I'm embarrassingly bad at AP Statistics and AP Biology...any tips?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

In my freshman year, I took no AP classes, as high school itself was a new thing, and I didn’t know how hard it would be. The most advanced thing of my freshman year was English 1 honors.

I saw that regular/honors classes in high school weren’t that bad…so in my sophomore year I decided to take AP Psychology, my first AP class ever.

It was challenging, yes. And I stayed up late several nights studying my butt off…it was the most I had ever studied for a class in my life…but in the end I still pulled off a low A in the class, and a 5 on the AP exam.

My teacher was great and I found the material interesting, so though it was challenging and a lot of work, it wasn’t all bad in the end.

Then, for my current junior year, I decided to push my limits even further…I decided to take AP English Language, since I’ve always quite enjoyed literature, and am a decent writer for a beginner. I decided to take AP Biology, since I did excellent in biology honors in my sophomore year. And I decided to take AP Statistics…I actually had already had honors statistics my sophomore year and HATED it, but my guidance counselor pretty much forced me to take it as a 3rd AP class.

And now I’m halfway through my junior year…and I’m doing decent in AP lang. I got a 87.80% B for the current 3rd quarter, and a 91.07% A year to date overall…which is really good in my opinion. I want to get the B up to a low A, but that shouldn’t be too difficult.

But in AP Biology…I’m not doing as good. I got a 63.01% D for the current 3rd quarter, and a 78.03% V year to date…in which in my opinion the year to date isn’t that bad, but we’re only like halfway through the 3rd quarter. If I keep failing all my tests my year to date might drop to a D or even an F eventually.

And in AP Statisitics…boy, I’m doing even worse. I got a 53.85% F for the current 3rd quarter, and a 70.12% C for the year to date.

My grades for the current quarters are so bad cuz I failed a big test for both…for AP Biology I got a 49% F on the last test, and for AP Statisitics I got a 25% F on the last test…for AP Statistics, it’s actually put in as two separate grades, but I got a 50% on the multiple choice part and a 0% on the FRQ part, averaging at 25%.

Honestly, knowledge-wise my grades for AP Statistics and AP Biology should be even LOWER. They’re only as high as they are because most assignments in those classes are completion-based than accuracy-based, and I have really nice teachers who give out a lot of extra credit.

I don’t always have a lot of time to study as I get out of school at 2:20PM, and then I gotta get to work by 3:00PM, and it lasts for 7 hours, meaning I only get home at 10:00PM every night, meaning I’m super exhausted.

It’s not like I have a choice, either, because my family is super broke, and I need to help contribute towards our savings. My mom and dad only have minimum wage jobs here. We’re Brazilians without U.S citizenship, so we don’t have many options.

But still…even on days where I got home at 10PM, and did NOTHING but study, not even go to sleep…I still can’t understand anything about AP Biology, and even less so about AP Statisitics.

When I’m in class I just suddenly forget everything.

It really hurts, too, as my peers are all incredibly smart and get a new concept within’ seconds, and I’m literally the most stupid person in the class.

So…any tips? Maybe I’m studying the wrong way? Maybe I should get more sleep? Etc?

2

Did your guidance counselor know about your 7 hour job? It seems clear that your course load is too heavy and you are not getting enough sleep. But anyway, get off the Internet because that’s probably not helping.

3

How well have you done in math until now? If you find math challenging, or do not have sufficient math background, stats may be difficult. As for AP Bio, it looks like there is a lot of math and statistics, as well as modelling in the course, which may be different than what you studied in Honors, which may have been more descriptive than analytical.

Have you done any other honors science courses?

You should definitely get more sleep. You should also see whether your school has some tutoring possibilities, since you may simply need somebody to explain things differently than your teacher does.

Good luck

4

@damon30

Thank you for your response.

Yeah, but she didn’t seem to care. She just talked super confidently as if that my final schedule and nothing was gonna change it.

My school in general is not known for having good or super compassionate guidance counselors. It’s not uncommon for students to complain about guidance counselors putting them in classes they didn’t even want.

But yeah, course load too heavy and not enough sleep sounds accurate…

And about the internet, I’m actually ALREADY significantly less time on it than most of my peers. Lol.

Heck, I don’t even use my phone AT ALL at school or at work, unless it’s to actually call somebody, or take a picture of something important. As opposed to my peers who are on that thing like 24/7…and that includes my work peers, too, some of which are grown men and women, lol.

I’m only really on it to relax a bit after I got back from work and have completed all my homework/studied enough.

5

@MWolf

Let’s see here…I did algebra 1 honors in 7th grade, geometry honors in 8th grade, regular algebra 2 in 9th grade, and honors statistics in 10th grade…and I HATED all of it. I’ve just never been a math person. But I was still able to acheive at least a decent grade on it, like a B, since it was just regular work and not college level work.

Yeah, I find math VERY challenging. Always have.

As for AP Bio…your description comparing it to honors is actually 100% accurate.

Honors science courses…I did biology honors in 10th grade, and physical science honors in 8th grade…I didn’t really have a science course in 9th grade, since it was a weird year where I had to go back to Brazil briefly, and when I came back we were in the 3rd quarter…I took anthropology for 0.5 credits, but I’m not sure that counts.

Yeah, more sleep IS important, regardless of how often people like to ignore it.

It has tutoring possibilities, but I don’t know if my parents will let me get a few hours off of work for tutoring…my parents are not that type that’s too concerned with school grades. They have a “good nuff” mentality to it. “At least you’re getting those grades in AP classes, not in regular classes. Plus, you’re trying your best, that’s all that matters. Money for this family is more important anyways.”

Somebody to explain things differently than my teacher…well there are plenty of things like that on YouTube, including crash course and such, so maybe it’s a start?

Regardless, thank you so much for your advice! :slight_smile:

6

ANyways, you do sound more like a humanities person. I think that an A in AP Lang is pretty good. You may just have to focus on APs in humanities subjects. Does your school have tutoring possibilities that are free or at least cheaper?

I would explain to your parents the difference in income between somebody with an undergraduate degree and somebody without one. That may help them understand the importance of getting good grades.

As for online stuff - try the free Khan academy stuff for starters. Maybe somebody else will have better ideas.

Good luck, and hang in there!

7

@MWolf

Yeah, I think AP in humanities sounds pretty good. AP Lang and AP Psychology have been my favorites, so it makes sense. Next year I plan to take AP Lit (basically Lang 2.0), AP Art Studio: Draw (I’ve always liked drawing), AP Environmental Science because from what I’ve seen it looks rather simple in comparison to AP Biology, and AP Computer Science A (but this one is through FLVS, and I only really plan to take it because it’s a prerequisite for Java, which my dad wants me to try to see if I can get a job in the area).

I’m pretty set on AP Lit and AP Draw since they’re based on things that I like, but if 4 AP classes becomes too much for me I’ll probably drop 1 of them.

Either ways, back on topic…my school does have those tutoring possibilities, but my problem is that my parents just don’t see it as important enough.

My parents are rather stuck on their beliefs and rarely ever change them no matter what, but it’s worth a shot, I guess. The difference in income is indeed quite substantial. If I can get them to value school more that’ll make a huge difference.

Ah yes, Khan academy is also another good one. Definitely worth looking into.

Thank you, and I will! :slight_smile:

8

Hello, this is a bit later on… but I am currently a senior taking AP Statistics. I am in the exact same situation as you were. For the third quarter, I have 68% and for the semester I have 76%. I am pretty sure it will drop down though considering I do not think I did well on the recent FRQs. It’s too late for me to drop now. I was wondering if it all worked out for you in the end? Were you able to get a C? Did it affect your college admissions at all?

Looking forward to hearing back from you. :slight_smile: