Around this time last year, I was a freshman in high school, ready to complete my course selections for my upcoming sophomore year. I was totally set in all of my core subjects except for one, my Social Studies course. I was taking a freshman accelerated history course, Honors World History, and I loved it and knew I wanted to continue down that path, but I just didn't know what to do. That was when my teacher recommended me to take AP European History.
AP European History is a 10-12th grade level course, but most sophomores take it. It is notorious as one of Neuqua Valley's hardest classes to take, but it's a ton of fun too! We do plenty of skits & group projects, watch movies, and eat a ton of food, since we have Wednesday Treat Day every week.
My year in AP Euro started off pretty successful: turning in all my summer work and getting good marks for it and receiving a fair grade on the first test of the year. I met a ton of new people through the class, and reconnected with some old faces, and we all bonded! I thought with these grades, and this kind of support system, I knew what to expect, but was I wrong.
Because marching band took over, I struggled in this class for a while. I failed or received D's on three tests in a row, wasted tons of time on my note taking when really I was just copying my textbook word for word, and got too caught up in the social aspect of the class with the mentality "It's a college level course. Of course it's hard and of course I'm going to struggle. If I get a B in the class, whatever, I won't care.".
But I smartened up a bit after the class got very intense and my schedule started to get even crazier in October. I went in for help, developed a new studying habit (flashcards!), made my two textbooks become my best friends, and emailed my old teacher to tell him about my progress. While it was tedious, receiving high marks for homework assignments, class projects, and an essay here or there, but receiving low grades on tests (the biggest part of my grade category), all the hard work paid off in November. My test scores started to improve to high C's and B's (the average in the class), and my overall grade was an 86% by the end of November, something that is usually unheard of in the class. It felt awesome to be doing above average (well, almost) and to be understanding the level of material given to me.
But, all of my work really paid off when I got an 82% on the final exam, and with curved points, got a final grade on the exam of an 89%. I screamed and ran and danced around my house like there was no tomorrow!!
So, at the tail end of the first semester, my final grade was a mid-range 87%. But with the HUGE opportunity of 3% extra credit, I received a 90.52% as my final grade, an extremely low, but still there A.
It was, and is, gratifying to know that all the hard work, long nights, and immeasurable ink stains paid off for something. I can now go into the second semester confidently, and I am confident that I can go into junior year AP U.S. History with high expectations for myself with a great work ethic and understanding of what is expected of me.
I know that if I try really hard again, maybe I could swing another A in the class for second semester. But an A in this kind of class is like a shooting star: hard to find, but the gratification when you spot one is amazing. I am just content I surpassed my own standards for myself and I am ready to beat the new ones for myself!!
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