<p>I don't know where to put this...or what to do.</p>
<p>I guess this is my way of relieving stress, I do not know. I just want some input from people who went through a rigorous senior year.</p>
<p>I am a good student. My GPA is 3.92 Unweighted out of 4.0. ACT was 34. I plays sports, do many extracurriculars, into music, have a part-time job...blah blah blah.</p>
<p>But I am struggling.</p>
<p>Real bad.</p>
<p>And it has only been 3 weeks.</p>
<p>In AP Biology, I failed...as in 50ish/100 on my last 2 tests. I currently have a D
I bombed my BC Calculus Test. I currently have a D.</p>
<p>I seriously.....have no idea what to do. I am ridiculously stressed out even though all my teachers say if I work at it, I will be fine. Elaborate PLEASE.</p>
<p>There is no doubt in my mind if I keep this up, I will not be accepted into college. If I am, and then they see my senior grades, they will rescind their decision.</p>
<p>So please, if any of you have any wise words of wisdom, or advice, PLEASE enlighten me.
What makes it so hard is that I have never really had to worry too much about grades before. Now it is killing me. Kind of like an analogy with wealthy families who lose everything. Once they have no $$, they have no idea how to survive normally. I am lost.</p>
<p>Don’t panic. Talk to your teachers. Do some self-examination: is the material too tough? Are you not working hard? Is everyone else getting the same scores? It’s early and there’s plenty of time to right the ship but you have to remain calm and use the resources that are available to you.</p>
<p>Finally, trust your teachers. If they say you’ll be fine, work hard and you will be; there’s no reason for them to lie to a top student about that.</p>
<p>Get some counseling. ASAP. Sometimes when high school seniors are faced with their first big decision in life – picking their college and figuring out what they want to do the next four years – they become so afraid that they sabotage themselves. That may be what’s happening to you.</p>
<p>It also may help to know that you don’t need to know 100% what you want to major in in college. For virtually all majors, you don’t need to pick a major until your junior year. Most college students change majors at least twice.</p>
<p>In addition, the college you select to attend needn’t be the one that you graduate from. If you don’t like the college, you can transfer. It’s not as if you make a bad choice, your life is ruined forever.</p>
<p>And while college is a big decision, it will not determine the entire course of your life. You may change fields, regions or interests long after college.</p>
<p>Were you taking AP’s before?? Maybe the material is too difficult and you should do honors level or regular level in these courses. Not everyone can get A’s and B’s in the hardest classes and it’s nothing to be ashamed of.</p>
<p>Yes, all my classes were either AP/AC the previous years.</p>
<p>I have no idea what is happening to me. I guess stress is the biggest factor and my fear of failure.</p>
<p>Thanks Northstarmom, spoken like a true mother =P I don’t think I’m at the point where I need counseling. I was just wondering if other students have encountered my situation and how they conquered it.</p>
<p>I’ve studied the same way for tests for pretty much all of high school with pretty good results. It just confuses me how Bio/Calc don’t work the same way.</p>
<p>Absolutely agree with Northstarmom, by all means go talk with a counselor right away. If there is something bothering you that is standing in your way academically, it will be a great weight off your shoulders to get some support.</p>
<p>In terms of BC Calc and AP Bio, do these have a reputation for being extremely tough classes at your school? Do the teachers generally give very low grades on the initial quizzes? If this is the case, you might be in the same boat as a lot of other students. If there are study groups or students seeking help in mass, by all means, join them.</p>
<p>Does your school have peer tutoring or teachers who are available to help? It would probably be good to talk to the teachers, but it might also be helpful if you could start some tutoring right now, this week. If this is something your family can swing financially, consider that maybe even a short period of tutoring might get you over this bump in the road. Even finding an inexpensive local college student could be helpful.</p>
<p>Finally, especially if you are a humanities kid who is taking the toughest possible math and science classes in order to have the most rigorous curriculum possible and not because you are in love with these subjects, do you really need to be in both of these classes? For example, could you drop down to regular or honors bio, or take AP environmental instead? Such a change is not going to keep you our of competitive colleges or be any kind of a catastrophe. It sounds as if you are under so much pressure right now.</p>
<p>Well yea a lot of my friends in AP Bio have C’s but I guess I’m just doing worse than all of em =/</p>
<p>But oh well, weeeee’lllll see how it all goes I guess. Its my AP Bio teacher’s 1st year teaching AP Bio…and she’s ridiculously boring and assigns a crap load of work.</p>
<p>Speaking of humanities, I’ve always been a science/math kid, but I am taking Humanities this year which is Art History, European History, Literature, and I am enjoying that quite a lot. And sadly, no AP Environmental haha. If I had to drop it’d be down to ecology or something…which is a 1st-grade class. As for BC Calc, my parents want me to hold my ground for as long as possible, and yes, tutoring is a viable option for me right now I suppose. I just hope I do well on the test tomorrow =P</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice guys! It really helps.</p>
<p>hahah i’m freaking out about the same thing. this year i’m taking humanities (but it’s lit, history, art, music), AP bio, AP calc AB (not really a math person lol), AP spanish, an independent study in art, and I’m also TAing. I’ve always been a straight A student but my most recent grades in Bio and Calc have been a 56/100 and 71/100 respectively. And Humanities is the most demanding course at my HS; I feel immensely overwhelmed already with the amount of work we’re getting (the class is worth it though). Coupled with outside activities, doctor’s appointments, college apps (obviously…), etc., I think it would be abnormal if someone didn’t slip a little.</p>
<p>Believe me though, I know it’s easier said than done hahah. I’ve been screaming into my pillow several times these past few weeks…it’s a great stress reliever.</p>
<p>I’m starting to see someone for it (actually for something else, but it helps to talk about it there) and it’s just as northstarmom said. we tend to sabotage ourselves when we get way in over our heads.</p>
<p>talk to your teachers; maybe they can cut you some slack. most teachers are aware that first semester senior year is extremely stressful, and while few will significantly lighten the workload, the majority of them will be very understanding and perhaps give you a day or two leeway.</p>
<p>Courage! (as we say in french) you will make it :)</p>
<p>My oldest son battled his senioritis by joining a study group, mostly to cover AP Bio together. They helped each other with studying, college applications and staying motivated; he learned a lot about how other students achieve their goals. Talk to your friends about a group; it’s a challenging year for everyone.</p>
<p>I totally feel you man. Same classes except no Spanish AP, dropped it this year after 4AC haha…and Calc BC. And yes, Humanities is very time-demanding, but I feel I do learn a lot, don’t you? =P I also think its courageous of you to open up and talk about you problems with others. Keep that up. </p>
<p>I guess a lot of people are feeling my pain right now. Our average test score was 70 in Biology. I just think its an extreme misconception that junior year is harder than senior year. Sure, junior year was really tough, but for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been stressed out like no other. Most of my friends are actually, and I guess our load will lighten up a bit once college stuff gets done. </p>
<p>I can totally relate. Sometimes what I do is just take a day off from school to remotivate myself and catch up on sleep. It really helps. I did this today , and I feel refreshed and ready for school tomorrow!</p>
<p>Normally, my parents won’t go for days off like this, but I think they understand how important it is to give some time to myself during periods of so much stress.</p>
<p>History AP (Humanities): B+
AP Biology: C+
AP Calculus BC: D+
Literature AP (Humanities): B+
Health Science Class: B+</p>
<p>We are 1/4 the way through the semester…and my grades look like this. Has anyone who has been in this large of a deficit manage to bring their grades back to all A’s by the end of the semester? I need some inspiration here. My 3.92 might just drop to a 3.6 by the end of the year. All my hard work the previous years will have been for nothing. Anyone ever conquered a situation like this?</p>
<p>OK, this is not the end of the world. This is a situation you can cope with and improve. I’m wondering if you’re getting some of the help that was suggested earlier in the thread, following your original post. It sounded as if you were overwhelmed and could really benefit from talking to a counselor. Are you talking to a counselor? Have you gotten tutoring and/or study group help? Have you checked into whether you could still, at this point in the semester, drop down or switch classes for AP Calc or Bio in which you seem to be having the most trouble, and which may be sucking up time that you could use for your other classes? Have you talked with your GC to see if she has suggestions? </p>
<p>Several years ago, one of my kids was in a truly dreadful pre-calc class – a class so bad that I actually insisted that none of my other kids ever get this particular teacher even though he was very nice. The grades on the first few quizzes were awful across the board, in part because this was the teacher’s philosophy and in part because he wasn’t getting the material across. A number of kids dropped down several weeks in. Some got tutoring and eventually brought the grade up. Flash forward several years. I can think of one of the drop down kids and one of the gut it out but still not an A at the end kids at top 10 unis. </p>
<p>During the applying to college period, everything the student does seems to have amplified significance. It’s a cliche, but it can be a real emotional roller coaster. Please get yourself some support and some help in evaluating your alternatives.</p>
<p>chill guys. It’s still the beginning of the year, and I assume that most of your classes are year-long? Look at how you’re studying. Just spending hours reading the material doesn’t count. Rework it. If you hand-write your notes at school, type them up when you get home; it puts the information in a different part of your brain. Teach your cat, or your little brother. If nobody’s home, read the information out loud to yourself. If someone is, explain it to them.</p>
<p>And remember that, chances are, your teacher is tougher than the test. And sometimes, with AP classes and tests, you may have an excellent grasp of the information, you just have to learn how to take the test. Yesterday I got back a test from my IB European History teacher–it was the first time that we’d taken that sort of IB example test, and even though I took AP Euro my sophomore year, have aided for two AP Euro classes since, and had IB Euro last year as well, I didn’t even get a 50%. But instead of freaking out, I went and talked to my teacher about it, and he gave me some really good tips.</p>
<p>Just chill, and you’ll be fine. Try and be more efficient with your studying. And most of all : DON’T PANIC.</p>
