Well, since we’re on that topic, I am taking AP Lang as my first real AP class next year and we are reading “A Walk In The Woods” by Bill Bryson. I need to read at least six chapters a day only for three days starting tomorrow if I want to finish before my wisdom teeth surgery (all four 
) on July 22. I decided that I will annotate and read the articles about rhetoric/writer development after I read the first book (yeah, there’s a second one too) because it distracts me. Is that a bad idea?
Everyone else is annotating and I’m over here reading sparknotes… I’ve read the three books already but still.
I don’t have any assigned reading over summer except Silent Spring by Rachel Carson but that’s for extra credit for AP Biology. My counselor recommended that I read some of the books that we are going to read next year in IB English to get a head start. I read Candide already and I’ll read Pride and Prejudice next.
I sort of have a job during the school year tutoring, but it’s quite sporadic since classes are once a week and there are around six or seven teachers for two teachers per class (sometimes even one). The organization is going nonprofit, though, so I’d have to volunteer from this year on if I decide to continue.
@Frigidcold mine is quite tiring. We get to do our own research projects in pairs, which is pretty cool, except a) R, the programming language we are to use, is annoying (we learned more specific techniques than basics, so it’s hard to come up with your own code, and Google is only helpful when you know the name of what you want to do), and b) my partner isn’t helping. Our research project topic is really interesting, though–how the environment affects the characteristics of marine organisms over time and the relation of this to origination and extinction.
@photogeek8 it’s basically Science Bowl for the oceans. Our school’s team does well at nationals every year, so I might as well try. It’s got stuff on oeanography, marine biology, ocean chemistry, marine policy, marine technology, and earth science.
@SirSly Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller is pretty good. I prefer British lit, though, so I can’t help you much.
I really should get my summer homework done. I finished studying for Academic Decathlon but I still have some things to do for English and APUSH. My school starts quite early this year… August 13.
My school starts on August 12th, but that’s around the same time it starts every year. It always starts on a Wednesday and the first day is always a modified day. At my school, we don’t do anything on the first day. We don’t even get our schedules or meet our teachers. We are instructed to not bring anything to school the first day and to just wear our red shirts (school color). Then we have some big pep rally thing and some guest person comes to perform (like last year it was this dancer guy, the year before that it was a comedian/magician if I recall correctly, and my sister said one year she was there some of the LA Lakers came and their cheerleaders performed or something). After that we split up based on last name and we go into a classroom with a random teacher who teaches us about what the SPIRIT acronym means, then we go to another teacher and some alumni from our school talks to us about what life is like after high school and their experience at our school.
I wish we just got our schedules on the first day of school but I guess the first day activities are alright too.
My school starts August 24 and I only have summer work for one class and I also need to build my résumé for my magnet program. What am I supposed to put since I have no job or volunteer experience yet?
@dsi411 OMG did someone say pride and prejudice. That is my favorite book/movie/story IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD. I’ve read the book a total of 11 times and watched the movie 17. I’m not even lying. I could basically recite the plot line and certain quotes from memory.
If you need any help at all with the book, definitely let me know!!
I’m a major Jane Austen fan lol
@dsi411 That sounds really nice! I wish my school had something similar to that. Our first two days are always a Thursday and Friday, and they used to be minimum days but they were changed to normal days three years ago. They’re like a normal school day, in fact if I get APUSH for the first term of the school year I already have a test on the first day.
WOW you all start so early!!! My county always starts school after Labor Day, so it actually starts rather late this year (Tuesday, September 8th).
@SirSly Read Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston! It’s such an amazing novel.
@photogeek8 that’s one of my required reads!! I heard that it was good!
I start September 1.
I really want to read Pride and Prejudice, but I wish I had the time. I’ve heard it’s really good. Think we might read it in AP Lang or Lit?
@dsi411 you are so lucky! On my first day of school (which is August 10th) I have tests from my summer hw in every single class
It’s horrible because they are like “it’s great to meet you, now we have a timed write” or something like that. I hate it because if you screw up on a test than it is their first impression of you and they think you’re lazy or something.
current sat AND new psat
@iamnotironman Haha, same! It’s one of the required reading books for my AP Lit class. The writing style of Hurston is so good.
I have a question:
As rising juniors how many volunteer hours have you all racked up so far?
I have “MET” my requirement of 75 hours, but I will have racked up hundreds more in the hospital volunteering. I still still no idea if I want to do a senior internship? I can’t wait to get my schedule so I will know the order of my classes for the next year! Does anyone have any conflicts that prevent you from taking the courses you want?
I could have easily taken AP Stats and AP Psych if my schedule allowed, but my magnet program requires two periods. I have decided not to take any history APs, like World History or US History. I chose an elective that I am passionate about instead (chorus) and self-studying AP Music Theory.
I have around 90 hours of volunteering.