My grades are slipping + help with advanced classes? Please help me! (warning: long post)

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

Right now I’m in the advanced biology and math courses. I have a C+ in math and a B in biology, and they’re both slipping. It feels so unreal to me to actually be having bad grades, and during the most important time of my academic career. I feel so inadequate thinking about how there are probably some people taking a higher number of advanced classes than me and getting A’s in them. Some of the new kids already took the courses we’re taking now (in math, for example), and so they’re ahead and I just feel so inadequate. Also our school (Sidwell Friends School) doesn’t even allow you take APs before Junior/Senior year. The track I’m taking (the most advanced one) will only allow me to take calc BC as a senior and AP spanish as a senior! For a school that’s supposed to be strong in academics that’s really late! It makes me even more stressed thinking I’m not doing well in these courses when there are kids who do APs in freshman year and calc BC in sophomore year. It really feels like I’m not a smart kid anymore. It hurts so much because my intelligence has been one of my only real points of pride for my whole life. It already would have been stressful for me knowing my school’s academics aren’t that good and I have higher potential going to magnet and even public school in terms of advanced classes. The fact I’m not even doing well in my schools not-even-that-great academics is like setting something that’s already dead on fire, if that makes sense. I was thinking of self-studying for APs, but that feels ridiculous in my current situation, unless I can get my act together fast.

To expand more on my situation in those two subjects, I feel it is partly because I don’t agree with the teaching style. In math, the teacher just gives us problems to figure out without teaching the concepts, then shows us the solutions, without straightforwardly teaching the concept. I feel in math it is important to teach the concept and then give us problems to apply it and understand it better, but we have to understand the concept first. I don’t like how the teacher makes us figure it out on our own. Especially in a subject like math; I can’t just figure out theorems on my own. As for biology, the teacher expects us to know every thing she mentions in class, even offhandedly. I feel it would be better if the material would also be available elsewhere, like I can’t memorize every single thing she says in class and take notes on it; I’d rather she gave us some chapters in the book and some links (or other things that I’d be able to get back to) that we have to know completely.

I know I shouldn’t be blaming other things, but I can’t help but think I would be better off if it weren’t for the fact of the field hockey I play for school. To be 100% honest, the only reason I play it is so I can have a sport on my college application. Also our field hockey program sucks, and although I technically didn’t make varsity this year, so many people left that JV and varsity are now one team so I technically am varsity (and can put varsity field hockey for all four years of high school on my applications yay). But anyway, it’s 2 hours 30 minutes everyday and absolutely exhausting. Especially because the genius architect who designed our school made our field full of black turf and with maximum exposure to sunlight. On a 90F day, it’s actually more like 105+ on that damn field. You can see heat waves if you sit down on it. Furthermore, our coaches are trying to make up for the fact we’re not that good with lots of fitness, and I counted since the field’s 100m long, they make us do 1.5-2 km worth of sprints, not even counting the running we do in non-sprint form. And its HELL. Because of it I get home from school 6:30-7 and I’m so tired. I know others have it worse, in terms of time but for me, field hockey is so exhausting because I have just never been an athlete and I never will be. For one thing I’m 4’10", and I had asthma most of my youth. And there’s also just the fact that I absolutely hate it. I feel like a lot of people are able to stand this kind of thing because they enjoy it. If that’s not enough, I’m not good at it. I feel I’m wasting so much time and effort doing something I’m not good at nor do I enjoy. Overall, field hockey makes me so tired before I even start my homework and studying, and it’s just a waste of time and effort for me.

So yeah, that’s it for now on my high school situation. If you have any advice, constructive criticism, or if you were in a similar situation please do say, it would be greatly appreciated.

Also sorry this is my first post I don’t know the ropes sorry if it’s not the type of post you’re supposed to make/ if no one cares I just want helps.

2

I’d like to point out that I am unable to access the link to your full post, but according to the paragraphs here, I can make some suggestions.

Is there any point in time in which you have any free time? It seems like your schedule is pretty full with field hockey and homework. If you do have free time, use that time to study and go over what your teachers are teaching.

If your classes have textbooks, make sure to read through the sections the teacher covered, and maybe go ahead to get an idea of what the teacher is about to teach so you will be able to follow along better.

If your school offers summer school, or credit for online classes, look into that to get ahead on classes. My school also only allows AP classes for juniors and seniors, but for those that took the initiative to attend summer school (our school doesn’t give credit for online classes), and are on the more advanced math tracks, can attend the AP classes during sophomore year.

It’s okay if you don’t feel like you are measuring up to your classmates, but you do have to know that they are in those advanced classes because either A: their parents took the initiative and had the school place them there, B: they took the initiative, and/or C: they placed out of it or their teachers recommended them (depending on how your school’s system works)

With your current situation, I suggest you quit field hockey, find something you truly enjoy, and get good at it. You should enjoy high school, and see it as an opportunity to try new things and explore what you like. Instead of self-studying for APs, raise your grades (you should probably talk to your teacher and GC), find an EC you love, and try to find out how you can combat the fact that you can only take AP Calc BC and AP Spanish in senior year (maybe this is because you weren’t put on the advanced math track?)

3
  1. Quit Field Hockey. You hate it. It’s wasting your time.
  2. Stop worrying about your college application.
  3. Stop worrying about the future. Think about the present.
  4. Stop looking at other people and wondering how you stack up - not relevant. Stop feeling inadequate. You aren’t.
  5. Have your parents get you a tutor in math and biology. Tutors are worth every penny.
  6. Work hard and try to catch up and improve your grades.
  7. Do your best. It will be ok.
  8. Stop worrying, just do your best. It will good enough by definition. Be the person you want to be. Like yourself.
  9. Don’t forgo sleep. When you forgo sleep, you damage your brain making it take longer to learn and making it take longer to do your homework causing you to lose more sleep, making it harder to learn. It’s a vicious cycle. Don’t go there.
  10. Take one day at a time. Don’t even think about college until spring of Junior year. At that point you will have a record. There is always a good college for a good student. You are a good student. What will be will be. Get up each morning and think about what you need to do today.
4

I absolutely agree with @ClassicRockerDad. Even as a freshmen who is questioning many things, I think his answer is really amazing. I love it! @raventhemage also has a great answer because it is very true and nice… Both of them described the answers very well. It’s okay to quit field hockey because ECs should be something you do because you like them. If you want to have an EC, I suggest something you like to do. For example, if you love supporting other people, UNICEF or Key Club may be a good idea. If you’re very interested in science, the Science Honor Society or Science Olympiads may be a good idea. If you’re interested in tennis or swimming or something, you could try out for another sport team for a sport you enjoy. There are endless possibilities. Colleges are okay with you not having a sport. Although they like it, there are other ECs they will like to see just as much or maybe even more, depending on your role in the club. I recommend just doing the EC you want to do most or ECs you want to do most. Those will end up benefiting you in the end. If you’re not interested in sports, like I said earlier, looking for other ECs is a good idea.

Like others have said, tutors are worth it. If you think having a tutor is a good idea, and you have enough money, I highly recommend it.

Textbooks are also your allies, even if they are a little challenging to read. Even Google, articles, etc. can help you. This, in my opinion, the best way to handle this. Checking out books on the subject work too. The public library is a great source. Practice tests online, Quizlet, flashcards, etc, will also help you.

This may be a weird suggestion and many may disagree with me on this. However, I found that those books preparing you for AP tests, such as Barron’s, Princeton Review, etc. (I recommend Barron’s.) are helpful if you pick the right one. For example, if you are in regular Biology or honors Biology, looking at the AP Biology book seems to help because since the content is harder, if you take time to understand what you are learning, it benefits you in the classroom.

Hope this helped and good luck. Have a good day!

5

Which math are you in? Does your school provide a textbook source for math? If you have a textbook for math, it could be helpful to go through each chapter as you do it in school. For example, if you are in geometry, and are learning translations, then you would go through the translations chapter and do the practice problems in the textbook. You can even try going on Khan Academy and watching videos on math and biology topics.

As @raventhemage, @ClassicRockerDad, and @anthonytheboy have said, if you don’t like field hockey, you do have the option to quit. Colleges are not looking for a student who is mediocre at many things (not to say that you are mediocre, it’s just an example), they are looking for students who are excelling in one or two areas. If you love to work with animals, you could volunteer at your local humane society, or if you really love to code, you could start/join a local coding club. However, school should always come before ECs. Maybe you could quit field hockey and try getting your math grade up to a high B/low A and your Biology grade up to a B, and then join any clubs you are interested in.

Also, please please please stop comparing yourself to other people. It will make you feel so much better about yourself, and you will probably focus better as well. Don’t start worrying about college until at least junior year, it will only make you more stressed.

Hope this helps!!