<p>My test throughout the year are worth 75% of our grades. Then, the full year’s grade is made to be worth 65% of our grade final with a whopping 35% of our final end-all grade being the final.
For math, it’s all open ended complicated problems. For most classes, it’s about half multiple choice and half essays questions. The usual effect of the final is a 5 point drop in final grade because of the difficulty of the exams. I just hope colleges realize the difficulty of my school and take that into effect.</p>
<p>And letter grades are like 6-7 points each so my AP earth grade dropped from an A to a B. My only B since 4th grade :(</p>
<p>@everyone talking about Les Mis:</p>
<p>That was my marching band show this year- Work Song/At the End of the Day, Castle on a Cloud/I Dreamed a Dream, The Attack on Rue Plummet, and One Day More. I haven’t read the book; the size is a bit off-putting, but I may get to it someday. At the moment, I’m reading 6 different books (according to GoodReads), so it won’t be any time soon :P. I think I’m seeing it today with a few band friends.</p>
<p>Also, I lied; my precalc & comp. repair midterms are actually 20% of my semester grade because they’re technically half-year courses (I → II, hardware → software), and they’re going to be terrible; people usually do badly on math finals in my school, and I’m no exception.
My AP classes are just going to be AP exams. No idea how these are going to be graded.</p>
<p>I got low A’s on all of my midterms last year except for Alg. II (87) and Chemistry (84), and high A’s (including a 99 in chemistry! :)) on all of my finals except for Alg. II (83) & World History III (89). Can’t see the same happening this year.</p>
<p>finals here are 20% of the final grade. English is always an in class essay with like poetry or passage analysis. Math is very hard. Other classes vary.</p>
<p>I aim towards getting a B in my finals because even studying 5+ hours for them, it’s very hard to get an A. So I try to get my grades to a 96-97, knowing i’ll get a B in the finals and that allows some cushion for them to drop to a 93-94 and i still remain with an A.</p>
<p>Regarding test %s, at my school:
AP Calc - 80% tests and quizzes
IB Math HL - 90% tests and quizzes
IB Physics - 85% tests (there are no quizzes and labs are worth 15%. There isn’t a homework grade unfortunately)</p>
<p>so if you’re a bad test taker you’re pretty much screwed in the math/science classes.</p>
<p>For me, I’m not sure whether the finals are hard or easy. In freshman/sophomore year, they felt super easy but I got them back and realized how many weird mistakes I made. But this year they felt pretty easy and I didn’t study much for them and still got the best score on it out of all my tests. ?!</p>
<p>So here’s my percentages for my classes:
AP Stat: 12.5% HW, 2.5% graded Free Response AP ?s (FRAPS), 15% Projects, 55% Tests/Quizzes, and 15% finals</p>
<p>AP Calc AB: 10% Quiz, 10% HW, 60% Tests, 20% finals</p>
<p>AP Japanese: No idea (there’s no HW but there’s a section in my grade called HW) and don’t really care</p>
<p>AP Biology: No idea (it works on a cumulative point basis, the final was worth approximately 13% of my grade)</p>
<p>English Honors: Again, don’t really care so I don’t know</p>
<p>RUSH (regular US history): I think it’s cumulative points, but I don’t know… All I know is that an “A” is 99% and above (near impossible). I’m stuck at an A-, but at least in high school that doesn’t really matter.</p>
<p>AP Physics C: Tests/Quizzes 65%, Labs and Homework 15%, 20% finals</p>
<p>@rokr32: I think I would die at your school. T_T</p>
<p>@lldm21: Some of my friends also read books on Goodreads, but how exactly does that work? Is it like an ebook thing? o.O</p>
<p>I realized Les Mis is about the same length as The Hobbit + Lord of the Rings (which I also want to read, but can’t really find the time anymore T_T).
I also want to read War and Peace, and some books by Dostoyevsky and Kafka. (Except for Kafka, all these books are 1000+ pages. :()</p>
<p>I kind of want to try Ayn Rand, but I’ve heard such ridiculously bad things about the book, so I’m a little hesitant. Perhaps I’ll try when I’m done with the above books. </p>
<p>Also my AP courses will not have final exams 2nd semester; instead, the final will be the AP test.</p>
<p>In APUSH our 2nd semester final is the Constitution test.</p>
<p>There is this girl that I used to like freshmen year… Me being the sissy I used to be, I got friendzoned (she knew I liked her, and it was a complicated friendship). At one point she liked me, but I just thought we became friends forever, so I never took hints from her. So fast-forward a year later, I had the courage to muster up enough energy to ask her out. Ofcourse by then she obviously stopped being interested in me, and said “sorry I don’t want you to be a rebound” cause she went out of a relationship like 4-5 months ago. Alright, whatever. After that, I literally stopped caring about her, and started ignoring her. I learned so much stuff, talked to different women, and started to become my true me. I also became much more attractive to women as I grew out of puberty. Now here is junior year, and she’s telling me she likes me. I don’t know if I want to even accept her back. I always had this space in my heart for her because she was the first girl I even liked to get turned down like that… But my pride takes the better hold of me. Idk what to do. Help? I’m starting to think she started liking me because I became much more attractive, and even mature as a person as well as my personality honestly. But I don’t know.</p>
<p>Finals at my school are 15% of your grade, and at my online AP courses through a college, they are 20%. An A- is a 92, an A at my school is a 94%, and an A+ is a 99%. Impossible. I believe a 70 is a fail. However, even with this harsh grading system, we still have 6 competing valedictorians in my class of 80. There’s no grade weighing at my school, so if you have a 4.0 with all A- or above, you are in.</p>
<p>@nothingto1, the first one is always the hardest to let go of… but at least she was friends enough with you to not use you as a rebound. One of my friends did that - led on like 7 guy friends and even dated some for a few days, only to throw them away and break their hearts because she was just rebounding. I don’t know. You could give her a chance, but then again, you already gave her two…</p>
<p>@Quiddichcat: about Ayn Rand, I personally think she’s great. Maybe you won’t agree with her principles, but she has a writing style that draws you in. I am a weirdly fast reader and reread The Fountainhead yesterday. I just plopped down at my desk at 4 pm and finished around 11 pm. Couldn’t put it down. There are some things that you should read, though you might not like it, because of their significance, writing, and exploration of ideas. Ellison’s Invisible Man is another like that. I read both in middle school and they sorta weirded me out for life haha. However, in my opinion, everybody should read them at least once in their life. When you’re REALLY ready for mature themes, I highly recommend Nabokov’s Lolita, but it is VERY dark and disturbing. But good.</p>
<p>War and Peace was, for me, a boring, useless book. I found no point in reading it. It just took me weeks of reading and a lot of concentration. You can spend your time reading something more interesting. Dostoyevsky I found okay. Crime and Punishment was a bit drab, but that’s just my opinion.</p>
<p>I forced myself to read Les Miserables in 5th grade so that I could brag about it (LOL), but it was an oddly satisfying book. I hope to reread it this summer. It may be the same length as the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, but it is definitely much harder to get through. I could compare the Hobbit to Chopsticks and Les Mis to Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto. There’s STUFF you have to work through. Hugo wrote it in French (obviously), and there’s words in French that are just hard to translate to English. I suggest the Fahnestock & MacAfee translated version of the text. I’ve heard the Rose translations are terrible. And yes, I am a super bookworm.</p>
<p>I looked up The Fountainhead, and its about 700 pages, right? I guess I have the same reading speed as you! I don’t know though, it really depends on the book. For example The Grapes of Wrath . There were like no margins on each page and I struggled through reading it. As a class we took just over a month to read it. It was 450ish pages but it felt like 1.5k+ pages. Definitely not my type of book. But then again, except for like The Red Pony I am not really a Steinbeck fan. </p>
<p>Oh god, Lolita. I read that after I read the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. Someone recommended it to me after I told them I read Larsson’s series. However, it’s not the most disturbing book I have read. Sure, the premise is creepy, but disturbing wise, there are a few Japanese novels that are incredibly scary. </p>
<p>I liked Crime and Punishment. But I guess that’s because I read it after The Scarlet Letter, which I really didn’t like.</p>
<p>5th grade? That’s pretty early. The only classics I had read by that age were Black Beauty, The Secret Garden, Gulliver’s Travels, Arabian Nights, The Brothers Grimm’s fairytales, Heidi, etc. Nothing too big. I started reading Harry Potter in first grade, though. </p>
<p>Hahaha, nice analogy. That’s a huge, huge gap. Also, I’m a bookworm too. XD</p>
<p>Is anyone taking the January 26th administration of the SAT? I started my prep about two months ago and have dedicated approximately 2 hours a week. My first score was sub par but I am determined to bring it up 500+ in one sitting.</p>
<p>Sorry, no. I have to take my subjects in January. I heard that January has one of the more generous curves on the scores. </p>
<p>However, it really depends on the person. For example, I really don’t think I’m an SAT type person. So I’ve studied for about 6 months but my scores have barely gone up. Of course if my scores were good I wouldn’t see much improvement but my scores are miserable.</p>
<p>I’ve been trying to get into a session, but I was late for the one before last, gone for the last one, and will be gone for the January one. I haven’t taken a single thing except for the PSAT. Since I got my scores back ten days ago (223), I have studied for 30 minutes a day. Hoping for more than a one hundred point improvement- maybe just take it once!</p>
<p>@nothing: I guess it depends on whether you think it’s still worth it. Is she just randomly telling you that she likes you this year, or have you been talking regularly?</p>
<p>I’m doing June for the SAT I’s and May for the SAT II’s. I took the October SAT and got a 2040 (2170 if my essay hadn’t sucked), and I haven’t studied since then. Plan on cramming once May comes around. If I can bring my math into the 700’s, or just flat out 700, I’ll be satisfied.</p>
<p>I received a mace from a friend who’s a welder for Christmas, and my grandmother thought they were giving them out at the theater. Apparently she hadn’t picked it up yet and thought it was plastic or something.</p>
<p>lldm, me too about the math. I was so disappointed with myself because the curve for the October SAT was horrible in my area. I only missed two problems yet somehow I got 690. It didn’t make sense at all. </p>
<p>Wait, what’d you get for the essay, if you don’t mind me asking? I can help if you want… I got an 11 on the essay and it’s basically a science</p>
<p>OMG, dukehopeful, that’s really wonderful PSAT score! No matter what state you are in, I’m sure you’re in the NMQST thing or whatever. I actually got worse on the PSAT than the October SAT.</p>
<p>Plan on taking the March SAT since I’m not ready for January test and my application for Dual Enrollment for a local college is due April 1st. I’ve calculated that you receive your scores 19 days after your test, so I should get them March 28. Also, I’m taking my SAT II’s in June and I’m doing Math II and U.S. History. I’ll take the ACT in April probably.</p>
<p>I got a 630, I think. Up 200 points from soph. PSAT, so I’m pleased (but still not completely satisfied). I’m just bad at math.</p>
<p>I got an 8 because I didn’t finish :l. I write really slowly, so I suck at timed writing, be it on the SAT, FRQs, DBQs, etc.</p>
<p>Okay.
I actually typed up the things I learned from my SAT class at this post:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/1436697-turning-my-test-scores-average-great-help.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/1436697-turning-my-test-scores-average-great-help.html</a></p>
<p>I don’t know what you can do about the slow writing but hopefully the stuff in the other post helps a bit.</p>
<p>oh, and guess what! I’m watching Les Mis tomorrow, as long as it doesn’t rain! Hopefully it doesn’t but it’s been raining so much in California this year.</p>
<p>I haven’t taken the SAT, nobody takes it where I live. I did take the ACT though and I got a 31 in december.</p>
<p>@quidditchcat: Really?! That’s awesome! Maybe I will be in the 2000’s after all.</p>