Honors classes

I am a 9th grader who just finished there first quarter. I am in all CCP classes and finished with a 3.7 weighted gpa. Because I am in all honors classes they uneweight my gpa so I had a 3.4. I am stressed out because I would like to go to a good school like Michigan but I feel like my gpa is not good enough. Do colleges see if your in honors classes and will this affect my chances of getting in?

Congratulations on successfully transitioning to high school. It’s an exciting time for you. I suggest you focus on enjoying high school for now, do the best that you can in all your classes, participate in activities that you enjoy, and revisit the college conversation when you’re a junior. Take the time to enjoy your journey. There is plenty of time for stress later, but if you enjoy yourself and do well, there will be little to stress about.

Admission counselors will look at the rigor of the courses that you have taken. If you take honors courses and progress to AP or DE courses, they will note an increasing rigor or demand, hopefully along with increasing grades. A nice, steady increase in both areas is best. Start to know your guidance counselor so that they can help you with course selection and guide you based on your interests, abilities and thoughts about college.

Rather than worrying about college admissions in 9th grade I suggest you focus on the problem at hand: why aren’t you getting the grades you want in your classes?

Many students, often in fact the better students, have never learned to study effectively and just get by on native smarts. After they go over the material a few times it seems familiar and they think they “know” it, confusing recognition with recall. In most classes they remember enough for the test and their verbal skills let them pad out essays, but on math tests they find out they can’t recall enough to solve many problems. Up thru middle school this probably works pretty well, but as you’re discovering it doesn’t work so well in HS and will do even worse in college as the expectations become higher and the questions on tests more challenging.

There is a recent book out that you should read to understand how to learn effectively, titled “Make it Stick”. It talks about what is known about learning and has sections specifically with tips for students. A great read for the Christmas break :wink:

Two links you can read now are http://calnewport.com/blog/2011/04/28/on-becoming-a-math-whiz-my-advice-to-a-new-mit-student/ and http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/11/14/how-to-ace-calculus-the-art-of-doing-well-in-technical-courses/ The principles apply at any level, not just in college. Read thru the story at https://bentilly.blogspot.com/2009/09/teaching-linear-algebra.html and see how that prof forced students to rehearse material with great results (rehearsal and self-testing are discussed in the book I mentioned)