Okay.. so it's been nearly 3 weeks now since school has started and I'm already making huge mistakes. This is my Junior year in highschool so I know this is a very important time for me especially since I can't afford college and am hoping for scholarship opportunities.. and I also wish to attend a top notch school. I've screwed up in AP history and have already gotten a zero on a worksheet and an F on a test, and soon to have some more zeros since I failed to do my reading.. and soon to have another F since I'm going to fail the test in result of that I'm also struggling with all the homework I'm getting from just regular college prep chemistry. Math Analysis isn't so bad. I already knew I'd have homework every night since I've been on an advanced math track since 8th grade. Honors English gives me nightly assignments as well however that isn't so hard. I'm also in Spanish III which is giving me nightly assignments, which isn't too bad because I'm allowed to make errors however it actually requires a great deal of effort to even get that. I refuse to use google translator because I really want to learn. What gets me is that after I do homework for 4 of my subject classes, I have this horrible History assignment I have to finish in so short time. I guess I'm just not used to having so much homework every night. This is the first year I've ever had piles of homework. Missing school is also a tragedy, I missed 2 days of school and I had to make up three tests and I had about another 4 hours of homework to complete. You can blame me for procrastinating, but I'm usually catching up on sleep or talking to Will wich are both very important things to me. I haven't been involved with videogames other than with Star Wars but that lasted two days on the weekend and I haven't played it since I beat it... I really don't do anything else and I still have trouble doing all my work. The last thing I want to do is take easier classes. I'm convinced that overtime, I'll develope study skills or better homework habbits. That was actually one of the main reasons why I decided to take AP history alongside everything else... So tommorow, I'm going to Honors English with only half an assignment completed going to Chemistry without have completed my assignment my partner was counting on me to do going to Spanish III without having TRANSLATED F***ING 26 SENTENCES into spanish going to AP History without having done my 180 pages of dual text reading and bajillion questions/definitions going to Math Analysis without having done my 25 questions of radian word problems and yeah.. :eusa_doh: I don't know why I made this thread, but any comments at all, such as pitty or support or you yelling me telling me I'm retarted would be appreciated.. thanks What I kinda would like to know, is though my GPA is taking a pretty big punch in the balls right now, do you think that once I get into the swing of things it could improve? I don't want to regret this the rest of my school year... even though I will.. but you know what I mean. EDIT: I think it's also important to note that I have to take 7 classes daily :[ This makes me mad at my county because I think things could be done so much more efficiently if they adopted the 4 class per semester thing. Atleast in that method, you actually learn more but through lesser quantities of homework. I take 7 classes a year but the other method means 8 classes. I'm sure this looks a lot better to colleges. I understand they get more hours per class, however I'm not convinced that they have an equal amount of homework. I have 5 subjects of homework a night, not only that, I only get 45 minutes a day to learn the days lesson. The other teaching system atleast allows some free time to complete the assignments in class. NOT TO MENTION they get a longer lunch period.. :tears: :[ :[ :[ I wanna move sooo bad....... but I'm wondering if that will really solve anything? :[ ahh..
>.<, i honestly did nothing in high school and graduated ninth in my class, but AP classes seemed hard when i was awake for them lol. I think you will eventually improve just have to focus on what your weakness that doesn't allow you to use your time wisely. Like chatting on the phone, surfing the web etc. In college for example i took this stupid biology class for a general ed and just couldn't get myself to focus on it, (my major was in the humanities and social sciences) what i did was made flash cards to memorize all the problems, equations and parts of the cell. Time Management is Key in School. Flash Cards were really helpful for me and were an easy way out i hope that helped. :-/
I think it sounds like you're not struggling so much with the work itself - but the quantity. What I do is I draw up a timetable for myself and do 30 minute blocks - rotating my homework so my brain gets a break from whatever i'm being confused by. Also - I'd highly recommend going to after school tutorials if you can - it helps a lot.
i doubt flash cards will help in history since that would require more work than the payoff would give, however perhaps I could use it in spanish since I seem to be struggling. Yeah, I definately need to manage my time more.. especially since whether or not I do my homework, I'm always deprived of sleep no matter how you look at it. Thanks though, I'm looking for hope more than advice haha, so when you told me your story and gave a semi happy ending, I felt better :] EDIT: response was to KrazyKyle... lemmie read Vamp's reply now.. haha
That is actually some piece of advice, I've never thought about doing that before. I suppose it could work, my only problem with that, however, is that I'm stubborn and when I want to get something done I work endlessly to get it done.. but in the end I'm uber pooped and I don't want to do anything else.. So I think you're on to something :] haha thanks
procrastination also is a huge problem dude. trust me pulling all nighters are no fun. try to start things waaay ahead before they snowball. anyway i took AP history all through high school and was a history major in college so if you have any questions feel free to ask, i seriously know every little detail mostly about american and french history though.
Take a ton of advance courses won't help you get into a great school (or help pay for it) if you get lousy grades in them. If you're putting in hours of homework a night, and still going to class with unfinished assignments, either your study habits are REALLY out of whack (doubtful), or you've simply bit off more than you can chew. Study habits first, just in case. Study in a room with minimal distractions. Your room is probably not ideal, especially if it's got the computer, XBox, and all that in there. I liked studying in the dining room - nothing there to distract me, and our family hardly used it. If there's no room other than your own, so be it. But eliminate the discrations. Turn the computer OFF. Turn your cell phone OFF, put it in a small box with your XBox remotes, and take the box into another room. Get yourself something to drink - water, soda, sports drink - and hit the bathroom before you begin. If you like a bit of music to help block out ambient sound, great, but I'd strongly suggest something like classical, jazz or downtempo. If it's My Chemical Romance, you'll find yourself bopping your head along and focusing on the lyrics. That's harder to do with Handel's Water Music. Put in a CD, or turn on a radio station, and get going. If you're reading, don't read sprawled out on your bed, or curled up on a couch. Sit up. As you read, if you're understanding everything just fine, keep on going. If you hit one of those "key terms" they put in bold, stop. Read the sentence with it twice, to help solidify the term in your head. Then keep going. If you hit anything that you seriously don't understand, stop. Try backing up a paragraph, and trying it again. If you really don't get it, put a post-it note on the page next to the part you don't get, so you can ask about it in class (or after class) tomorrow. Then try skipping ahead a paragraph to see if you can pick the thread back up. Once you finish reading each section, stop, and mentally go over what you read. What did you learn? What was the point? What main idea(s) were you supposed to get from that? Set an alarm to go off every 30 minutes. When it goes off, get up, go to the bathroom, walk around, go to the kitchen and grab some pretzel sticks, whatever. While you're doing that, mull over what you've been learning. Then, after a couple minutes, reset the alarm, and get back to it. If you're doing all this, and you're still not getting all your work done, quite simply. you've taken on too much. And trust me - colleges will look more favorably on four advanced courses with great grades than six advanced courses with lousy grades. Lex
You are so not alone on this. I, too, am started Junior year this year. And DAMN. It's such a wake up call from when I was a Sophomore... and I'm only taking two AP classes (then again, the rest are honors classes, so that puts a little bit more strain) My sister, who was a Junior last year, gave me an advice that's definitely keeping me optimistic: The first month or so of Junior year is HARD as hell. It's only because you haven't gotten used to having this much load work every night. That advice is even strongly supported by my AP Language, AG-Calculus, and AP Biology teachers.
After you've tried some of the suggestions Lex provided, you might want to talk to a counselor about dropping a course or two. Overload and lack of sleep are not going to get you good grades, even in those subjects you're good at. You've also got to have time for fun, to relax, and enjoy yourself with friends. Your schedule and progress so far sounds horrid. The good thing is that you've recognized there's a problem. Now you have to look at the alternatives to fix it. Your move!
Alright, thank you all so much for the advice/relations. I can't say for sure that it has helped me as it's only been a day, but I'm confident I can get through this struggle. I guess I just ran into a brick wall since I've been breezing through school most of my life. THIS ACTUALLY REQUIRES EFFORT! Haa.. j/k, I always put in effort.. more than a lot of people who get good grades because they copy :/ Thanks Vamp for that new idea, and thanks Lex for that amazing instruction manual on how to improve my study habits. (For the record, I'm a Wii guy, casual gaming. Xbox is not my thing.. haha) Good luck GunStarre, I hope we can make it through And I doubt I'm changing my classes, LorenzG1950. Unless I seriously start to die in school, I honestly think that this is my shot at standing just a little further out than the vast majority. Anyhow, thanks guys, this actually meant a lot to me :]
