<p>Are you guys ready for high school? I honestly wasn’t too sad to be done with 8th grade…I mean, I was a little apprehensive (had the “Wow, 9th grade, beginning of the end and when it really starts to count” mentality) but was excited to start high school and be with the older kids. High school is wayy more freedom (which is good and bad). </p>
<p>And looking back to what I wrote on the first page, that was a little harsh…definitely not a bad thing to be on here (I wouldn’t have known a lot of things about applying to college had I hadn’t been here) but just don’t spend too much time on here. </p>
<p>Still a freshman so my advice probably won’t mean too much, but here’s what I learned.</p>
<p>Without paying attention, middle school was still a breeze. I go to a private high school, so I went to high school knowing almost no one. Because of this, I was more focused on the social aspects of high school like making friends, worrying about dances, and possible love interests rather than worrying about my grades. Although I was more focused on the social life, my grades were still straight A’s and I thought I’d be able to keep this up… but then I got lazier and lazier. Stopped paying attention in classes to talk or just to draw on random pieces of paper. I’d zone in and out of the lectures, and I watched as my grades slowly deteriorated into B’s (which isn’t bad at all, but I knew I could do better). Anyways, long story short I ended up having to do so much crap at the end of the year to get my grades good enough for the finals. And even now my grades are still not where I want them to be.
tl;dr DON’T SLACK OFF. </p>
<p>Don’t spend toooooooooo much time on here. Countless times I find myself on here when I have so much homework to do or when I have tests or finals to study for… which is what I should be doing now. It’s good to come on here to read some good advice, but don’t come here when you know you have work to do, take it from me.</p>
<p>Keep your goals in mind. This goes back to being lazy. I am KNOWN for not coming to school. I’ve had like 20+ absences this year because I feel like I need more time to study or get my homework finished even though I could have gotten it done but was too lazy. Knowing your goals will help you remember why you’re working so hard and remind you not to get lazy. Think of your future!</p>
<p>Lastly, have fun!!! I swear this year went by sooooo fast! Enjoy your high school years. Go to all your dances and football games. You won’t regret it. Don’t worry about not having a social life because I promise you it is VERY possible to get good grades, have a social life, and do sports at the same time if you work hard at it. Good luck! Freshman year is greaaaaat.</p>
<p>Then again, I’m probably one of the laziest persons at my school, so don’t know if you should trust me… Take this advice and do what you wish!</p>
<p>Algebra 1 (yes…laugh at me)
English 9 (Honors)
World History 1 (Honors)
Biology (Honors)
Spanish II
Intro to Media
PE/Health 9</p>
<p>Just for a little background on my schedule, 3 years of a foreign language and 2 of PE is required at my school, so that was a “must have” on my schedule. I took the hardest schedule possible (albeit the math class)…no AP classes until 10th. And for the record, I took Honors, but it wasn’t very “honors” like, ha. </p>
<p>I’ve been slowly increasing my load since then…by 12th I’ll be in all college level classes except for math and journalism. I don’t really recommend jumping from 0 to a bajillion AP classes, that is, if you’d like at least somewhat of a life and minimal sleep…</p>
<p>17ers and other classes (if applicable), when do you guys plan to take standardized testing? I’m probably going with the ACT seeing as how the SAT is getting a redesign in 2014 (still might take it though) and I want to start studying now (If i study now and the test changes in 2014, it’ll be useless) What do you guys think I should do?</p>
<p>Now, apparently, the ACT is changing in 2015 as well to digital testing+“virtual” questions where you actually perform tasks and stuff to get to the answer. 2015 is okay, I guess, because I can take the current ACT by then (so I can start studying now).</p>
<p>So what do you guys think I should do? Should I change when I start studying or something or should I just go for the current test and start studying now?</p>
<p>If it’s getting redesigned, I’m gonna learn general SAT stuff and take an attempt before the change. As for the ACT, I’m already trading hard for it, I think I can get near perfect score Freshmen year, and get it out of the way.</p>
<p>Ah, I don’t really want to think too much about the act/sat until I get into high school… I have studied simple stuff for the tests but I haven’t gone far enough to purchase any study books or think about taking them yet. </p>
<p>Should I be thinking about taking them? See, now you guys are scaring me.</p>
<p>@oboefreak and elainajulia- some of us (tomatox and I and probably more) have taken the sat and act, and it’s never too early to think about it. But don’t stress about it. Have you taken practice tests?</p>
<p>Oh, and my freshman schedule next year will be</p>
<p>H. Precalculus
H. English 10
AP world history
AP chemistry
PE I
Health/computers
I’ll take these at my local public school and
AP Chinese online</p>
<p>I’m trying to get into AP English but it might be a bit awkward being in class with juniors and seniors.</p>
<p>@sg12909 I’ll try! I’ve taken the legit ACT and I did fairly decent, but it was with little studying. Since then I’ve already upped the score 4-5 points.</p>
<p>Anyway, what do you mean by insane? It’s a subjective matter to anyone. Do you mean taking many APs in 9th grade? Even then, I think only 2 or 3 people here have those in their schedules. I, for one, want to take APs, but my school does not allow taking APs in 9th grade. So if you’re in a similar situation, then colleges will understand that you are restricted in your AP studies during freshman year. In fact, many colleges don’t even look at your freshman year (But you should still do well because your freshman year affects your total GPA)</p>
<p>^ I wouldn’t say “many” don’t look at freshman year.
Most top schools will take it into account (save California)
Many just don’t put as much weight on freshman year</p>
<p>I’m only taking APs because they’re next in the normal course progression (I was accelerated). I’m surprised your schools won’t let you do APs in 9th- you guys are public right? Mine seems pretty accommodating. I’m not sure what I’ll do when I finish the courses they offer though.
And @oboe did you sign up on your own or through a school/talent program? If you did it on your own and scored well, you might want to try registering with a program because they can help give you some leverage with your school if you want to do APs.</p>
High school is wayy more freedom (which is good and bad). </p>
Don’t worry about not having a social life because I promise you it is VERY possible to get good grades, have a social life, and do sports at the same time if you work hard at it. Good luck! Freshman year is greaaaaat.</p>
everyone here has this insane class schedules, and I’m stuck with extremely basic subjects… :(</p>