June 18, 2015 = Best Day of My Life

[Sheugokin]

Ya look at me now

Last time I heard, you are still in college (?) and play soccer well.

OMG! Now you are a video game star. Pweez, auutograf pls pls pls pls pls. In all seriousness, if you meet any EU LoL stars, LET ME KNOW! <3 Max. Lol.

[Sheugokin]

I actually had almost the identical schedule my senior year, with the exception of AP Spanish, as I chose to have a free period instead. My AP Physics teacher also taught me honors physics coincedentally. While he did fine with honors, he completely changed with AP. It's good that the Physics you're taking this year isn't focused on E&M, as that was the portion that killed everyone. Went from a 5 on the AP Physics Exam 1 (Mechanics) to a 1 on AP Physics Exam 2 (E&M). Do they still have two AP exams for AP Physics?

Let me tell you, I had my Quarterly-Based Assessment (QBA) for Physics today. Let me tell you something else. It was the hardest freaking thing I have ever taken EVER! EVER. EVER. Harder than the AP Biology Exam (Our teacher prepared us so well that I thought it was like cake.)

Guess what was on the QBA? 90% Electricity. I wanted to scream at the paper. It was so hard with the angles, and setting up two equations with vectors. It just becomes a hot mess. At one point I was gonna give up but I figured one of the two hard questions out which left me no time to finish the other.

To answer your questions, they do have two separate tests for Physics. They are:

Physics C: Mechanics
Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism

Since there is a choice, my teacher chose Mechanics because she knows it would simply too much to do both. She is an interesting lady and so sweet. I love her. She gives us pats on the back for support during difficult tests (like this QBA) and ask us how we are doing. She genuinely wants to challenge us but still want us to well. I can go on and on and on about her lol. Even though I hate her for making it so hard, I can't. She is too.....lovable!

Wait, what rank is your school, AAA or AAAA?

I honestly don't know. I think we are AAAA?

Doesn't help that affirmative action goes against Asian Americans, but that is another debate

I understand to a point but it just pisses me off sometimes. I try not to think about it.

[Groaning]

Wot is this, am I on the PL forums? (First year of high school next year )

[Sheugokin]

Wot is this, am I on the PL forums? (First year of high school next year )

I don't really think people read in the "Off-Topic" section of the forums. (Good luck! Refer to my advice given to Befs in the posts before.)

[Seoratrek]

You're almost done with this year! Best of luck to you for the upcoming school year!

[XghostzX]

PERREEEEEECCCCCCCHHH!!!

I totally agree. Unlike this soccer star over here, I have nothing going for me except for academics. So y'all do what y'all best at. Video game aficionado, sports star, writer, inventor, artist, movie star, or celebrity are all good professions. Think about it, if everyone is book smart, how does humanity achieve diversity?

Thanks Will btw.

Hmm, interesting professions you picked out - but definitely hard to achieve

I guess I was thinking about simpler things like: How we treat each other, how we go out of our way to make society a better place, or how we can brighten up someone's day. Everybody can excel at these things - good at communicating with people? Be the best you can be at communicating and interacting with others and do something relevant to helping others.

Leadership has always meant a lot to me. Aside from a few AP's I'll be taking my senior year (next year), I'll be a Senior Advisor for incoming freshman, a P.E. Leader for freshman again, and Captain for the soccer team. Having the opportunity to lead and bring together a group of kids is what makes me happy, and I enjoy getting better at it everyday. And I see myself jumping into that role of leading whenever the opportunity presents itself, no matter what it is I might be doing.

[Sheugokin]

Hmm, interesting professions you picked out - but definitely hard to achieve

I guess I was thinking about simpler things like: How we treat each other, how we go out of our way to make society a better place, or how we can brighten up someone's day. Everybody can excel at these things - good at communicating with people? Be the best you can be at communicating and interacting with others and do something relevant to helping others.

Leadership has always meant a lot to me. Aside from a few AP's I'll be taking my senior year (next year), I'll be a Senior Advisor for incoming freshman, a P.E. Leader for freshman again, and Captain for the soccer team. Having the opportunity to lead and bring together a group of kids is what makes me happy, and I enjoy getting better at it everyday. And I see myself jumping into that role of leading whenever the opportunity presents itself, no matter what it is I might be doing.

I ran outta thanks.

[Electrophiles]

Wish that could be my mantra. Many teenagers, including me, tend to look for instant gratification (partying, etc., etc.) and it is really hard, but I have to resist the temptation and focus on my goals.



My sister took it this year, and yeah she told me it was difficult. My teacher (currently I have her for my Honors Physics and therefore got recommended for AP) is a sweet Russian lady with a heavy accent. BUT SHE IS THE BEST! Learned so much from her honors class and ready to take her next course. The course for AP Physics at our school is geared towards Mechanics and Kinematics, not Electricity and Magnetism.

(BTW, my sister took the exact same courses that I will be taking, except she took regular Calculus instead of AP.And as further proof of your claim, she got all "As" except a "B" in AP Physics.)



Yeah I took the SATs last October (Subject Test for Chemistry) and this January, May, and June (Subject Tests for Physics, Biology Molecular, and Mathematics Level II). I have a pretty good foundation I think, but much to be improved. I started from a pitiful 1770 at the initiation of my SAT prep classes and ended up with a 2120 at the May sitting. In October I took the Chemistry SAT IIs because I forgot to take them during my sophomore year (Got a whopping 770! ). Still waiting for my June scores.



Thanks so much! I will need it! My schedule next year will be hectic if everything turns out the way I want it to.


@All- Thank you for your support guys! I wanna hear from you guys! How is high school/elementary school (those days.....ah.....)/undergraduate school/graduate school/everything else lol.

Want some honest advice? Don't waste your time on games. Just go crazy senior year to get into a top school (Stanford->Silicon Valley, New England Ivy->Wall Street).
Just study your butt off for 2300+ SAT, 750+ SAT II and 3.95+ GPA. Then take a chance at Ivy League schools for undergrad. Honestly, that's how you open doors of opportunity to the modern world dude. You can make 6 digit salaries within a few years out of undergrad that way, and it might seem like a buncha preaching BS right now, but you'll never regret it a decade into the future.

[anahadaz]

Want some honest advice? Don't waste your time on games.

Oh, if only it were that easy.

@sheu your education system sounds very complicated/hard, certainly different to here in Ireland... Like how many hours of study or work do you do at home after school? How do you get into colleges/courses etc, e.g requirements?

It's simple in Ireland, when you're 17/18 you're in Leaving certificate year where you do exams in 8 subjects at the end of the year. There are a maximum of 625 points available. Each subject has three levels; Higher (honours), Ordinary and foundation, foundation being for foreigners or mildly disabled people. You can get an A1, A2, A3 then B1,B2,B3 etc going through A-D.

An A1 in an honours exam gets you 100 points and they go down from there.
An A1 in an ordinary level exam gets you like 55 points or something.
You get an automatic 25 points if you pass higher maths.

After that, some college courses require different amounts of points to get into, and if you have the points, you get into the course and college starts.

Courses medically based usually hover around the 450-600 points mark.

Your system for getting into college looks a lot harder and complicated, I feel sorry for you lol.

Don't get me wrong though, the Leaving Cert is extremely difficult.

[Giazagilur]

Want some honest advice? Don't waste your time on games. Just go crazy senior year to get into a top school (Stanford->Silicon Valley, New England Ivy->Wall Street).
Just study your butt off for 2300+ SAT, 750+ SAT II and 3.95+ GPA. Then take a chance at Ivy League schools for undergrad. Honestly, that's how you open doors of opportunity to the modern world dude. You can make 6 digit salaries within a few years out of undergrad that way, and it might seem like a buncha preaching BS right now, but you'll never regret it a decade into the future.

More like his junior year, assuming he submits applications at the beginning of senior year. Senior year is for senioritis

[Etarbitrev]

I actually had almost the identical schedule my senior year, with the exception of AP Spanish, as I chose to have a free period instead. My AP Physics teacher also taught me honors physics coincedentally. While he did fine with honors, he completely changed with AP. It's good that the Physics you're taking this year isn't focused on E&M, as that was the portion that killed everyone. Went from a 5 on the AP Physics Exam 1 (Mechanics) to a 1 on AP Physics Exam 2 (E&M). Do they still have two AP exams for AP Physics?

Do you even physics?

[Waug]

Eh the school days.
Ye Physics is best
nd modern physics is best-es

[Sheugokin]

Oh, if only it were that easy.

@sheu your education system sounds very complicated/hard, certainly different to here in Ireland... Like how many hours of study or work do you do at home after school? How do you get into colleges/courses etc, e.g requirements?

It's simple in Ireland, when you're 17/18 you're in Leaving certificate year where you do exams in 8 subjects at the end of the year. There are a maximum of 625 points available. Each subject has three levels; Higher (honours), Ordinary and foundation, foundation being for foreigners or mildly disabled people. You can get an A1, A2, A3 then B1,B2,B3 etc going through A-D.

An A1 in an honours exam gets you 100 points and they go down from there.
An A1 in an ordinary level exam gets you like 55 points or something.
You get an automatic 25 points if you pass higher maths.

After that, some college courses require different amounts of points to get into, and if you have the points, you get into the course and college starts.

Courses medically based usually hover around the 450-600 points mark.

Your system for getting into college looks a lot harder and complicated, I feel sorry for you lol.

Don't get me wrong though, the Leaving Cert is extremely difficult.

LOL

I'm reading this and I thought, my life is easy af.

So this is how it works. Very complicated as you had indicated but try to follow along.

We have GPAs (Grade-Point Average) which has a direct correlation with the letter grade you get.

A+ in my school for a normal class is 4.25 GPA. And it goes down from there. I think an "F" is an automatic 2.0 (I wouldn't know lol).
("+" and "-" indicates a higher or lower version of the letter. Therefore, "A+" > "A" > "A-" for each letter grade until "F." If you get an "F," there is no "+" or "-.")

Currently I am sitting at a 4.675 right now. How is that possible. Well, Honors/AP courses add 1 point to the GPA. THerefore, the highest possible EVER obtainable GPA is a 5.25. However, this is impossible due to the requirement of having Physical Education each year which does not offer Honors/AP.

How is GPA calculated? Take the GPA of each of your classes and average those together. That is your overall GPA for the year. Now, how do you declare someone valedictorian/salutatorian? Well, you take the cumulative GPA of each YEAR and average those four numbers together (We have four years in high school: freshman, sophomore, junior, and finally senior).

That's how ranking goes. The rank 1 student of our school has a 4.7 something so it is a close battle between the first 10 spots in ranking. They could be thousandths apart.

Now, colleges.

THERE ARE SOOOOOO MANY FACTORS!

Academics are usually the biggest factor in matriculation into a college. You send your portfolio/transcript to your college to basically brag about how great you are and how your addition to the college is so great. You need to do it because the competition here is so tough with many of the best colleges in the world.

Major things that we need to apply for top-notch colleges:

1. An excellent standardized testing score: ACT or SAT is preferred. (You can take one or both but at least a good/perfect score in one of them)

I don't take the ACTs (American College Test) but am more focused more on SATs (Scholastic Aptitude Test), so I can tell you a bit about the SAT.

Three sections: Reading, Writing, and Math. Each section is worth 800 points with a total of 2400 points. It is possible to get a perfect score but really difficult. I am sitting at a 2120/2400, and the colleges I am looking at requires 2250 and above.

2. Stellar grades in rigorous classes such as APs and Honors: Self-explanatory

3. Extracurricular: Sports scholarships are available. Some people with talent in sports with a poorer academic portfolio can get into an Ivy League school more easily than say a 100% book nerd. Therefore, academics are key but not the end all and be all. They want to see you doing Varsity sports and dedication to those sports. In America, Varsity sports have the best athletes. Then we have JV or Junior Varsity for the mediocre athletes. Finally, we have Freshman which is just composed of the Freshman body. So for example, we have Varsity American football team, Junior Varsity football team, and Freshman football team.

We have clubs for aficionados for the subject such as the Math League/Science League/Thought Club.

4. Volunteerism: They want to see your involvement in the community.

5. Anything else to brag about: Leadership in club/sports, Medals, Achievements, Research, Musical Talent, and the list goes on.

Basically, the application process is to impress the Dean of Admission and his/her committee. Most colleges would want other supplemental data such as SAT IIs and essays. Some essays are required and there are some that are supplemental for each college. Every college is different.

This entire process is to go from high school to undergraduate. After your four year studies in a college, you will take the MCATs to try to get into a medical school. A high grade in that will determine very heavily on your acceptance to medical schools. If you think undergraduate studies are hard to get into, medical schools are ten times harder at least, due to the very limited schools and spots.

If you have any further questions, just comment and I'll try to answer it as best as possible as I am just a junior high school student.

[Befs]

I wish you the best of luck. Let me tell you this story.

A kid, currently now in most of my advanced classes, did horribly the first two years of his high school career. His mom graduated from Columbia University Business School at the top of her class, and he is here, wasting his time. He ended up being in the 50th percentile of our class sophomore year. Not too bad, but not too good either. I don't know what happened, but something sure got him going. Entering junior year, he tried so hard to bring up his grades, and they were just good enough to be placed in all, but English (The English Department is so selective in putting students from regular classes to advanced courses.), honors/AP courses.

Now in junior year, he ends the year with extremely high marks. He basically spun his entire academic career around. He now wields the highest GPA in our class this year, but to calculate percentile, our school does averaging of GPAs. It means he is practically screwed from becoming valedictorian (student with the highest cumulative GPA in the class) or salutatorian (student with the second highest cumulative GPA in the class). But he is still trying. Next year, he is now enrolled in all AP/honors classes including AP English.

So what is the message? Build yourself a cushion or a strong foundation rather. That way, you feel better about yourself comes senior year and have the continued work ethics throughout your academic career. Colleges will see your dedication and will acknowledge it whether or not you know it.

Thankfully, I screwed up early and tried hard ever since fifth grade. Now I am in the top <1 percentile. (We have over 300 students and I am ranked third in my class.)

A Chinese saying my mom used to tell me was "Suffer now, riches later, or riches now, suffer later." Which one do you want?

Yeah, I currently am around 90th or so percentile in my grade with A's, one A+, and one B+ however I got 99th percentile on ssat.

But I won't get into Harvard or anything because there's still at least 10 kids with better grades than me and I have little chance of passing them...

That's basically private schools for you...

[Sheugokin]

Yeah, I currently am around 90th or so percentile in my grade with A's, one A+, and one B+ however I got 99th percentile on ssat.

But I won't get into Harvard or anything because there's still at least 10 kids with better grades than me and I have little chance of passing them...

That's basically private schools for you...

Self-deprecation will not get you anywhere. Be humble but be confident at the same time. It is true that actions speak louder than words, so try harder if you can. If you feel you have already been pushed to the maximum, continue to do what you are doing.

Trust me, since you are in a private school, you will still be able to reach for one of the Ivies. Just do well on the SATs, do some sports, and get decent grades. You will make it. I have faith in you, and you have not yest started high school.

You know what that means? A clean slate. Take advantage of the scenario and try to do your best.

Idk about your parents, but my parents really don't care that much about my grades because they know I am trying my hardest in school. So what are they gonna do? Punish me for putting already 110% effort already? No, of course not.

Hopefully, your parents are rational and see that if you are trying your hardest, they will be acceptable. However, we still suffer from competition and self-pressure. We want to be the best. We want to beat everyone else. We want to win. Yes, I understand, but you are trying your hardest. CAN YOU GO ANYMORE? Do you have any more juice in the engine?

If the answer is yes, then go push yourself a little further. If you are in danger of a psychological breakdown, take a deep breath and accept your feats.


UPDATE: Got a 96 on that E and M QBA I had yesterday ! (The teacher curved it so much because if she didn't, nobody would have gotten an "A")

[Promagin]

Yes, I love biology
But not as much as you, you see
But I still love biology
Always and forever.

[Befs]

Self-deprecation will not get you anywhere. Be humble but be confident at the same time. It is true that actions speak louder than words, so try harder if you can. If you feel you have already been pushed to the maximum, continue to do what you are doing.

Trust me, since you are in a private school, you will still be able to reach for one of the Ivies. Just do well on the SATs, do some sports, and get decent grades. You will make it. I have faith in you, and you have not yest started high school.

You know what that means? A clean slate. Take advantage of the scenario and try to do your best.

Idk about your parents, but my parents really don't care that much about my grades because they know I am trying my hardest in school. So what are they gonna do? Punish me for putting already 110% effort already? No, of course not.

Hopefully, your parents are rational and see that if you are trying your hardest, they will be acceptable. However, we still suffer from competition and self-pressure. We want to be the best. We want to beat everyone else. We want to win. Yes, I understand, but you are trying your hardest. CAN YOU GO ANYMORE? Do you have any more juice in the engine?

If the answer is yes, then go push yourself a little further. If you are in danger of a psychological breakdown, take a deep breath and accept your feats.


UPDATE: Got a 96 on that E and M QBA I had yesterday ! (The teacher curved it so much because if she didn't, nobody would have gotten an "A")

I have sports working and ty for advice

[Sheugokin]

Yes, I love biology
But not as much as you, you see
But I still love biology
Always and forever.

How is med school Dill?

I have sports working and ty for advice

Oh np! Good luck in the future!

[Cavoc]

Spoiler alert: paying your own bills sux don't get too excited

[Suentous PO]

Spoiler alert: paying your own bills sux don't get too excited

True true, but at the same time, the ability to say "this is my house don't like it gtfo" is like, an American tradition worth dealing with some morons.

Also grats Sheu lel