<p>Every Year In school our teachers let to assess our natural ability at a subject off of various aptitude tests, such as MAPS tests, Aptitude tests they made up themselves, etc. Anyhow every year my aptitude tests are always miles above every other person, In Reading, Writing, Mathematics, Critical Thinking you name it. Anyhow I spend hours and hours studying only to get average grades (In everything but History) and get told I’m lazy by my teachers because “I’m capable of doing so much more with my intelligence”) I only have two A’s right now, AP European History and Digital Photo.</p>
<p>Grades (Sophomore)
Chemistry 89%
AP European History 92%
Spanish 2 87%
Pre Calc Honors 73%
Digital Photography 92%
English 2 Honors 81.5%
GPA:3.50 Weighted
3.17 Unweighted</p>
<p>It’s not like I’m being lazy, I don’t sleep, I make myself physically sick I study so much at times. In most subjects, math especially I feel stupid and my teacher just tells me I don’t try hard enough because he “knows I’m brilliant” and I should be able to easily get a good grade. I spend hours studying for every test and get mostly D’s. And every other subject is not much different, and I’m sick of being told I’m lazy when I work my ass off. Do you know what I’m doing wrong and why my aptitude for all subjects is so high but yet I’m so bad at understanding stuff in class?</p>
<p>“I don’t sleep, I make myself physically sick I study so much at times”</p>
<p>I think you answered your own question. </p>
<p>That shouldn’t be an unmanageable schedule. Look at your work habits. When you study, turn off all the digital junk cluttering your brain. Sleep at least 8 hours (or more if you are one who needs more)–I see your math grade is lowest and that is where being tired will hurt the most. Get out and get some exercise or do an extracurricular activity, don’t just study 24/7 until you are exhausted and feel sick. If your weeks are too exhausting, find a way to do more of your work on the weekends. This could be quite a change from middle school. Seek out help from your teachers, parents, guidance counselor, friends who are good students for guidance on how to manage your time better and study more effectively. </p>
<p>If you are struggling with math, you may have to do more problems than the teacher assigned. Make sure you are getting feedback–if you get them wrong, make sure you understand why, and try some more examples until you feel confident.</p>
<p>Don’t be embarrassed to ask questions about things you don’t understand in class. It is not uncommon for bright kids to coast through school until one day they come to classes that are hard for them, for the first time, and they flounder because they haven’t developed the study skills their classmates were forced to work on at an earlier age.</p>
<p>I just had shoulder surgery a few weeks ago, so sports isn’t an option for a long time. (I don’t like people enough to do another EC, and I don’t really plan to go to a top tier school or anything, so EC’s aren’t that important I don’t think, I volunteer at the library during the summer and that’s it, and I can just tell people to shut it when they start to annoy me there) And I’ve always sucked at math classes, since like Algebra 1 on even when I got sleep. (Although I think I did good on the test today and I got 3 hours of sleep last night) And I’m well aware my study habits suck, but I don’t know what to do to improve them. I ask plenty of questions, I have a tutor and everything. (Which is the only reason I don’t have an F in math, a lot of people do in my math class, it’s because he makes the class 10x as hard as most teachers would, he does the same for his Calc class which is why people who get D’s in the class still end up with a 5 on the AP Test) I have a “A study group” in history (Which all we basically do is copy each others homework and key term flash cards) But 95% of my homework is math, and it’s not like i’m studying either on my own, I’m mostly doing homework that is collected the next day and I don’t even finish it half the time, I rarely have the extra time to read the book or anything like that. And I do homework on the weekends, a ton. Still doesn’t keep me from dying of homework during the week. I have lost 14 pounds since this year started.</p>
<p>I would have to wait till Semester or else it’s a drop fail, but the regular pre-calc teacher is terrible and people do just as bad because he is inept as a teacher. but even if I did i’m still screwed, because then I won’t be able to take 4 years of math unless I take a night class at community college or something, because you almost have to take Honors in order to have any chance at passing AP Calc, and there isn’t regular Calc. and if I took Pre-Calc this year, then like AP Stats next year, I would have no class to take Senior year (Unless I take like remedial math like personal finance), which looks crappy to some colleges. I took Algebra 2/Trig last year, Pre Calc Honors this year, then I’m supposed to take AP Calculus (AB) with the same teacher as this year, then AP Statistics Senior year.</p>
<p>What frustrates me about the situation is when they put people on advanced math tracks in middle school through high school (like Algebra 1 in 7th, Geometry in 8th, Algebra 2 in 9th) is that you have to go on the honors track and pass or else you are screwed. I wish I had never done it, but I’m stuck in it with no way out at this point.</p>
<p>try to make Usamo and then laugh in ur teacher’s face.
You could try to create a computer program to do your hw.
could you post a pdf/scaned doc of a daily hw to see how much hw you really have?</p>
<p>My homework last night was, Chapter review page (237 if you want the except number in the Sullivan Pre-Calc book) 1-33 (odd) 51-87, 41-49 (odd) which consisted mainly of polynomial inequalities and analyzing polynomial functions completely. Some finding bounds on zeros, and a few using theorems like IVT , and Descartes Rule of Signs.</p>
<p>Problem is, even if the homework problems aren’t that hard, still is tedious as hell. Plus the hardest homework problem in the book is easier than his easiest test problem anyways, I really think I did ok on the last test, but my grade won’t go up that much, maybe to like a 75. (Because he gives me like 2/3 credit on most assignments because my homework isn’t “Neat enough” but whatever) Took me like 4-5 hours</p>
<p>Homework for Thursday Night in history:Finish Key terms flashcards, (Had a week to do this, had all but like 5-6 done already) Finish Data Dump for Chapter, Study for test) spent maybe 40 minutes.</p>
<p>Homework for Chemistry- Do compound and balancing equations worksheet: Took me like 20 minutes.</p>
<p>Homework for English- Do a rough draft of a persuasive essay on curfew laws. Took me like 30-35 minutes.</p>
<p>Let’s say that was about 7 hours of homework.</p>
<p>Precalc homework should never take more than 1 hour, maybe 2 if it’s really hard.
You should complain to the school (and get support from all the other students taking that much time every day) and get it changed or something.</p>
<p>I’m currently taking AP Calculus BC, and my teacher is incredibly difficult, but homework never takes me more than 2 hours (usually 1-2), some people can even do it under an hour. </p>
<p>also does your teacher actually GRADE the homework or just check for completion? If he just checks for completion, you can do like half the homework and BS the rest of the problems.</p>
<p>He does grade it in depth, for neatness and everything. BUT he doesn’t collect all of it, the problem is he doesn’t tell you what day he will collect homework on so you may get away with not doing an assignment, but it’s a risk. The only exceptions he makes is if more than 10 or so students say that they had a lot of homework from one of the same class then he will clarify it with the other teacher that was specified. But that only happens once in awhile. And I had an average of 2 hours of homework in algebra 2, and it didn’t seem bad to me at all, but that’s probably because my other classes last year gave me almost no homework, while this year I get a decent amount from history and kind of English.</p>