one that counts. At Toronto, Engineering generally does not consider repeated grades at all and Rotman Commerce counts only your first attempt. Western has a threshold rather than a rule: two repeats or fewer and it takes your highest attempt, three or more and it averages them.
Waterloo has updated this since
The guide says Waterloo considers each case individually. Waterloo has since published a clearer answer for the cycle you are applying to: “If you repeat a course and apply to any program at Waterloo for September 2027 entry, you will not be penalized in the application process. If you repeat a course, we’ll use your highest grade in that course when calculating your admission average.” Treat Waterloo as a highest-grade university.
Waterloo’s own page, checked 16 August 2026.
Every answer below is what the university tells Ontario guidance counsellors, quoted from the OUAC guide for September 2026 entry. It isn’t published on their student pages. Rules like this change rarely; dates don’t — check any date here with the university. Where this comes from.
What each of the 23 universities says
We will use the highest grade to calculate the admission average.
We will use the highest grade to calculate the average.
We will use the highest grade to calculate the average.
We will use the highest grade to calculate admission and scholarship averages.
We will use the highest grade to calculate the average.
We will use the highest grade reported in the calculation of the admission average.
We may ask students who repeated more than 2 courses, or individual courses more than twice, to provide a letter detailing any extenuating circumstances that may have led to repeating multiple courses.
We will use the highest grade achieved to calculate the average.
We will use the highest grade to calculate the final entrance average.
If an applicant repeats a course to improve a grade for submission, we will use the highest grade in the admission calculation.
Schools must submit grades according to the dates outlined at: www.ontariotechu.ca/admissions.
We use the grade from the most recent attempt to calculate the admission average.
We will use the highest grade achieved.
We will consider the highest grade.
We use the highest completed grade to calculate admission, scholarship and award averages. Some exceptions apply. www.torontomu.ca/requirements
For courses taken more than once, we will use the highest final grade to calculate the admission average and scholarship eligibility.
We use the highest U/M grade reported for all courses completed at a Ministry-inspected and -approved school.
We will use the highest U/M grade reported, provided the course is taken at a Ministry-inspected and -approved school.
We use the highest grade to calculate the average.
Generally, the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering Admissions Committee does not consider repeated course grades.
Rotman Commerce, within the Faculty of Arts & Science, will consider only the first attempt at each subject.
We reserve the right to take into account repeated courses.
Applicants may request special consideration in extenuating circumstances.
We will consider each case individually. www.uwaterloo.ca/future/repeated-courses
We will use the highest grade achieved for a repeated course.
If a student has 3 or more repeats, we will take the average of their attempts. If a student has 2 or fewer repeats, we will take the highest attempt.
Faculty of Science and the Lazaridis School of Business & Economics programs: We use a weighted average of the first and latest course attempts for required courses only.
All other programs and faculties: We use the highest grade in any repeated courses.
We will accept the highest grade.
Other things students ask
- Do night school, summer school and online courses count for university admission?
- Do Grade 11 marks matter for Ontario university admission?
- Does the order you rank programs on OUAC matter?
- What happens if you don't get into your first-choice program?
- Which Ontario universities require a supplementary application?
- Which Ontario universities give automatic entrance scholarships?
Policies decide whether a mark counts. Your average decides where it gets you.