Hello, I wanted assistance on what to do in my current situation… I’m going to be a junior in high school and last year I did badly in an AP doing so resulted in a major decline in my GPA (2.4 GPA)… I was now considering taking IB program or doing more APs to boost my grade, even considering taking simpler courses to raise possible but slowly raise my GPA. Can anyone provide me with a solid outline of what I should do? I’m trying to be a doctor and have a sturdy career but I feel like the drop in my GPA might affect my future career currently… If you need any details please feel free to ask. Thank you!
In your situation I would not recommend taking IB or AP classes. To me it sounds like you are not yet ready to take AP classes. Instead, I would recommend that you take classes in which you can get mostly A’s.
You need to get a solid base of understanding across all of your core subjects. You need to learn what you have to do to get A’s. This is going to include always paying attention in class, starting your homework early, completing your homework on time, and seeking out extra help when you need it. When learning a foreign or second language you should try to find opportunities to use the language outside of class. As one example of this, when I was learning French I started watching hockey games in French and watching the news in French. When learning mathematics, you want to fully understand the concepts and specifically do not just try to memorize formulae.
It will take a lot of work for you to catch up on whatever it is that you have not learned up to now. You need to put in this work if you want to have any chance of ever becoming a doctor. Even if you do not end up in a medical career, learning how to be a stronger student will help you a lot.
If you can have a much stronger junior and senior year of high school, then this is likely to help you quite a bit with university admissions.
Given that it is summer right now, I am wondering whether you have the opportunity to catch up a bit on subjects in which you did not do particularly well.
However, the goal here is to get a lot of A’s in the future, and specifically not to jump ahead into tougher classes before you are ready.
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One low grade should not have reduced your GPA that much.
I guess the question is why did you have difficulty? That might be worth figuring out.
Agree, an upward trend your junior and senior year will be helpful.
Your goal now is to do well and get accepted to undergrad school. Please put medical school on the back burner for now.
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There will be colleges for you. But taking classes ahead of your current ability is not a good idea and hopefully a counselor will not allow it.
You should be working with a teacher in each core area and a counselor who would get you placed into the appropriate level classes based on your current comprehension levels.
It’s too early to think about careers. Life is long and you’ll have every opportunity but you have a lot of work to do b4 then and this should be your focus.
You may have stretched too quickly, may need remedial work or perhaps there’s another undiagnosed issue.
It’s a race against yourself - not others. Let the experts - your teachers and counselor - align to get you in the proper courses for you.
Good luck.
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What class was it?
Did you get an F or D and in that case have you scheduled credit recovery or a retake?
What score did you get on the exam if you took it?
What’s your planned schedule for junior year?
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It was for AP bio and I recieved a 2/5 on the AP exam I ended with a D in the class. I picked easy courses for Junior year which are no APs just basic and easy classes. I think if I put in effort I might be able to do a few APs and do well, a question I had was that If I do well on these aps will they help increase my GPA quicker than taking easy classes if I do REALLY good on them?
There isn’t credit recovery or retakes and my counselor doesn’t answer my emails during the summer.
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If you got a D in AP Bio, presumably after taking Biology and Chemistry, then many APs would be a stretch.
APs you can try if your school offers them: Human Geography, Psychology, Environmental Science, Statistics (ONLY if you already completed Precalculus - if not, prioritize Precalculus for senior year math). Pick ONE. Typically these are weighted so it’d increase your GPA a little.
Then take some Honors classes as those are weighted too.
The key here is balance.
Assuming you’re a rising senior, solid senior schedule would look like this
- Honors English to help you prepare for Freshman English.
- Precalculus (regular) or AP Stats for Math
- Chinese 2 for foreign language
- Physics (regular) or AP Environmental Science
- AP Human Geography or AP Psych or Senior social science
- any additional class you would enjoy
Can’t a parent get involved about those Fs?