<p>I'm taking Speech and P.E. in summer school (going into 9th). Today, pretty much right after he handed out our textbooks, we had to take the Chapter 1 and 2 tests! We didn't read or go over any of the material at all. He also only gave us 25 minutes to finish the tests. We were allowed to work with a partner and use our textbooks, but most chapter tests take a whole class period. How could he expect us to finish two chapter tests in half a period? He said the tests are going to be 10% of our final grades and I'm freaking out. I want to keep a 4.0 throughout high school, but the school year hasn't even started yet! I know for sure I got an F on the quiz since we graded it in class.</p>
<p>No one in the class cares, either! Most of them failed another class and are taking that in summer school, as well. The rules for summer school are really strict, since it's really only meant for the people who failed something.</p>
<p>Any advice? :/ I need an A in this class :(</p>
<p>I think first off you should see if you taking the test first thing was fair. I am not saying that you are over exaggerating but if you want to be successful in High school and maintain a 4.0 then you will need to stay on top of your stuff. Try looking at things from the teacher’s point of view. Maybe you should self study. Summer school will probably not be as teacher directed as a full year course. </p>
<p>Also you should try to talk to the teacher or have your parents ask about the test to see if it was fairly given. </p>
<p>best advice I could give from a rising junior. </p>
<p>@AdamTheChampion Thank you for your response 
We aren’t even allowed to bring the textbooks home though, so I can’t self study any of it.The class is a lot less teacher directed than a normal course. Luckily, the only classes offered in summer school are semester classes, so I won’t have to learn a full year in a month. I just really don’t want to get a B 
I haven’t gotten one since 2nd grade.</p>
<p>Also if your taking P.E that may not count for/against GPA. I took art at my art school so it was very rigorous and I may have came out with a B but still maintained a 3.9 because it didn’t affect my GPA. </p>
<p>@AdamTheChampion Everything’s okay now! We corrected it in class, so if we wrote the correct answer down, we got the point. Luckily, I corrected all the answers I got wrong, so I should be good! Thanks so much though for your advice!</p>
<p>The thing is that it seems like it wasn’t really unfair. I mean the two classes (speech and PE) are probably the easiest you will see throughout high school, especially for a student who posts about self-studying three APs freshman year. Depending on the length of the test, 25 minutes should have been plenty of time. It’s not like these are college level courses, in fact I would be surprised if the textbook chapters are longer than 10-15 pages. Also he gave you a partner so you could have just said to the kid next to you that you’ll do Ch. 1 and he’ll do Ch. 2 and you’ll give each the answers. Then, you just verify his answers and change as necessary. The assignment seems doable especially for a student with your ambition. Maybe this is a good chance to adjust to high school before things actually get hard.</p>
<p>@jimmyboy23 - By the sounds of it, the teacher was just trying to have the incoming freshmen get a feel for doing work (and graduating seniors). As they were allowed to correct it in class the next day, I doubt the teacher intended for it to count against them.</p>
<p>@jimmyboy23 Yeah, I think I was over exaggerating. But most people actually didn’t finish the test. I was just used to having a ton of time, like in middle school. I really like to check my answers and make sure they’re right from the start. Speech is honestly really easy; it’s just the high school level classes (and environment) I’m not used to. I’m just glad I can start adjusting now, so I’m more prepared at the start of the school year :)</p>
<p>I had not seen that they were allowed to correct before I made the post. I suspected that the teacher might do something like that (make it not count or something), it being a summer course and all they aren’t going to wring people out. But, the OP should be made aware that this should be made aware that this should not have been a difficult task for a high achieving student.</p>
<p>Everybody has that adjustment period between middle school and high school. Just know that a teacher could make up ridiculous tests and rules for the test and that’s just how it goes sometimes. The best of the best beat any challenge they are given unless if it is impossible (handing you the test and taking it up immediately). Hope you have fun for the rest of summer and enjoy the high school experience.</p>
<p>My English teacher would routinely make the top score in the class an 80% and then allow for “corrections” to get a higher grade. It really pissed me off because even if my essay was stellar, she would find one “mistake” (on a 2000 word paper once) and dock me 20%. Then she would spend about a week talking about the common mistakes and how everyone had an opportunity to prove “how much better they had gotten”. Not only did I end up with 100s, but people with 10-20 mistakes who had 70s also ended up with 100s.
(This same teacher was also tricked my three students who handed in the same paper. The one student who was deemed “smart” was given an 80, the two others-who weren’t considered smart-we’re given 65 and 60. Interesting…)</p>
<p>@DigitalKing - That teacher sounds pretty weird. </p>
<p>@observeraffect - She is, but the curriculum is much weirder. I mean, why are they “teaching” freshman how to construct simple sentences in the same manner that they should be teaching primary school students? It really makes me mad how non-rigorous and how much grade inflation our classes have…</p>
<p>I’ve never had problems with time in a high school or college test. The time limits are there for logistical reasons, not to make your life more difficult.
A lot of them don’t know how, if the stuff I see people write on the Internet is any indication. </p>