While it may be sad to say the time we have at high school is limited. I have learned many things in my time as a student here, but none more important than what it takes to get your GPA up. I have had to work especially hard to achieve the academic standing I have, while much of that work could have been avoided. Here are the things I have learned throughout the journey of academics in high school.

 

The first mistake I made most likely can be traced back to freshman year. I never asked for help or took my school work seriously, this led to being almost failing my math class and doing poorly in several others. It is important that the second you enter high school you take the courses you can handle and do the best you possibly can. Do not just copy your assignments and allow several at a time to go missing. Staying on top of these things will help to make sure that your transcripts look as bright as you are. I recently began applying to colleges and seeing the effect that my freshman and sophomore year have had on my GPA makes me so frustrated. Since I had decided to take things as a joke and worry about them later I now had to push myself to achieve straight A’s and take stressful AP courses to boost my GPA. While all of this could have been avoided had I simply just taken my school work seriously and realized that high school will pass by much quicker than expected.

However, this does not mean do not challenge yourself. Taking courses slightly out of your comfort zone can also help make you a better student, so if you are advanced in English don’t be afraid to take those AP courses. While you may have to push yourself it won’t be on a topic you struggle with, just something you will have to apply yourself to. For example, I do well when it comes to History and consider it one of my stronger subjects. So my junior year I took an AP history class but only a general math because I knew that was something I would struggle in. I knew taking the AP score would help raise the GPA that I had so carelessly forgotten the importance of and the math would be a challenge but I could at least pull out a low A when I applied myself. It is all about finding the healthy balance between the courses that will make you a better student but also will not set you up for failure.

When you achieve a high GPA combined with varying act scores (which those challenging classes can help you learn the study habits that help you) it can open the door to many types of scholarships and benefits come college time. So go out, apply yourself, be the best student you can be, and do the amazing things you are capable of.