At the beginning of Covid, more specifically the year 2020-2021, I did a 1-year master's program in math but I have received very bad grades. I was very distracted by the illness of two of my keen relatives, who both passed away that year and struck me pretty hard. I had to run between hospitals and my home to take care of them and really had no time to study or do any research. Eventually I barely passed the exams but had really low grades in all my courses.
I know this doesn't represent my true academic potential because I have received a first class honor for math during my undergrad at the same institution which is top in the country, and a 3.9ish gpa in my current (second) math master's program in the US (of course, my application to PhD that year also didn't go well) with much more solid research experiences and (I think) strong letters. I have seen some past posts where people advise that do not talk at all about the weakness/bad grades. Should I explain in my case? If so, how should I do it? Do I include it in my SoP or in an extra document?
