Hello, everyone! Thanks for coming to offer me some counsel. I currently have a %61 in my AP Physics 1 course. I am a high school junior and a very intelligent person, but an awful student. I have been depressed and have been seeing a Psychologist for about 2 months now. I am afraid I am going to fail the class. I am also taking Precalculus, AP US History, and Dual Enrollment College Art History, and am doing fine in those. I have extreme procrastination issues and I feel like I have been left behind in the class because the assignments are so long and I have the class 1st Period so I just answer key them right before class and don’t learn anything or in many instances, just don’t do them. I know how awful an F can look on a transcript and I by no means am trying to get into an ivy league. However, I have a target GPA and ACT score I am trying to meet; being a 30 on the ACT and 3.75 high school GPA to get a full ride to the college I plan to go to (Colorado Mesa). I currently have a 3.82 and a 28 on the ACT. I live in an egregiously small town and we barely have anything in terms of AP classes we have no honors program. We don’t have weighted GPA’s, so all of my classes are unweighted. I currently see 4 outcomes; best case scenario I pass with a C and take another Semester; I fail this semester and drop the course next semester; I get a C and drop next semester anyway; or I fail this Semester and show some perseverance on my transcripts and get a C/B next semester. I would be a fool to blame my situation on outside forces and it is strictly my fault, but I am looking for some advice from people who have been or know someone who has been in a similar situation. Thanks All!
I don’t want to sound rude but if you are a quote on quote intelligent person, then these types of classes shouldn’t be hard for you. You can be an awful student, but still pass the class because of your “intelligence”.
I am currently taking AP Physics 1, and have a B-, but it depends on the teacher. You should consider talking with your teacher to see if there is anything you can do to help your grade, this definitely helped me raise my poor grades in the 11th-grade year.
Don’t want to put a damper on your intelligence, but people who usually consider themselves to be very smart are just on par average with everyone else… there is something called being humble.
I doubt you’ll fail the class, it seems like you’ve shown academic excellence for an “awful student”.
Goodluck.
I don’t value humility as much as you do. I value my intelligence much more than others as well. Call that arrogance if you will. As to address your other claims, the teacher rarely gives actual lessons and rather opts to chat with students all period, she is rude, and and there is too much homework which I have no motivation to do. Nor do I have that self-motivation to essentially self-study the material. Tests are incredibly difficult, weighted very heavily, and not graded on a curve. If you’re going to quantify my intelligence based on how I perform in one unfair class rather than something like the fact that I score well above the 95th percentile in everything, I don’t know what to tell you. There are 3 other 4.0-level students in my class of 14 that are struggling as much as I am. It’s unfair of you to hint at unintelliligence based off of this one class. Also, by bad study habits, I mean I do my Homework during my Internship and Lunch, rather than at home. Having a class first hour and lengthy homework isn’t boding well for me. As for the approaching her, she is very stern and rude and I don’t know how to go about it. If you have any meaningful advice to go about that, I would appreciate it.
Not considering your “intelligence” here, but you have just as much chance of getting at least a high B in this class than anyone in any 4.0 student. I currently have an A- in physics, and all I do is homework, and review notes. I use to use the answer key for homework right before the class, but that never gotten me anywhere. You recognized your issues and mistakes, so I suggest go fix them the way you need to. Crash Courses have really help me, and I already bought a prep book that I look through before a test. AP Physics is one of the first AP classes I have taken, so it is a big jump from honors chem, and I understand, I am struggling as well. Sometimes, my teacher isn’t really helpful, so I go to the other AP Physics teachers or upperclassmen for help, which I suggest you to do if you have multiple Physics teachers. Hope this helps!
Do the assignments! Physics is not a spectator sport–you need to practice!