@reidd799 i would do french and mentorship but that might just be cuz i’m not a big stem fan (outside of bio)
@reid799 What do you want to do in college? If non-stem, do French 5 and the mentorship. If you want to do stem, take out French 5 (you’ve already reached level 4) and take APCS. Four years of French should be enough for you to be prepared for the exam this year anyways. APCS is helpful for communications/design majors in addition to every single stem major. Definitely keep the mentorship whatever you end up doing because they are really fun!
@reid799
If you have some programming background you could also self study APCS. The mentorship sounds useful and if you know it will benefit you, definitely keep that.
Hey guys, I know I might have mentioned this a while back but im still stressing about it. I studied abroad last semester in Spain which was an enlightening experience (I am still in Spain, I get home in 13 days!!) and the grades I received in Spain were not so good (classes were in a foreign language and the teachers werent very accommodating). These grades are going into my GPA as a standard level which is going to really hurt my GPA. The grading system in Spain is really different from the US and while I got mostly 6s on a 1-10 scale which is really good and even better than some of the native students, It equals Bs in the US. Im hoping taking some extra DE classes will help to bring that back up. I dont know. Any advice? Im really worried about Spain classes hurting my GPA.
@kitkat01 I was in a similar situation during my freshman year. I would say that you will likely have to explain the situation in detail in one of the college app essays or the additional info section. This is what I plan to do. I would think they would give you leeway and it might give you an advantage if you talk about it, since it’s a unique experience.
So senior-year scheduling takes place tomorrow and I took the morning to talk to some of the AP teachers. After asking for their opinions, it looks like I may decide to take more APs. I talked to the AP Lit and AP Gov teachers in particular about workload. The AP Gov teachers said that there isn’t that much homework, but there are quite a few projects throughout the year. The AP Lit teachers said that there is a lot of reading involved and quite a bit of homework. Right now, I’m leaning towards AP Gov, even though I’m not a politics-person. I feel like this class could help me figure out my political identity. I’m not looking into AP Comparative Gov as that seems pretty hard. So here’s my schedule now, and I appropriately named it:
The First Day of School Senioritis-Inducer
- = Weighted
PLTW Engineering Design and Development
+AP Computer Science A
+AP Physics C
+AP U.S. Government and Politics
+AP Calculus AB
+AP Economics (Micro/Macro)
English 12
Honestly, either I have a death wish or I’ve literally cracked from the anxiety because I kind of want to do AP Lit too. I guess we’ll see. :))
@kitkat01 The best you can do is explain on your college apps, like ak2018 said. Make sure to emphasize the language barrier, if you think that caused most of your problems. Maybe say something like though you knew it would be an academic challenge, you wanted to take advantage of an unique growing opportunity.
@ak2018 Your schedule is pretty rigorous as it is, seeing as you want to pursue a STEM-based career I don’t think you should add AP Lit.
It turns out I never did a Pre-Calc test for some reason. I thought I did it, but since there was a blank grade in PowerSchool, I asked my teacher and she couldn’t find my test. So, now I’m making it up after school this Thursday… The day before my midterm! I guess this will help me really nail the part of the midterm that includes problems similar to the test’s, but it was still an unwelcome surprise.
@LeopardFire
Sorry to hear that about your test but way to go with positive attitude. 
Right now I’m overindulging in Khan Academy. Years of avoiding the site and now I’m hooked. Of course I’m rather jumping around if I’m not doing SAT prep. It feels like that one time when I didn’t do any homework because I was watching calculus, physics, and quantum mechanic lectures on YouTube. I hate my brain sometimes.
@ak2018 Didn’t you take AP Lang this year? Going to regular might not look good, just a thought.
Has anybody taken AP Physics C: Electricity and magnetism? If so, how’s your usual workload and do you think it’s okay for me to take it without any physics background? I’m in BC Calculus right now.
@ak2018 Wow the amount of APs you’re taking next year is the amount I’m going to have taken in all four years of high school! Then again, my school only offers 8 APs, so it’s not horrible haha
Guys, I got some really big news!!!
@Tobster18 What is it?!
Also, I just found out that for AP Calc AB next year, there will be no tests, but instead we’ll have a quiz every class. And with AP Lit, we’d have to read one book every month.
@ak2018 Remeber how I said, I started a Young Republican’s Club at my school, and my school is like super liberal. So the head of the state’s GOP board contacted me saying that she heard what I was doing, and she understands how tough it must be for me considering my locatio, and that she was really proud of my bravery. She also said she wants to meet with me next week, to talk to me about how I should direct the club, and about meeting with some top GOP officials. 
I am so excited!!! Like I didn’t think for a moment that me creating this club would turn out to be this huge.
@Tobster18 that’s really cool!! Take that controversy and make some real good changes in your community!
Y’all, I have the SAT this Saturday and haven’t studied at all lololol. I’ll probably just end up taking one practice test and call it quits
I took the PSAT without practicing. I spent 30 minutes max the night before browsing through the complimentary review material. Now I actually need to prepare for the SAT
@PulseStar I need to stay positive; I’ll break otherwise. x)
@Tobster18 Congrats! With the recent election I’ve come to realize that one of the most toxic parts of American’s political scheme is the wedge between our political parties. Living in an admittedly liberal echochamber myself, I know that I’ve needed the reminder that Republicans aren’t some big evil entity, and that we all just want to better the country. Hopefully your club will help those in your school realize that.
I just got an excellent idea for a creative writing piece that I’m going to submit to a contest and now I’m really excited. Yay for last minute inspiration!
@Tobster18 congrats!! I hope your meeting goes well.
I hate both Democrats and Republicans. Come to think of it, I hate most politicians. My message to Republicans “Mind your own business. It doesn’t matter if we’re all Christians.” To the Democrats “Can we not throw money at the problem always and maybe, just maybe, do some research.” There are bigger issues with both parties, but those are two of my annoyances.
The election has made me think that we should invest in an AI to rule over us. It couldn’t possibly get worse.
Do you think it is a good idea to email the researchers I selected as my top picks in a program application to let them know of my interest and show that I have read their work? How much of an influence might they have in the admissions process?