Thread: School problems, etc.

I already posted this verbatim on another forum, but I'm too lazy to change the wording. Yeah.

Well, basically, every year, my grades go at a downhill slant until two weeks before the final report card, in which they pop up to a level of decency(3.2 GPA or so). I'm afraid that won't work this year, though. My grades are as follows:

Chemistry : C-
Advanced Trig: C+
AP European Hist: D
Spanish 2: B
Advanced English: B
Band: A
Track: A-

I'm working so hard in AP Euro to prepare for the AP Exam that I don't have the strength/willpower to do the work in that class or other classes.

Basically my goal this year is not to pass my classes, but to pass the 80 dollar AP Exam.

Also, these grades add up to approximately a 2.86 GPA, which, for me, is horrible. Some people are glad to get a 2.0, but anything below a 3.83 is below my level of intelligence.

I lack self-discipline, and I'm thinking about shutting myself in my room for the rest of high school.

So, basically, if you never see me post again, you'll know where I am.

I'm on temporary leave of the community.

Not that I was extremely active here, anyway.

Later,

Stephen.

I'm in quite the same spot myself, except I can't really figure out the exact cause. I just moved up here to Canada this year (my senior year in high school) and my grade average has somehow dropped from a 94% average to a 78% average (maybe there's an exchange rate with grades just like money.....which means the american grade point (AGP) is worth much less than the canadian grade point (CGP)). I've been slowly getting more and more unwilling to do anything at all this year, seeing as I know hardly anyone in this stupid city, so I end up just playing video games all the time.

Besides that though, it appears I'm not really getting accepted to any universities and all the deadlines are gone now.....so I just don't really care anymore.

The only thing that keeps me going at the end of the year is knowing that I've already worked very hard the rest of the year, so letting up now is a waste. When there's lots of work, it's easy to avoid. However, the only way to make it go away is to start doing it

Originally Posted by gcn_zelda

I lack self-discipline, and I'm thinking about shutting myself in my room for the rest of high school.

I did this. 9am - 9pm study every day (though I did it at school, so I could ask teachers if needed), headphones with heavy metal all day on loud to shut people out. Did this for 4 months leading up to exams. Got 95-100% on every single exam.

It's only one year, and you'll be glad you did when its over. You'll learn a lot about self dicipline and get a temendous boost of confidence when the actual exams come around and you kick ass.

I really learnt how to study and apply myself during that last part of the year. I wish I could go back and redo the last two years of school, just so I could get the grades I should have got.

So I think this is a very good idea. Don't talk yourself out of it, that just makes you weaker.

Paul

I agree with stovellp, but then again, I've been a mediocre student for most of my life. I've always been in the "fast track" classes, always been in the "smart kid" clubs, etc, etc. But I never excelled and it never hurt me. I've always been a bit of a slacker and I've never really pushed myself to achieve my full potential.

I graduated high school with a 3.25 (barely staying in the National Honor Society even tho I was the president) and I graduated college with what is supposed to be a 3.0 equivalent (85% on the 100% scale we used). I'm a B/B- student, probably always will be. I could do better, but the extra effort never seemed worth it to me. I've never pulled an all-nighter, never studied from sun up to sun down. I failed one semester of AP Government in high school (because I hated that class and didn't care about it) and I failed 4 classes in college (all of which I took the next semester and did rather well in so they didn't affect my overall GPA).

So I understand slacking off a bit (I failed 2 of my college classes in the same semester because my work ethic sucked), but you do have to eventually pull out of the slump and get your ass in gear.

Don't count yourself out just because of highschool. I did the bare minimum just to get buy in high school. Im lucky I actually got accepted to a good university. Once I hit uni though, i turned into a completely different person. I learn things on my own time outside of the scope of classes, I try hard to get good marks, I even enjoy the nerdy classes that many students dread. I didnt make a consious decision to act this way, it just happened.

Just get through it and let life take you wherever it does.

No really... that makes you sound really cocky.

Originally Posted by ober

No really... that makes you sound really cocky.

Yes, it does.

But at least it shows he believes in himself and has ambitions.

I believe that people become what they picture themselves as - if you can see yourself doing something, and I mean really see yourself doing it, and believe in it, you'll do it. You can't have any room for doubt. I think this is how a lot of great people come to be great. I doubt Bill Gates ever thought to themselves, "Oh well, X is better than me, I'll just give up and go back to working for The Man".

(It's also a technique people use for losing weight or self improvement - when you look in the mirror don't see yourself as a fat turd, see yourself as the healthy and fit person you WILL be)

People who settle for being mediocre at everything seldom achieve anything. No one will name a hospital or erect a statue to Sally the checkout chick. Most people have heard of Alexander the Great, but who ever heard of John the Mediocre?

That said, even though you might believe you are the best in the world at something (I too have this belief, but of myself of course), you have to try hard not to let it show and not to become arrogant. Humility is a virtue.