I am a freshmen in high school. My high school is based on trimester grading terms. I was wondering at the end of the trimester if I should go into the regular English course (It will not show on my transcript that I dropped the course). I currently have an A- but this grade is after I took retakes on quizzes. Retakes are only allowed for the first trimester not second or third. I would have a B+ if I was not able to do retakes on the quizzes. My 2nd trimester schedule is as follows PE, Honors Bio, Honors English 9, Honors World History, and Honors Geometry. It will be much harder than my 1st trimester. English is not my strong suit, I am more of a STEM type of guy. Later down the road, I would like to attend a top university. Do you think it would be better to stay in the Honors English and get a lower UW grade or go into the Regular English and get a high UW grade?
Just study harder, trust me it seems hard at first but eventually it will get better. @IrrationalPepsi stated a B is better in an honors class than an A in a regular class.
Keep honors, your grade will reflect the amount of work you put into the class, so study more. Also, I would like to point out an A in a regular class is NOT EQUAL to a B in an honors class. When a professional (ie Admission officer) sees a grade they will not say “well they got an 80 in an honors class, so it’s really a 90!”. Your grade will only change based off of how your school determines weighted GPA and class rank.
@educatee15 I took it 2 years ago in 8th grade, I agree it is quite an easy class but I was lazy back then and didn’t want to do my homework so I ended up with a B.
It’s always better to take the Honors class if you think you can get a B or more. If you think you’ll get a C in Freshman English Honors, take the Regular English class and forget about top 50 universities/LACs.
Taking regular classes (even getting an A) when you could have taken the Honors version will “ding” you twice: first your guidance counselor is unlikely to check the “most rigorous” box on your SSR (if you take regular freshman English, your odds of getting into Honors English in Grade 10 and AP English Language are very very low) and second the college admission committees count how many Honors/AP classes you had each year and you won’t have your count freshman year.
Your leeway is not that big - you need to have 5 Honors/AP classes per year, you need to have English, History, and Science each year, Math up to Calculus (if you’re into STEM) and Foreign Language up to Level 4 or AP (if you’re aiming for Top 50s). Only then can you add classes that would be considered “personal picks”, such as AP CS or PLTW.
I am looking back at this question as a sophomore and I am very glad I stuck with the honors course. As of the moment, I am in Honors English 10 and will be able to take AP Lit and Comp next year. Just take the harder course!