Explaining low prerequisite grade?

[TotallyOriginalUsername]

I have a big, glaring, ugly irregularity on my applications and transcripts and that is my stats grade. I did very, very poorly when I took the first year level course, but still passed. My major problem with stats is testing- I can work through problems and understand the material fine when I have time to think about it, but find it difficult when I am under pressure. I usually do well on assignments and the like. I have had the same problems with math classes for a lot of my life. Unfortunately, the majority of the class grade in my stats class was made up of exam marks. At the time when I took that first course, I wasn't thinking seriously about grad school, and needed credit in the course to take other courses in my major and minor. So I made the (in hindsight, quite stupid) decision to stick with the class and received the awful grade.

 

In my final year, I decided to take the higher level up in order to boost my grade for my applications. I could not retake the first level course because I had already received credit in it (this is a school policy). I did very well in my SPSS lab and on my assignments. I studied like crazy for that class, but did not do very well on the midterm. The exam was very difficult, the class average was quite low, and the prof even apologized to the class but told us he couldn't do much to raise our grades. That said, I still made a lot of mistakes on my own merit, and my poor grade was largely my fault regardless of difficulty. This time, after consulting with the prof, I decided to withdraw, as I realized it wouldn't be worth the hit on my GPA if I received another poor grade (or especially if I failed).

 

Unfortunately, two of the schools I am applying to want me to declare a stats class as prerequisite course. Which means that they will definitely see my grade. All schools will see my transcript anyways, but the others don't seem to be looking for stats so far as I can tell. My other prerequisite grades are good, as are my grades in general- especially in the last two years where it counts. I have no other Ws or Fs on my transcript, and no other super low grades.  As I mentioned, my first stats course was a prereq for many of the courses I took later on. I was expected to have a strong understanding of statistics in those classes- and I did just fine.

 

I am applying to a professional program, and while some research will be part of my studies, my main focus is on clinical practice.

 

So, in regards to my SOPs:

 

How do I explain this to the two schools who are asking me to declare my stats grade? I feel like anything I say will just come across to them as making up excuses, especially the not testing well part.

 

How do I explain this if one of those schools has a specific prompt for their SOP that doesn't include explaining irregularities, AND has a limit of 3000 characters to begin with? My letters are already sent so I can't ask somebody to write it in there.    

 

Do I mention this to the other schools I am applying to, even though they are not asking for my stats grade? One of these does has a prompt for explaining irregularities.           

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me! 

Edited December 10, 2014 by TotallyOriginalUsername