I have been taking advantage of educational opportunities such as AP classes and Honors throughout high school because these courses will prepare me for college. In addition, an AP class will help me save money on tuition, and it will also help me graduate sooner. I decided to take my first AP class my sophomore year because I was encouraged by one of my previous teachers. I am glad that I took AP Spanish Language and Culture my sophomore year because that gave me an idea of how much work to expect when I attend college. Since, I was very dedicated to passing the AP test, I developed new study skills such as asking questions, making flashcards, and taking cornell notes. All of these study skills were very helpful because I passed the AP exam.
Students should communicate with their counselors to select a manageable course load based on their own aptitude and interests. Certain combinations of the most difficult AP classes may be difficult to handle for all but the most brilliant students. However by making smart informed decisions, students can challenge themselves by taking appropriate AP classes.
Sitting in AP Chemistry lab class, thinking about how much I didn't fit in with all the brilliant overachievers, I began to wonder why I took the course. While I knew it was because I have a passion for chemistry, I didn't know what exactly entices me about the subject. Moments later, I found my answer; I love experimenting. Reading textbooks and listening to lectures are definitely informative, but they aren't the only ways to learn. Learning through experience and physical results is the most interesting and fun way to understand topics. Reading about chemical reactions and actually performing and seeing results is another, which is why the “volcanic eruption” project is so popular. Instead of trusting everything textbooks say, people can
Without a doubt the lessons and exercises on time management were the most meaningful to me. They brought insight into why I seemed to be constantly working yet still never really got anything I wanted to accomplish throughout the day finished. I realized the majority of the activities I had been spending the most time on didn’t reflect my values of hard work and self discipline and long term academic goals to be successful in college. This motivated to completely change the way I managed my time by effectively striking a balance between my maintenance, committed, and free time.
This semester has been long and daunting and with AP tests coming up, it will be a lot darker before the dawn of the upcoming semester. So in order to better prepare, I have decided to partake in mock AP tests at school and at home. Not only am I preparing to be successful on the days of the test but also I intend to be academically prepared to be even more successful in the future. These test do more than just assess my skills in English and history but also in time management and text interaction which includes highlighting, underlining, and annotating.
From each of my previous English classes from summer 2014 to summer 2015, I have learned a new method on writing a good essay and same method that I have learned previously. When learning the new method of writing a good essay, it was hard as I got too used to doing the regular way of writing an essay. That would be the reason why I would struggle sometime to write a good paper as each English class I take would learn a new unique or same method. I am getting better as I steadily improving my weak points in my paper, but I would still have some problems with grammars in most of my paragraphs, which is the reason why I would go to learning center and have peers review to see where I should change and improved the essay. Learning same and different methods from each English class is difficult to get used to and it takes little by little to develop an excellent paper to turn in.
I took AP Statistics my junior year of high school and I was the only junior in a senior class. At first, I was really shy because I did not know anyone in the class, but after a few weeks, I had made new friends and was enjoying everyone's company. Usually, I am used to excelling in math with minimal effort, it simply came naturally, however anyone who has taken statistics knows it is not like other math class. It was extremely difficult in the beginning and was trying as best I could to understand what we were learning, but it was like nothing I had done before, however, it was the teachers first time teaching AP Statistics so, she was trying to figure things out just like the rest of us in the class. On open house night, my mother and I
This time last year, I was in AP Literature at Green Valley High School. Although I had already passed the Language AP test, Literature helped reinforce my writing and gave me the fourth English credit I needed to graduate. Ideas from both those years have merged together over time, however my second year proved to be less about a test for me. I learned about effective proportions where most of the paper should be argument rather than detail or evidence and how certain writing elements and literary devices can give writing more depth. Although I passed the AP tests both times, I still find myself at a lost when it comes to defining my argument with precision. A skill that has been useful most often is to “trust your pen;” I’ve found that
Before being enrolled in BA 101, my career path and perspective on majors were shaped by the organizations I was part. Although insightful, these organizations held a clear bias being geared towards Finance. Due to BA 101, I could discover my interest and skills, which inevitably led me to determine my major and minor while at McCombs. Furthermore, BA 101 helped me develop my professionalism by learning how to craft a resume, cover letter, and how to engage in an interview.
This class was not what I expected it to be. When thinking about an Ap class my first thought was lots of boring hard work, difficult material, and advanced testing. Instead, it was more working hard to expand individual abilities, getting more practice, and digging deeper into our skills. The atmosphere of the class was more laid back, free, and open than I had expected and I believe it paved the way for more improvement.I’ve done these self-reflections multiple time during my time in high school, in which case I would normally have pulled them out of my butt and then hoped for the best. However, this class has changed that because I truly have experienced more growth in my work over the course of the year. However, I feel that the growth in my abilities has been concentrated to specific areas such as; my confidence in my writing and ability to
For this reflection on the learning development among students in my practicum, I will focus on both the freshmen World History class and the AP Psychology class. Focusing on these two groups is appropriate because of the different changes that are occurring among them. The teacher has to recognize the differences among each group in the areas of cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical, in order to assure that the students are engaged in the learning environment and gaining a maximum level of understanding regarding the material.
The arrangement of the classroom has a significant impact on students’ attitudes toward classroom behavior and learning. Students need the environment that is organized, neat and comfortable in order to learn and behave appropriately.
Over the course of this class I have pieced together many things about my own life that before went unnoticed. I am now able to see things in a bit of a different light. Now that I have been introduced to the realm of psychology I understand some of the reasons for behavior around me. I have learned that there is a reason for most everything and a lot of our behaviors and mental processes can be explained through psychology. Studies have been conducted for many years to try and pinpoint the source of our behavior and it is not something that most people think about every day. Having a better understanding of why we operate the way we do will help me to better understand myself and the others around me.
A system could be considered as elements structured together because they continually affect each other through time (Senge, 2012). Think of the human body. It is a network of interrelated organ systems derived from organs, tissues and cells working together as one. Individually, each organ may stand alone in its uniqueness of function. However, it cannot successfully help the body to move and survive without the aid of the other parts of the organ systems. School systems work much the same way. A teacher cannot alone affect change in the school within the confides of her classroom. However, the teacher can reach students who are connected to other students and teachers that work together for the positive change in the school environment. It is through a system change in education at the school level, leaders can ignite and initiate revolutionary change to push the success
I took full AP to challenge myself towards the hard and tricky parts of the course, it will help my growth throughout high school. I make sure to do hard questions for extra practice so that I understand the concepts and the lessons of the subject better and I am able to get the marks I want. I revise all my notes at the end of each day to make sure I am keeping up with daily lessons, I encourage that everyone do their homework and a little extra so that in return you don’t have difficulty when it comes to writing tests. I learn best by taking notes and walking around while studying, I take short breaks when I am studying to make sure that I don’t cram it all together, cramming is something that should be avoided.
This guidance class has helped me get a better understanding of how to become a successful student in college. I really enjoyed learning new writing techniques, different styles of notetaking, test taking skills and especially my learning style because now I know different techniques to help me learn to my full ability.