<p>I’m a rising sophomore and I’ve picked the school’s hardest courseload with AP World History and PAP Chem. Plenty of other people are taking these courses, but we’ve all heard the rumors-- “Chem is death,” “I have five hours of history homework a night,” etc, etc. Literally one-third of our students take chem over the summer so that they don’t have to face it at school. Personally, I think that this is taking the easy way out, and I know that they won’t learn as much as I will.
Anyway, is it naive to think that I won’t spend all my time studying, that I can be a straight-A student and have a social life? Has anyone ever done it? I’m a big believer in doing the bare minimum to achieve maximum results-- i.e. not stressing about getting a 100 in the class and knowing that all I have to do is make a 89.6.
Have you balanced social life and academics? How? Do you have regrets? Do you spend all your time studying? Share your stories and tell me if I’m too naive.</p>
<p>I’ll probably realize I can’t soon enough, but that won’t be until I’ve worked myself to death, keep going at it, I spent most of my time in a not too demanding class doing stuff for other classes, I end with plenty of time for other things anyway, but then maybe b/c I’m only a freshman.</p>
<p>Well, I don<code>t think we could honestly tell you considering that each school is different. But let me tell you this: this year (Junior year) I</code>m taking AP Chem, AP US, AP Stat, and AP Eng, and at most, I have 6 hours in total (that<code>s including the other 3 academic classes I</code>m taking). Despite this load, I still maintain a 4.0 GPA, and I`m confident (after taking bits and pieces of practice APs) that I can get at least a 4 in all of them.</p>
<p>off topic but would be totally stupid to expect all A+'s when you’re trying to take all you can take?..I would this year if not for a useless elective grrrrrrr</p>
<p>Hee Hee!!!</p>
<p>You wouldn’t be stupid to expect all A’s. It is possible; you just have to make dedicated to your studies. use tme management and you can do it all.</p>
<p>Honestly? It depends on a lot of things…like if you’re willing to work your ass off , if your teacher is fair, and your social circle. </p>
<p>Okay, okay, time management has done to death (search for “How do you do it?” thread).</p>
<p>If your teacher is crazy (like mine), you may have no shot at a social life. My teachers give huge assignments in two days “just to see if we could do it”, “evaluate our dedication to the class”, give us a day to study for 4-chapter units, etc. And then test on stuff we’ve never learned. If your sitch is like that, making a 4.0/straight 100’s is hard (as I’ve found out) just by being a normal, needing-sleep kind of person. </p>
<p>Also, who you hang out with determines if you’ll be able to balance it. My friends are mostly honors kids-they have the same assignments I do, and know when it’s just IMPOSSIBLE to go out on that friday, or when we do have free time coming up. On the other hand, I know a girl (our parents hang) whose friends are so obnoxious to her about even having grades to get into honors classes-and don’t give her a break with scheduling, “Your grades are more important that us??!” sort of things before finals. She’s since dropped out of most of her honors classes. I’d just say to make sure you have friends who understand you…</p>
<p>I was in the same position last year, and with a month to go, I can honestly say that I have no regrets. </p>
<p>Generally speaking, honors and AP-level courses have great teachers who are genuinely passionate about their subjects. Some of them may seem a bit…crazy, but none of them (that I’ve encountered, anyway) really sit around in their off-hours and think to themselves, “Hmm, I wonder how I can ruin the perfect GPAs of all the overachievers in my honors class?”. They do, however, love their subjects, and will not appreciate feeling as though you’re in their class to get an A the .5 extra weight. Oftentimes, you end up WANTING to excel in the course…true enthusiasm is catchy.</p>
<p>Take me, for example. I’m really into English and history, so I thought honors chem would be terrible. Who’d have thought it would turn out to be one of my favorite (albeit hardest) classes? </p>
<p>And I definitely agree that it helps to have friends in the same situation. Not only is there a better chance of being in classes together, but you can hang out on the same schedule (not to mention comiserate and study for finals).</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>It’s not impossible to take the hardest course load possible and get straight As. However, it is extremely unlikely to do so in 11th grade while balancing many time-consuming extracurriculars along with a social life.
I’m going into 11th grade next year, and all but one of my classes will be AP. I’ll be taking Honors English instead of AP, because I don’t want to write an essay every single week.</p>
<p>At least at a private school, I’ve found it very hard to “have everything.” The closest thing, and in my opinion, the best alternative to that is to learn as much as you can. </p>
<p>I take one of, if not the hardest course-load in my class. Do I have a 4.0? Nope. Do I mind? Nope. With the time that I put into my other activities (golf, photography, MUN, journalism, JSA) I simply don’t have the time to get the 4.0 like some of my other classmates. (A- is a 3.7 for me. I would have a 4.0 if 89.5 would cut it) I personally think that that last 8 percent from a 92 to a 100 is meaningless. Many times, it is just busywork or useless repetition which accounts for the difference. Also, it’s highly unlikely that you will even remember much of the content that you’ve learned. Instead, I view high school as a learning experience in terms of how to think, lead and organize ideas. </p>
<p>Below is a little Facebook note-rant that I posted after not being inducted into the school’s Cum Laude chapter. It is chosen mainly based on GPA, something that I really don’t think is a good measure of what one gets from the high school experience, especially considering many of the 4.0 kids are just grademongers. </p>
<p>On Bull ****
Let me clarify right off the bat, this isn’t on bull *<strong><em>, nor do I think that the topic is completely bull *</em></strong>.</p>
<p>Tomorrow is the Cum Laude induction and I will not be inducted. Did I expect to be? Honestly, yes. Do I respect the decision? yes. Will I attend the ceremony? Sorry, I’m taking Benadyl for my allergies tonight. I might not be able to wake up on time.</p>
<p>Answered questions aside, there is a fundamental flaw in the way high school students are assessed. We assume that it is a linear scale that all students are pegged on. A 4.0 student is better than a 3.8 student by the same amount as a 3.2 student is better than a 3.0 student. We do the
comprehension. i.e. memorizing of formulas. Past that, an understanding must be had of the concept at hand. i.e. understanding the theory behind the formula for the period of a pendulum. Even farther beyond that is the ability to abstract the concept and apply it. i.e. deriving the equation for the period of a pendulum on the moon. Logically, the method for evaluation of a student should test the depth of his understanding. True, some well constructed tests accurately assess the extent of the student’s understanding. More often than not, however, weight in the class is given to tasks which instead test the rote aspect of learning or even more simply, the amount of time the student has to dedicate to that certain class.</p>
<p>What does this mean in the linear scale? There are fundamental breaks in the scale, drawn where the level of understanding changes instead of a smooth linear scale. A B is vastly different from a B+ although the difference between an A- and an A often comes down to willingness to do busywork or drill through tasks requiring only a rote understanding.</p>
<p>Do I have an ax to grind? Not really, at least not in the conventional sense. I will say right now that my GPA is a 3.76. a hair above an A- average. Do I believe that I have learned less than the 3.95 or 4.0 student? Absolutely not. In fact, I think I have gleaned more from my high school experience. Instead of spending an hour to memorize silly facts that are irrelevant in the long term, I’ve put my time to causes which I can say, without hesitation, have taught me more than I could have learned in the equivalent time memorizing that last 5%. Without a question, my experiences from Mock Trial, Model UN, golf and Journalism have taught me lessons which will remain with me throughout life. Try saying that about extensively annotating My Antonia.</p>
<p>In reality, we are in school to learn. If caught in the delusion that an A is really worth three tenths of a grade point more in terms of what is learned, it is easy to lose sight of learning. When you push yourself to memorize Hamlet’s soliloquies for fear that one may appear on a reading quiz, you are falling into that trap. Really, how long will you retain those soliloquies. One year? One month? One week? One Day? Instead had you just read Hamlet and studied its themes and such, you would have learned skills of organization and analysis which are sure to outlast a rote recitation of a soliloquy.</p>
<p>We all push for the A. The college admissions process has drilled into our heads that the A is .3 better than the A-. A big fat .3. Really, what are you giving up by spending that extra time, time which serves only to enhance your ability to mechanically recite the facts and does nothing to enhance your understanding of the material?</p>
<p>Think before you embark on that glorious voyage of busywork. What are you giving up? A club that you’re interested in? A pursuit of the arts or a sport? Time to simply unwind and live as a teenager?</p>
<p>-a. 4.24.07</p>
<p>Just take it over the summer, unless you actually care about Chemistry.</p>
<p>Honors Chem seemed harder to me than AP chem (taking it now). But hoenstly, it isn’t that hard as you’re making it out to be.</p>
<p>Whether you say you can or you can’t, you’re probably right. </p>
<p>My babysitter used to say that to me and it’s stuck with me forever. It seems to apply to your situation. If you put your mind to it, almost anything is possible. Just don’t think your life is over if you get a B, cause that type of thinking will drive you crazy.</p>