<p>Usually, colleges consider your ECs already as the reason your grades are low. There is no point saying that to them again. My lit teacher said to me that colleges look at ur GPA and your ECs and make an estimate on the GPA you COULD have accomplished if you did not do your ECs. And by the way, what did you get on the AP exams for the AP classes you got Bs in? If you get a 5 or atleast a 4 you can probably say that you succeeded in the class despite what grade you got.</p>
<p>lol yes it was, Diablo!!</p>
<p>i've only taken 3 (in sophomore year)</p>
<p>and they weren't good</p>
<p>3 ap euro
3 ap chemistry
4 ap comp sci</p>
<p>i KNOW (as in i have confidence) that I will get a couple 5s this year, and the rest fours. i have to!! Study!!</p>
<p>Calc BC AP was somewhat hard. Physics Mechanics was pretty easy to me and Physics Electricity and Magnetism was slightly harder but easy nonetheless. Easy 5s! But maybe that's because I lean way too much towards towards the physics and math. Everyone else I asked said they were impossibly hard. But I hate bio, if I had to take AP exam in bio I would fail.</p>
<p>in our school AP Physcs is The HARDEST AP exam.
(and ap french)</p>
<p>only 1 person got a 4 last year.
2 people got a 3
everyone else failed.</p>
<p>bio
3 5s
couple 4s
most 3s</p>
<p>our science department isnt that hot
we have history department that's pretty good</p>
<p>"in our school AP Physcs is The HARDEST AP exam.
(and ap french)</p>
<p>only 1 person got a 4 last year.
2 people got a 3
everyone else failed."</p>
<p>That really doesn't make sense. I got to public school where funds are shall we say, not for the physics teacher to dispense at will, and out of a class of 19 we have nine kids taking the AP C mechanics (and the teacher expecting 4s or 5s) and the rest are taking the AP B (and the teacher expecting 4s or 5s). He's basing his expectations off the trends he's seen for the last... nineteen years I want to say is how long he's been teaching the course.</p>
<p>^ I'm in the same boat. Average public high school and the teacher is still expecting 5's and 4's out of the kids taking it (again, about 1/2 the class).</p>
<p>So is this illustrious instuctor with high expectations giving a review session or two or three for his students to help improve his yield? Is some other teacher willing if he is not???</p>
<p>chanman,
you need to calm down a little and focus on the positive. First of all, you rank is good. Your EC's are good. Your question should be - what do you need to do to improve your second semester junior grades, and your senior grades next year.</p>
<p>I think you know the answer - if you want stellar grades, you are probably going to have to cut back on EC's at least for the rest of this year. My son had to do this last year - he did not do the spring musical. Yes, he was annoyed, but he will be attending UChicago this fall. Now, his grades (and especially his rank) were lower than yours. But junior year is important. You can't change the past. You do have some control over the next couple of months.</p>
<p>The good news is that your EC's make you a more interesting candidate, and you will have more to discuss in interviews.</p>
<p>"So is this illustrious instuctor with high expectations giving a review session or two or three for his students to help improve his yield? Is some other teacher willing if he is not???"</p>
<p>I think he's planning maybe two or so review sessions in the early morning while he tends to his usual detention crowd. The man is a perfect example of how a teacher should teach. With nothing more than the old textbooks the schools have, a photocopier, and personal toys he's collected over the years, he's able to routinely get a great percentage of the class to score 4s and 5s on the AP exam. More teachers like him and you could slash the education budget in half and still get quality results if you really wanted to.</p>
<p>How is physics AP hard. If you took the Physics SAT II, the multiple choice questions look almost exactly the same. Same tricks, same difficulty, same answers. And how can people fail? The curve for a 5 on the mechanics is about 65%, and the curve on the E&M is about 60%. To fail, you need less than 30% right!</p>
<p>yes, and that's what our students get</p>
<p>the teacher doesn't teach
he sits on his computer all day
the students basically have to self read the book and do self homework</p>
<p>and not all kids at our school are top stellar scholars
they DO get less than 30%</p>