Having consistently received A’s and B’s in the past, I was shocked when I failed both semesters of AP Calculus AB. That happened my sophomore year of high school and it struck me like a bolt of lightning. Negative thoughts about my success in the future became to accumulate and it impacted me greatly. For awhile, I belittled and consistently questioned my abilities to achieve the grades I wanted like the other students in my class. I feared that I wouldn’t be able to get into my dream university. My parents sacrificed a lot for me so my objective in life is to land a decent job and support them financially. I’ve always tried my best in school in order to make my parents proud. However, that time, I knew I had disappointed my mom when I saw …show more content…
Hoping to achieve a more favorable outcome with the same class and set of capabilities meant acknowledging my mistakes and confronting my faults - something much easier said than done. My first mistake had to do with attitude. Attitudes inside of me consisted of apathy, lethargy, and unwillingness. Following an unchallenging freshman year and a relaxing summer, I can hardly say that I prepared for my first AP class. I knew expectations in AP classes were high because they’re college level introductory courses. Known as one of the “hardest” math teachers on campus, Mr. Koyfman, had high expectations for his students. Just the mention of his name scared some students. Homework took approximately three hours to complete. Bookwork, handouts, and worksheets were assigned daily. The course wasn’t challenging, but it was my attitude that lead me downhill. One day, he asked me to see him during lunch hour. Usually there are students in his classroom either doing homework or asking him for help, but this time, it was just him and me. Mr. Koyfman boldly told me not to take the AP Calculus Exam explaining that I would without a doubt fail. With that …show more content…
Those that procrastinate will get nothing accomplished. For me, I had to convince myself to be free of distractions in order to focus. Mr. Kim once said, “Never do homework in your room. The bed will tempt you to fall asleep and turn off all your electronics.” Instead of going home after school, I stopped by at the library to do homework. There was a quiet section with carrel desks. These desks prevented others from initiating a conversation with me. I worked diligently and completed most of my homework before returning home. As a result, I redeemed myself and finished the course with two ‘B’ grades, instead of two ‘F’ grades. I brought satisfaction to not only myself, but also my mom and Mr. Kim. Progressing from a 3.0 GPA sophomore year to a 4.0 GPA junior year, I could not have been more proud of my accomplishments. This was a huge achievement in my part as a student. Without Mr. Kim’s motivation, I would have taken the wrong turns in life. I knew that the fault wasn’t in the course and rather in my past behaviors, decisions, and actions. I decided that the potential to fail a class again was insignificant compared to my integrity. Giving up what had I worked so hard for during sophomore year was difficult and yet I persisted to get it right the second time around; without reservation, I quit the basketball team and truly focused on my academics. In addition, I had to swallow my pride and face an
I was taking AP World History, my first AP class. Keeping up my grades in the class was one of my biggest concerns, but surprisingly, it turned out to be a relatively laid-back class without much homework. Throughout the year, the class was mainly notes and document analysis. The only difficult part of the class was the tests. They were long and arduous with several vague questions based on specific parts of the curriculum that we had only gone over lightly. The course became more vigorous as the exam date drew closer; we began writing more essays, the tests we took grew longer, there were after school study sessions, and even a mock
Anxiety. Regret. Frustration. Restlessly glancing at the clock, cringing every time I do. Staring at a blinking cursor, waiting for inspiration. Spending a restless night trying to squeeze out something to turn in the next day. This is a process known all too well by me, and most high schoolers in America, one known as: Procrastination. Procrastination is something easily avoided, and yet, seems to be one of the biggest causes for low grades in most students’ lives. It’s a tempting prospect, putting off your responsibilities to do something enjoyable, but it should be avoided at every possibility. Procrastination causes your grades to suffer, causes your mental health to suffer, and causes you to learn bad habits for the future.
Growing up, my parents never expected perfection but expected that I try to accomplish my best. The effort I’ve put forth in learning has been reflected in my grades throughout my high school career. I’ve entered myself in vigorous course work such as AP Government and AP English to become well prepared for my college career, all while maintaining a 4.4 grade point average this year. Not only do I engage in AP classes, but up until this year I had no study halls. I wanted my day to be packed full of interesting classes that I would enjoy learning about. My grades and choice of classes prove the effort that I put forth in my learning. Working hard now can only pay off in the future. Learning now creates a well-rounded human being. Working to learn is why I am so dedicated to my studies now.
I am currently an English 160 student who is hoping to move on to the next course, which is English 161. I understand the requirements for English 161. It require students to explore a topic in some depth and conduct independent research related to that topic. Conducting research allows students to learn what it is like to participate in academic culture, posing questions about important issues and developing an argument in response to what others have said. It expected students to learn the most valuable skill in college, which is critical thinking. Students have to be able to read challenging readings. Although I still have problems with English, I think I’m qualified to move on.
All my life I have been a lazy person, doing just enough to get by. Most of the time, in high school, I was content with just a “C”. The only time I wasn’t, was if it was a class I liked, and I paid attention to. If this was the case, I could have received a 99% on a test and been dissatisfied. But, for the rest of my classes, which were most of my classes, that I didn’t like, I never paid attention to or did homework, and I still managed to do well on tests. So basically I didn’t do anything except take tests and I still got satisfactory grades. In school I was so lazy that there could have been a project due worth about 20% of the final grade and I still wouldn’t do it.
My transition to college was successful, but it was nonetheless one of the most stressful times in my life. Unlike many of my peers at Saint Louis University, my rural high school experience did not truly prepare me for the academic rigors of college. Despite extensive preparation, I performed rather poorly on the first round of exams. While I didn’t fail any particular exam, my performance was seriously lacking. I knew that getting C’s on exams would not serve me well in the pursuit of my dream of becoming a physician. I remember feeling, for the first time in my life, that I was unintelligent and incompetent. I was also heavily fatigued from the excessive hours of studying, which I felt were necessary to reconcile the problem. I managed to
Throughout the semester i only learned few new things but i did improve and solidify my skill of writing. Before my first year of college my skills have always undermined by other high school english teachers and with that came disappointing grades. I am writing this paper as a reflection of the semester and the progress i have made as a writer. I now understand many things that my high school teachers have done a poor job demonstrating and i am grateful that i decided to take my own route in my education instead of their syllabus. I entered the semester with anxiety that i would perform as i did before but i clearly outdid my own expectations by receiving top grades on my essays.
Like everyone, I have weaknesses and strengths that relate to school. I am proficient in remembering things such as formulas, or definitions which I believe are the reason I take an understanding to math. I most unquestionably need to improve my habit of procrastinating I'm aware that this is the MAIN reason i haven't been doing the best I could have throughout my high school years thus far. I'm not stupid, I started my freshman year as a full ib myp student and had I not been lazy I would've accomplished way bigger, better than things by now rather than having to quit a sport due to my grades or having to attend summer school every summer for the last two years.
In my many years in school I have managed to stumble into a number of seemingly unsurmountable predicaments. I remember one in particular being in my AP United States History class. It was one the hardest classes I was taking and within weeks of the school’s opening I had an F in that class. I had become accustomed to my nonchalant approach to my academics and hardly ever worked too hard for a class. I managed to skate on by getting usually As or Bs but this class was different. I struggled with the workload and the amount of content I had to learn and remember. To matters worse my ability to participate in extracurricular activities was put into jeopardy. It was to catch up on the numerous assignments I had missed yet it seemed like every
I studied 2-3 hours a night and disconnected myself from the outside world just so I can make the grades. When the semester end and report cards were sent home, I once again disappointed my parents and didn't make the honor roll list. I felt hopeless and discouraged and thought to myself “I’ll never be able to do it, I’ll never be able to make my parents proud and make the honor roll list”. I was almost obsessed with the idea and it consumed my mind, body, and soul. But to my surprise, it was all about to change the following
Hoffman, August J., and Julie N. Wallach. Stop Procrastinating Now! 10 simple & Successful Steps for Student Success. Upper Saddle River: Person Education, INC., 2009. Print
Having consistently received A’s and B’s in the past, I shocked myself when I failed both semesters of AP Calculus AB. That happened sophomore year and it struck me like a bolt of lightning. I had negative thoughts about my success in the future and it impacted me greatly. For awhile, I questioned and asked myself why I did not study hard like the other students. I also feared that I would not be able to get into the university I wanted. My parents sacrificed a lot for me so I hope to get a decent job and support them later in the future. Upon seeing the F’s and my low GPA, my mom was disappointed in me because I’ve always tried my best in school; but not this time. In order to bounce back from this fiasco, I retook the class
About eight students interviewed about causes that led them to earn academic warnings or to be placed on academic probation. Even though all of the students were previously successful in high school, they were not able to maintain required GPA in college. Most of the students admitted that they were not able to manage their time and had very low self-motivation. Additionally, some of the students responded that they were not used to facing challenges in high school and, as a result, did not know how to deal with stress that was arising from the challenges in college. Basically, the main idea of the research was to show that not only time management and motivation are important for average students, but even for the ones who were considered as far above average and had high achievements before entering
My journey as a student has always been focused on the path to college and success. Before I even set foot in kindergarten my mother, a college dropout, always told me that “honor roll wasn’t an option” and that I would be attending college in the future and achieving a degree. Most of the time I made these requirements. Most of the time I was awarded honor roll or had a newly edited list of colleges to attend, but sometimes life got in the way of my dreams of achieving success.
Much like Benjamin Franklin believed, I feel that a person should take advantage of the time the person has in life with activities a person wants to do or needs to do. A person should not spend much time on activities the person does not want to do. Life is way too short to concern oneself with work or other activities one wants nothing to do with all the time. When possible, I try to forget about my responsibility and just let go of the ‘things’ that do not matter to me. I think a person should try to occupy oneself with something productive, worthwhile, or necessary at all times. Even though a person’s life is left up to a person to live, I cannot imagine thinking that I owe my time to society through working a job that I simply despise. I am a compassionate person, but I do not owe anyone anything regarding my time.