From Bad to Worse: My Junior Year Classes. PLEASE HELP ME!

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>I'll go straight to the point: (These are my grades for the 1st Quarter).</p>

<p>Anatomy & Physiology Honors C
Chemistry ll Honors D
AP Psychology C
French ll C
Algebra ll B
AP American History D
AP English Language D</p>

<p>Grades as of right now:</p>

<p>Anatomy & Physiology Honors ?
Chemistry ll Honors F
AP Psychology C (or B; I manage to study for my quizzes)
French ll A
Algebra ll B
AP American History C (or B; depends on my next essay)
AP English Language ?</p>

<p>(Yes; It's that bad.) :(</p>

<p>I'm also withdrawn from 2nd Semester French 1 Class from FLVS because I couldn't manage to focus on my classes, community service, and do FLVS at the same time. Now I'm at my ultimate low. </p>

<p>This is my WORST year by far. I feel like CRYING and SCREAMING. :(</p>

<p>And Yes; I study and do my homework. Yes, I'm what you call a procrastinator, but not to the point where I'll let my grades slip this low. My Freshman and Sophomore years were great!</p>

<p>MY DECISION:</p>

<p>I decided to join 2 clubs (Key Club and Earth Club). I'm also thinking of giving up any sort of volunteering (Nursing Home and Hospital; Want to be a Nurse Practitioner) till the beginning of summer. It's the only way I could improve my grades).</p>

<p>Now, Question?: </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Is THIS the right decision? I want to go to a university (my parents will not support me if I go to community college) but I'm afraid that colleges will think that I'm not a well rounded student (2 clubs).</p></li>
<li><p>Is being withdrawn a BAD thing? If it is please tell me!</p></li>
<li><p>Is there any personal tips, (besides khan academy and making notes since I'm already doing this right now) for studying? Study tips that you did that helped your grade? ESPECIALLY IN CHEMISTRY!</p></li>
<li><p>I'm going to keep up my same pace of studying and notes, but I colleges to see a C's in my transcript ( Chemistry 1 and Chemistry 2) Will it kill my chances?!</p></li>
<li><p>Please tell me a true life story to cheer me up :( I'm really sad right now.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I know that I'm wasting time here on CC to write these questions, but really I need help, fast. I'm talking to my GC tomorrow, and already talked with one of my teachers. </p>

<p>I'm a FL resident so I'm applying to all FL universities.</p>

<p><em>Note this is rushed, so I might not have proper grammar and sentences</em>*</p>

<p>PLEASE HELP!!!</p>

2

<p>Can you drop a level in a class or 2? (Like instead of AP take honors) </p>

<p>A lot of FL schools aren’t that competitive. (I’m in FL too, but you couldn’t pay me to stay in-state.) If you raise your grades and switch to honors you could still get into UCF, Stetson, etc.</p>

3

<p>I feel like you are overloading and stretching yourself out too much. In terms of classes, figure out what type of classes you are good at (english or math) and take those courses at an advanced level. For example if u know you aren’t good at a certain subject, don’t take the hardest course for that class. You can also explain why you weren’t involved in many clubs when you write ur personal statement.</p>

4

<p>I Can’t :(. I talked to my GC; told me that it was too late to drop out. I should have decided earlier. I agree with her, but I didn’t know that THIS will happen to my grades, for the first 3-6 weeks I had solid A’s and B’s, but that last few weeks had killed me greatly, with tests at the same day and then suddenly having to read and hour a night for APUSH and Psych, a night and, doing 10 pages chemistry homework and essay and then math help, and Essay almost every week, I got overwhelmed.</p>

5

<p>Dropping community service won’t be such a big deal if you improve your grades. Don’t feel intimidated by all of the geniuses on here who balance 7 APs, have straight As, extensive ECs, etc. I had 3 Cs 1st semester of sophomore year, and 2 2nd semester. I had medical issues though. I am only involved in 1 club (I’m president of .it.) I do have 1000 community service hours though. I just got 2 acceptances. Messing up once in high school doesn’t mean you can’t get in anywhere. If you can get your grades up by dropping community service, then do it.</p>

6

<p>To the person who suggested explaining the situation in an essay, DON’T. Never explain bad grades, test scores, etc., in the essay. There’s an extra info part of the application if you feel the need to explain.</p>

7

<p>Are you taking ap psychology online because if you are could you tell me about the class like how many assigments if it hard or easy? And to help you out most colleges ask for a mid year report where you send in your grades later on in the year you should just try really hard to do all your work on time an maintain a b or at least a c so they know you are trying because these are really hard classes.</p>

8

<p>Drop as many other commitments as you can until you can bring your grades up. The majority of colleges don’t care about EC’s at all.</p>

9

<p>You don’t say how much time is left in your quarter (at my kids’ school, there is three weeks left, which is a factor in my recommendations):

  • Get a tutor for Chemistry TODAY and see if you can drag that grade up from failing. Ways to get a tutor: for my kids, we paid a language teacher they did not have that year for a couple of sessions a week. Or maybe you could get a senior who got an A to tutor you for less money. Or some schools have volunteering tutoring guilds or groups, so check that out. Do not hesitate on this, it should be your first step.
  • Do the studying (without ANY procrastinating) for Psych, History, and Anatomy/Physiology.
  • It sounds like you can’t drop for this quarter. But you need to see if you can juggle your schedule for 3rd & 4th quarter. My advice is to drop back at least one level in everything you get a C or worse in this quarter. To be blunt, you don’t seem to be able to handle AP and Honors courses. Better to get good grades in regular classes than to take a dive in all these harder classes.
  • Cut back on the extracurriculars. Grades are MUCH more important. I would say give up one club (the most time consuming one) and one of your volunteer activities. If you can cut the second volunteer activity back (say, go every other week instead of every week), that is fine. As you said, you can pick that up in the summer.
  • I think you may have some study skills issues in addition to a load that is too heavy. You should spend some time researching this topic over winter break when you have a breather, and make a list of techniques you want to try. Different things work for different people, so check out a range of websites and see what makes sense for you.</p>
10

<p>1) Yes, I think you are definitely doing the right thing. Improving your grades has to be top priority. I don’t think it’s good to stretch yourself too thin with community activities. Maybe if you get to a point where you’re comfortable with how you’re doing academically then you can rethink volunteering.
2) No, and it’s certainly nothing to stress over. I’ve never bought into the theory that you should put yourself in uncomfortable situations to socialize better. I’m not saying it’s not good to come out of your shell, but I think it’s important to do so on your own terms, maybe only a bit at a time.
3) It depends on what type of learner you are. I learn things best by writing them out, so things like making flash cards are more effective for me than actually using the flash cards afterwards.
4) I would certainly hope not.
5) The other day I was on the bus, sitting across from a man who I’m fairly sure was homeless. He seemed sort of out of it/half asleep. An old man got on the bus carrying five or six plastic grocery bags, and looked like he was having a lot of trouble walking with them. The bags themselves looked ready to tear. Then that out-of-it guy looked over, got suddenly more alert, and pulled five cloth bags out of his jacket (those ones that roll into little balls). He helped the elderly man sit down, re-bagged his stuff, and then sat down and went right back to half-sleep…It’s not school related, but seeing it cheered me up.</p>