In my AP World History class I have a low C and first quarter I got a B+.My teacher has been gone since Dec 13th and we have just had random subs in his place. The week after he left we had a test on 8 chapters 4 of which we had learned just from the textbook with no explanation or teaching of any kind.That mind not seem bad but 8 chapters is a ton when you are skipping around from India to China to the Americas,Oceania,Europe,Africa and just everywhere with extremely long detailed chapters and have never gone over the information. The tests are extremely difficult with horribly phrased questions and he even admits they are confusing afterwards.
That test is ungraded even though it is from a couple weeks ago which is a huge determinant of me frantically dropping out or not. Last week we read 3 chapters in the textbook but I did an online quiz and got 30s on them. I don’t absorb information by reading the textbook , I actually need to be taught which is the purpose of a teacher. Tomorrow I have a quiz on those three chapters which should go horribly because even though I have studied all day yesterday I am still clueless. Then on Tuesday another chapter is due,then on Wednesday another chapter is due then of course on Friday an other chapter is due. These chapters are 20 pages and extremely small font. I only have a few pages left in my third notebook of the class. I feel like I am trying so hard but nothing is happening. I talked to my teacher but he just brushed me off. He is the only one who teaches this class.
The final which is next week is only on the 6 chapters we will have “learned” since he has been gone!!! The essay on it is one which we learned one day in class but of course I wasn’t there because I was at the doctors all day(it was an emergency problem I wasn’t just skipping school). I basically am screwed now because I have no clue how to write it and have tried googling it and trying to find it on youtube but nothing is helpful.You might be wondering what we are doing this week.Monday is the quiz(takes the whole period,on information we have never gone over),Tuesday we do an intense vocab quiz(open note thank god),only out of 10 points so not that helpful then the same thing on Wednesday and then we drop Thursday and then on Friday the next. And then Monday is my death(the exam)!!I calculated and in order to get a C- for the class I would need to get a 55 on the exam and I don’t even know if I can do that.I know it seems like I am really dramatic but I swear I am not. I don’t sleep anymore and have lost weight because I am so stressed out and am just so nervous all of the time.
Is it even possible to drop out?Please do not just tell me to study more because I study so much it is not even funny. I haven’t left my house other than school in a solid month. I just don’t know what to do anymore,I can’t handle it.What should I do?
Is it safe to assume that everyone else in the class is having the same problem? Talk to your guidance counselor. Talk to the head of the department (or perhaps ask your parents to contact him/her).
That’s a deficiency you will need to correct. Not all teachers or professors will be good at conveying information in a way you, personally, find helpful. Gotta make up the slack yourself.
I am sorry you are feeling so stressed and are having a tough time with the material in your AP World class! Have you talked to your parents about what is going on with this class? Then make sure to contact your guidance counselor to let him/her know that you are struggling. The counselor’s role is to help in situations like this, and to guide you in how to best proceed – meeting with your teacher, getting a tutor, and talking about time frames for possibly switching into a different class are all different options to discuss.
Also, when we are sleep-deprived and stressed, it’s much harder for our brains to learn. Again, talk to your parents and guidance counselor for help with getting a handle on your stress – taking better care of yourself (by relaxing, stretching, breathing exercises, for example), will help you focus better on studying. The good news is that you have a B+ in the course from the first quarter, so you have definitely been successful in learning the course material thus far!
I have talked to my dad but he said well that is college and told me to calm down and is the most unsympathetic person. He knows how much I hate it and he saw My guidance counselor is so unhelpful but I will email him and see if he actually answers.I can’t sleep because I am doing work and studying until 11:30 then and so stressed that it takes me like an hour to fall asleep. Then i will wake up in the middle of the and I get even more stressed out because I am not sleeping and then I will study for 20 minutes and I keep repeating the stuff in my head then I will go back to bed. I know of 3 other people that are failing.The problem isn’t the way the teacher conveys the information it is just the fact he isn’t there and we don’t go over the information at all. My guidance counselor will act like a C- is no big deal and will think I am being dramatic so I don’t know if I want to deal with him.
I agree with the posters above, see if you can drop the class if it’s too much of an issue. What type of essay do you have to write for the exam (DBQ or LEQ)? If studying by yourself has been ineffective try setting up a review group with other members of your class. There are some good online teachers who post videos that do good for review as well. For example, there’s Mr. Ackerman’s YouTube channel, he posts lectures that can be helpful in reviewing as well as Crashcourse, maybe even watching engineering an empire would help. Try a prep book if you want practice tests…if you ever need anyone to read over an essay for you or have any other questions, I would love to help just let me know. I’m sorry it’s such a big problem for you, best of luck to you and I hope you get the grade you need!
The essay is a CCOT and I have never written so I am so stressed out.I watch videos and have a review book.I feel like I know all of the content but when I get tje quiz or the test the questions are just so confusing that I get everything wrong.I honestly don’t know what to do anymore and I don’t know how much longer I can take it. I applied to UVM hopefully they won’t reject me if I get a bad grade because that is the most popular applied to college in my grade,basically everyone gets in but watch me be the exception.What I am most scared for of all is actually getting into my early decision 2 college and then getting a bad grade and then getting rescinded.
I studied for a solid 6 hours for my quiz tomorrow.I read my review book and hilighted,made flash cards,reread the textbook,reviewed practice questions online now I am going to reread the review book and go over my flashcards until 11:20 and then wake up at 6 and study more.
Take a step back- a few minutes to just breath and calm down won’t put you back when it comes to studying. Honest to god, I was the exact same. AP World History was my worst class and it terrified me. I took it sophomore year and would sometimes get so stressed during the test that I felt I was going to pass out then and there. From no sleep to sometimes not even being able to breath, I’ve been in a place very similar to yours. While I understand I can’t truly comprehend all that you are going through right now, here’s how I got out of it: when it comes to stress, I know I can’t just tell you to care less because it doesn’t really work that way. We are conditioned to care, and we do need to care to get where we want to go. To study for the class GPA wise, I ended up getting a copy of the Princeton review guide and using it to study for each individual unit. I would pair that with looking over the textbook before every test and quiz, and would make a giant timeline with all the events and dates I needed to remember. If there were any really specific things I had to remember like names or random facts, I would write those down on flashcards and review them too. It was a hell of a lot of work, but I eventually got an A in the class after having a C at the start of my second quarter. I ended up with an A in the class too, but it was really hard. If you are a sophomore or freshman, you might also be interested in the IB program. This was the class for me that helped me learn I hated AP and loved IB. If you can, try taking some IB classes or even the full diploma program- they are just as good as AP classes but deal a lot less with memorization, and test how well you understand things. I think that might be your trouble- you want to understand but don’t feel like you have enough time. As for stress, try try try to get more sleep. If you drink a cup of coffee and then nap for 20 minutes, you’ll feel really energized. That always helps me. But if you have bad nerves, stick with tea- coffee only makes it easier to get nervous. I totally understand the need to be perfect. Heck, I bet almost everyone of CC struggles with it to a certain extent. But at the end of the day, realize that you did your best, and in the end, that’s worth an incredible amount pride! Good luck and let me know if you ever need anything!!
The quiz was very rough.It didn’t focus on any of the important concepts and there was stuff on there from the last chapter which is frustrating.There was so many obscure questions.One was which monarch said l’etat c’est moi? That wasn’t in the textbook at all and was on the bottom of one slide of the powerpoint,it was just a picture and that phrase underneath it didn’t even say which monarch it was.There was more like that,it is just so frustrating because its like my studying seems useless.
I am going to do a practice CCOT this weekend and try to stress out less.I am a senior and these will be the last grades colleges will see which is why my stress is amplified because my college counselor made me feel stupid because I am struggling in one AP class while some people are in 5 so I feel like I need to do well.We have three more vocab checks so 30 more points will be going into the gradebook in the next week.Thank you for all of your encouragement!
