@Hamlon I actually saw that Roots was on The History Channel this morning. I would’ve watched it, but I had to go to the library.
Hey @onedayusc ! We have similar classes. My schedule for next year is:
- = Weighted
Engineering Explorations I/Robotics
+PLTW Principles of Engineering
+AP Chemistry
U.S. and Virginia History
+Functions/Trigonometry (Pre-Calculus)
Spanish II
+AP English Language and Composition
Here’s a little welcome to the thread message I always give to new members:
Hello and welcome to CC’s official High School Class of 2018 Thread. Here you can interact with other users who have the same high level of interest about school as you. Here, we talk about almost everything associated with school and our daily lives as well. During this time of the year, as I’ve seen so far, we’ve been talking about course selections for next year as well getting ready for junior year. We’ve also talked about school sports and clubs, current grades, internships, summer programs, scholarships, and so much more. Anything you can think of pertaining to school, specifically sophomore year centered, we’ve probably talked about it. This thread, as I’ve seen throughout the past three months, can also be used to talk about personal issues as well. The students on here a very supportive bunch and have helped me figure out problems as well as help me through some of the most stressful times during this year. So, this thread can also be used as a way to de-stress and relax. If you have any questions about anything pertaining to this thread, just reply. Hopefully, you’ll stay for the long haul all the way until graduation. I’ve been on this thread for a few months now and I’ve got to say, it can be pretty addicting. Hope you have a nice time on this thread. Virtual Handshake
@ak2018 If there’s anything I can tell about you from this thread, it’s that you are extremely dedicated. If you want to take AP Chem you absolutely should. But, there are always other options. I’m assuming you either haven’t taken physics or haven’t taken biology. I know you want to be an engineer and physics is going to be part of your life if you’re an engineer (probably more so than chemistry, so you may want to think about taking it. If you already have taken physics, you can always take biology, which may seem not so pertinent to a future engineer, but biomedical engineering is an option if you’re interested in biology.
With regards to your test scores, I don’t think you should sell yourself short. Get your goal scores. I think a 32 is a good goal, probably around the 75th percentile (if not higher) at Virginia Tech. The SAT and ACT aren’t really tests of knowledge per se, but tests of test-taking skill. If you can master these skills, you can do well. There are plenty of free resources online and plenty of inexpensive ones too. Tutors aren’t really necessary, plenty of people get their goal scores without tutors, and frankly, I think tutors just make college even less accessible for low-income students.
It’s always good to aim for high AP scores, but it’s not really the end of the world if you don’t do too well on them, so I wouldn’t stress too much about them.
With regards to subject tests, getting a 700+ can be difficult for some subjects but easier for others. Once you’ve taken pre-calc, a 700+ on math 2 should be simple enough, same goes for chem with AP Chem. That being said, I would also consider not taking them, since so few colleges straight up require them.
@ak2018 I was doing FLL mentoring at an elementary school and I’m actually friends with the coordinator’s daughter so that’s how I got her contact info. It was really informal but pretty much she gave me the job because I had experience with robotics and working with little kids. I’m not the only one on my robotics team that got the job so its not like overly unique or special but yea.
I’m going to be continuing with FRC next year and also probably do math is cool, which is a math competition in my state that I’ve been doing off and on since 4th grade. I’ll also mentor an FLL team or two… which is also a paid position with the district since I’m 16 now! Its super exciting that you’re doing FRC next year, have you done it before?
I left 7 blank on the SAT II Math Level 2 test :(( oh well, at least I’m only sgooting for UMD…
@DaEmmJay23 I heard the curve is favorable. You can miss like 6 or 7 and still get an 800, so don’t worry! We still have 1 1/2 years until any of this really counts.
to, they all require taking a Chemistry class freshmen year, if not done in high school. I’d honestly rather get Chemistry out of the way in high school. The colleges I plan to apply to only give credit, for an engineering degree, for AP Physics C.
Also, I do plan to do take Math Level 2 after I take Pre-Calculus next year. I’ll probably take it around the end of the year. Same with Chemistry. I just want it to help my application a bit.
I’m not really caring that much about AP scores. As long as I do well with AP Chemistry, AP Lang, and AP Calc AB, I’ll be fine. Those are the only class I truly want college credit for.
Thank you so much for the advice. It really helped. I just can’t wait until I never have to see my current Chemistry teacher again. She’s going to the new school that was built in our county, so she won’t be here next year. Those kids who won’t have to deal with her next year at my school are lucky! Those who are going to the new school aren’t. I only have two more weeks of school left.
@snowfairy137 My old Elementary school actually started an FLL a couple years back. I honestly don’t know how it’s doing now. :)) But that’s great that you got the job. You know what’s funny? The daughter of the STEM/Robotics coordinator of our county is going to be at my school next year as freshman. The STEM/Robotics coordinator of our county mainly holds/creates all of the STEM-involved events around the county. She is the announcer at most of the VEX Robotics meetings and was at the Lockheed Martin Minorities in Engineering Day. Her daughter is definitely joining the Robotics team and hopefully she’ll joining the Rocketry Club.
And I actually have never done FRC. One of my friends is, hopefully, adding to me to our FRC group on Google. Would you mind explaining FRC to me? I’ll be taking Engineering Explorations I/Robotics which will literally be us competing in teams against each other, building robots, and choosing to either compete in VEX, FRC, or SeaPerch. I’m pretty sure we’re actually going to get to compete in actual competitions around the state. I’ve done VEX since I was in the 6th grade, so it’ll be a nice change.
This is okay @DaEmmJay23 @Hamlon speaks the truth. The curve is so generous that, in previous years, you anywhere from 4 - 8 questions wrong and still get an 800. I would still suspect you’ll hopefully get at least a 650 or above, maybe a 700. If you want to try again, because you think the score wasn’t that great, I would say get the soonest test date possible next year and try to study over the summer. You need to have had taken Pre-Calculus and have been good at Geometry to pass. I know this is a little late, but here’s what the test contained:
Content/Approximate % of Test
Number and operations
Operations, ratio and proportion, complex numbers, counting, elementary number theory, matrices, sequences, series, vectors
10%–14%
Algebra and functions
Expressions, equations, inequalities, representation and modeling, properties of functions (linear, polynomial, rational, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric, inverse trigonometric, periodic, piecewise, recursive, parametric)
48%–52%
Geometry and measurement (48% - 52%)
Coordinate: Lines, parabolas, circles, ellipses, hyperbolas, symmetry, transformations, polar coordinates (10% - 14%)
Three-dimensional: Solids, surface area and volume (cylinders, cones, pyramids, spheres, prisms), coordinates in three dimensions (4% - 6%)
Trigonometry: Right triangles, identities, radian measure, law of cosines, law of sines, equations, double angle formulas (12% - 16%)
Data analysis, statistics, and probability
Mean, median, mode, range, interquartile range, standard deviation, graphs and plots, least squares regression (linear, quadratic, exponential), probability
8% - 12%
@ak2018 From what I’ve gathered, FRC tends to be bigger than VEX in terms of team size, robot size, and scope of what you are doing. With FRC you get a challenge at the beginning of January and have 6 weeks to build a robot. Those 6 weeks are called build season, and its very intense. At competition, you compete in rounds in an alliance of 3 robots against 3 other robots. Then there’s playoffs and stuff. These usually last 2 or 3 days and there’s lots of other stuff to do too, like present awards, talk to robot and team judges, cheer, and “scout” to gather data on teams in case you get to chose an alliance for playoffs. A drive team of 4 people run the robot and everyone else does these other tasks. In general, FRC teams stay together for years, (with the students cycling through of course) and are run like a small business. They meet year round to fundraise, go to and host community outreach events, mentor younger teams, teach the rookies about building etc. I mentioned that the scope of FRC is greater than VEX because in addition to building a robot, many teams put focus on marketing, business, design etc. Some of the awards you can win at competition are actually things like entrepreneurship and imagery. The most prestigious award a team can get is the Chairman’s award and the criteria for that actually has nothing to do with the robot and focuses on community outreach and the impact of the team. Of course, the robot is super important as it is a robotics competition.
I’m sorry that that explanation was super long and might not have made a lot of sense. Its a lot to summarize. BUT, its a ton of fun. Here’s some websites that might help: http://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc (official FRC website), team2944.com (my team’s website), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqOKzoHJDjA (last year’s game release video)
@ak2018 i just read what you said about your chemistry situation, and I personally hate when teachers discourage their students. I know that they are trying to be straight with students, but decisions like that could really impact someone’s future. When I was in eighth grade, I registered to take AP World History as a freshman, which was the only AP class open to freshman. I was HEAVILY discouraged by my eighth grade social studies teacher and my middle school counselor from taking the class despite my A in eighth grade social studies because I wasn’t in the gifted program (I was offered a spot in the gifted program but I declined so I could stay at the same school.) I ended up with an A in the class and a 5 on the exam. Lots of times teachers think they’re doing what is best by discouraging their students, but only the student can make a decision like that. If you want to take AP Chemistry, go for it.
@onedayusc
I’m doing running start (pretty much free dual enrollment at a local 4 year university) and I haven’t finalized my schedule yet, but my plan is:
Fall quarter: calc based physics 1 with lab, multivariable calculus, English 201 (composition)
Winter quarter: calc based physics 2 with lab, “the American experience” (USH), “modern world masterpieces” (modern lit)
Spring quarter: calc based physics 3 with lab, “early African American history”, Spanish 103 (equivalent to HS year 3)
Of course, all of these have letter and number codes like “HIST 110” and “PHYS 163” attached to them, but they don’t really mean anything unless you have a giant course catalogue sitting in front of you lol
@snowfairy137 That’s so really cool and a lot more than VEX. My friend, who’s been doing FRC for a while, will probably add me to their team next year. I just applied for the team group and am waiting for the confirmation. I just watch all of the videos on links you mentioned and they really got me excited, especially the second one. FIRST STRONGHOLD looked so much more complicated than VEX.
I’m honestly so lucky that I’ll be doing all of this in a class. I actually was talking with the Engineering teacher and he said the Engineering Explorations I/Robotics was apparently so popular that they are having two separate class sections next year. Over 60 kids signed up for the class who range from rising sophomores to rising seniors.
Another school in our county already currently has the Engineering Explorations I/Robotics class. Here is what is says from the syllabus:
In Engineering Explorations I, students examine technology and engineering
fundamentals in relation to solving real-world problems. Students investigate engineering
history, including major engineering achievements, and they examine the principle
engineering specialty fields and their related careers. Students practice engineering
fundamentals, using mathematical and scientific concepts, and they apply the engineering
design process through participation in hands-on engineering projects. Students
communicate project-related information through team-based presentations, proposals,
and technical reports.
Using the FIRST Technology Challenge (FTC) model, students will be divided into
groups of approximately ten students that will form a FTC Team. Each team will design,
build and program ONE FTC robot for FTC regional competitions. Competitions will be held
on Saturdays.
We’ll be using the FTC in class, not FRC.
This is also how we’ll be graded:
Grading Period Breakdown: (percentages will change in later grading periods)
15% Quizzes
15% Tests
30% Projects
30% Assignments
10% Notebook
Projects and Assignments are due on their specified date. Only excused absences will
be accepted. In this case, the work is due on the next scheduled class meeting.
Students (themselves) are responsible for missed work; this includes inquiry and completion.
Required Supplies:
• 2 inch binder, side and front of binder is to be neatly and creatively labeled with Course
and Student Name.
• 10 dividers (prefer the ones that can be written on)
• Lined paper
• Graph paper
• Pencil, pen, eraser, colored pencils/pens or highlighters for note taking
• External hard drive, flash drive (aim for minimum 8 G), or online storage
• Ream of paper, for class
• EXPO Markers
Required Materials/Resources:
• Purchase team shirts, hats
I honestly can’t wait for the class!
@ak2018 That sounds like a great class! My school hasn’t added a robotics class yet. (The space is there… we have 3 classes referred to as Engineering 1, 2, and 4, because 3 is supposed to be robotics lol). I wanted to take a robotics class at the university that I’m taking my classes at junior and senior year but I don’t think I’ll be able to fit it in with the science and language sequences and hs graduation requirements I want to and need to take :(. Tbh, its probably a good thing the class focuses on FTC and not FRC because FRC would be a lot to fit into just a class period. I’m glad you’re friends are getting you into FRC, I’ll have another person to discuss all its awesomeness with :D.
@gormar099 I honestly would but all of the colleges I plan to apply to all require taking a Chemistry class freshmen year, if not done in high school. I’d honestly rather get Chemistry out of the way in high school. The colleges I plan to apply to only give credit, for an engineering degree, for AP Physics C.
Also, I do plan to do take Math Level 2 after I take Pre-Calculus next year. I’ll probably take it around the end of the year. Same with Chemistry. I just want it to help my application a bit.
I’m not really caring that much about AP scores. As long as I do well with AP Chemistry, AP Lang, and AP Calc AB, I’ll be fine. Those are the only class I truly want college credit for.
Thank you so much for the advice. It really helped. I just can’t wait until I never have to see my current Chemistry teacher again. She’s going to the new school that was built in our county, so she won’t be here next year. Those kids who won’t have to deal with her next year at my school are lucky! Those who are going to the new school aren’t. I only have two more weeks of school left.
@ak2018 your SAT score seems reachable but your ACT score goal is really high but it’s always good to shoot for the stars
@nyuhopeful44 I totally agree. Some teachers should be more encouraging and helpful to the students who are struggling, trying their best, and still aren’t understanding the material. In this case, the student shouldn’t have to feel like he/she is on his own.
Also, you needing to be gifted in order to enroll into AP World History as a freshman is so preposterous. If your teacher and counselor knew the kinds of students that the gifted program has, they’d know that some of them gets F in some of their classes. Being gifted simply means that you saw the bigger picture, when it comes to life, at an earlier age than most. You sees things a lot differently and ask questions that children your age usually don’t ask. I may have only been in the gifted program for a yea, in the 3rd grade, but it was one of my most memorable years ever. I’d honestly love to go back, but, apparently, being out of the gifted program for so long has made me lose my “gifted” characteristic. I moved around the end of third grade and was not considered part of the program in my new county. There was this one time in the fourth grade when the school librarian said that only the gifted students could check out the Harry Potter books, even though I read Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets in one month in third grade.
Only six to ten percent of the U.S. student population is gifted anyway.
@ak2018 @nyuhopeful44 I am facing a similar situation where my counselor doesn’t want me to take AP Calc AB/BC combined next year, rather just AB because of being an athlete. I had to go to see him like 5 times to finally get it switched.
@snowfairy137 I’m just happy I found someone on this thread who is just as crazy about Robotics as I am. :)) Would you mind telling me what your school’s team is? You could PM it if you want. Who knows, we might meet up at a competition next year.
My friend’s FRC group, of which she is Vice President of and will likely be President of both FRC and The Robotics Club next year, just accepted me into their group. They just had their end of year party yesterday. They were going to schedule some meetings over the summer, but since we’re getting a new Engineering teacher next year, and we still don’t know who he is, we might not be able to schedule summer meetings. I talked with the Engineering teacher to figure out who it might be and he said all he knows is that the school administration is knocked it down to two guys, one who was originally an Engineering teacher, and one straight out of college grad school. No matter who it is, you can almost bet I’ll be trying to be the teacher’s pet. :)) Considering the fact that I’ll probably have him write my recommendation letter for college, he better be able to know how to write well.
@BucketsUCSC I’m going to try to have my ACT be at least a 32 or higher.