In general, students may only receive credit once for completion of a course unless the course description states otherwise. Undergraduate students may repeat a course to improve their GPA under certain conditions. Graduate students may only repeat graduate courses with written permission from the advisor and approval of the Dean of the Graduate College.

The repeat policy is applicable to transfer credit as well as credit earned at Missouri State. For example, if a student earns a D in a course at Missouri State and repeats an equivalent course at another institution, the D will be removed from the calculation of the Missouri State GPA per the policy described below. The transfer grade, however, will be included only in the transfer and combined grade point averages. Transfer credit is evaluated and recorded only if students enroll at Missouri State subsequent to completion of such credit. See Grade Equivalencies in the "Transfer Credit Policy" section of the catalog for further information.

Students should also be aware that even though a course prefix, number, and/or title changes, it is still considered the same course for repeat policy purposes. Number and prefix changes are shown in the catalog for a minimum of five years. The Office of the Registrar maintains the complete listing of course prefix and number changes and should be contacted for such questions.

Courses can be repeated as follows.

Repeat of D or F or NP or XF grade:

The first repetition (second time taken) of the course replaces the original D or F grade in all grade point average computations from the time of the repetition. The original grade will continue to appear on the academic transcript with a comment of “R” for repeated and will be removed from the GPA calculation upon completion of the repeated course. A repeat of a NP grade will also have the comment of “R” and will remain on the academic transcript, however the original NP grade has no GPA effect to be removed. The repetition of the course will have a comment of “RD” for Repeat of D grade, or “RF” for Repeat of F or XF grade, or “RQ” for Repeat of NP grade; as appropriate.

• If the first repetition results in a D grade, a student may NOT repeat the course again without first obtaining Special Permission to repeat (see below).
• If the first repetition results in an F grade, the student loses credit if the original grade was a D. The F grade will remain in the GPA calculation even if it is subsequently repeated again. The subsequent repeat does not require special permission.
• If the first repetition results in a NP grade, there will be no GPA effect and no special permission is required for subsequent repeats. Only courses graded Pass/Not Pass only fall into this category as the Pass/Not Pass option is not allowed on a course that is taken to repeat a previous D or F grade (see Pass/Not Pass regulations).
• On occasion, the credit hours of a course may change. When such a course is repeated the original credit hours and grade points are removed from the GPA and the current credit hours and grade points will be accumulated into the GPA.
• Students should be aware that material covered in variable content courses may not be offered again, or a particular course may be discontinued. In such cases whereby the student may not have the opportunity to repeat a course where a D or F grade was received, a department head may authorize a similar course to be used for the subsequent repeat by submitting Authorization To Repeat Form to the Office of the Registrar. Such authorization must be granted in advance of when the course is to be taken. 

Special permission to repeat a C or better grade, or a second repeat of a D grade:

With advance written permission of the head of the department in which the course is to be taken, a student may repeat a course in which a grade of C or better has been received, or a course in which the repetition resulted in a D grade. Such a course will have a comment of “SP” posted to the academic transcript. This repetition will be accumulated into hours attempted and grade points so as to have a GPA effect. It will not be accumulated into hours passed. However, the hours will count for enrollment status purposes. Previously earned grade(s) will remain in the GPA calculation.

An Authorization to Repeat Form indicating approval for such a repeat must be received and processed by a staff member in the Office of the Registrar or it will be considered an invalid repeat and will not be counted toward hours passed or GPA.  

Permission to exceed the repeatable limit of a course:

With advance written permission of the head of the department in which the course is to be taken, the repetition of a course will be accumulated into hours attempted, hours passed, and grade points and will have a comment of “EL” for Exceeded Repeatable Limit posted to the academic transcript. An Authorization to Repeat Form indicating approval for such a repeat must be received and processed by a staff member in the Office of the Registrar or it will be considered an invalid repeat and will not be counted toward hours passed or GPA. This option may only be used under the following conditions:

1. Variable content course that allows repeats, but the student has exceeded the repeatable limit.
2. Courses completed over 8 years ago and are disallowed toward program completion requirements.
3. Course content has changed substantially either due to passage of time or due to changes to course content or course number.
4. Course is not repeatable but is a 500-level course that is required to be completed for both an undergraduate and a graduate degree program. 

Invalid Repeat

Any repetition of a course outside of the parameters listed above will be considered an invalid repeat. A grade may be earned and posted to the academic transcript, however, the credit hours and the grade points will not be accumulated into student totals and will not affect GPA. Such a course will have a comment of “IR” for Invalid Repeat.