What I’ll cover in this blog:
-How to manage the tougher STEM and AP classes?
-How many AP courses should I take? Should I self-study APs?
-Hello President!
-Socializing
-SAT/ACT Prep
-10th grade Dos and Don’ts
-How Goal Admit can help
How to manage the tougher STEM and AP classes?
The degree of difficulty of courses increases significantly in 10th grade. How to cope if, after praying all summer that you escape him/her, you find out that you ended up with the toughest Honors Chemistry teacher? And you have AP Calculus as well to deal with? And the AP History teacher who gives 2.5 hours of homework every day? Here are some suggestions on how to cope:
1. Pre-prep for the course in the summer, reviewing the textbook and getting tutoring. This gives you an advantage when school starts and helps you feel less overwhelmed.
2. Take a deep breath. It is difficult to do, easier said than done, but staying calm is very important. Crying over every bad test grade and hyperventilating on the inevitable missed assignment will only make it harder to cope. “This too shall pass” is a good motto to repeat. There’s always the next test to make up the grade.
3. Don’t get on the teacher’s wrong side with smart-alecky comments in class or inattentiveness. Teachers are not paid enough for the pressure they are under to instruct a class with disparate abilities and attitudes. Pay attention in class – attention to detail and being organized is half the battle in conquering a tough class!
4. Ask for help! Earlier the better! Maybe you have friends you can form a study group with? Can your parents can afford a tutor? The teacher will suggest extra review material if you tell her you’re having trouble with the particular chapter or the class.
5. Plan your evenings well. If you have 2.5 hours of homework in one class and 2 hours of work for the other classes, along with 3-hour robotics or dance or cross-country practice, start as soon as you get home from school. Try to sleep by 11:30pm at the latest. 3:30pm to 6:30pm for your extracurriculars, half an hour for dinner, 4.5 hours till 11:30pm for homework.
6. Work smart, not hard. Evaluate the grading for the first couple of homework assignments and optimize time vs benefit. If half page notes are enough, don’t write one page notes for each topic. Try to reduce 2.5 hours to 1.5 hours of work for that one US History class.
GPA in 10th grade is very important so take every assignment and test seriously. And take advantage of each and every extra credit offered! These could make the difference between a B or an A in the class.
Don’t sweat it if you get a B or two or even a C. The past cannot be changed. Focus on the future. Re-think your course selection in the next year based on your grades for previous courses.
How many AP courses should I take? Should I self-study any APs?
Colleges know the maximum number of AP courses offered by your school (from information they collect from high school counselors). When evaluating students based on degree of difficulty of curriculum, colleges will consider the max cap for your school.
The most important criteria in deciding how many AP courses to take is self-awareness of your ability to handle the college-level difficulty and more time-consuming homework requirements of AP courses. If you do 12 AP courses and get 2s and 3s in them, this will hurt your admission chances. If the maximum AP courses offered at your school is 10, I suggest doing 8 AP courses and spreading them out over 10th/11th and 12th grades.
It’s a lot of additional work self-studying for an AP so be prepared to commit to 10 hours of additional prep time each week between January and May. Your best shot at success is to join a coaching class or hire a tutor, if you can afford it. If you cannot, then study the material and do at least 10 old practice tests (available online or through books like Barrons or 5-Steps-to-a-5). One advantage of self-studying APs is that you do not have to take a full year’s course for it, and do not have to worry about a grade or the impact of it on your transcript.
It’s a personal choice at the end of the day. My sons’ school offered a maximum of 10 AP courses. My older son ended up doing 11 APs, 2 of which he self-studied (one through a prep class, another through a private tutor). My younger son did 8 APs in high school and only self-studied for the Calculus BC exam (he took the Calculus AB class).
The coveted AP scholar awards are a great addition to your college application. These are awarded for the number of AP taken as well as high scores achieved.
Hello President!
10th grade is when you should aspire big. Run for office at your school – class President, class Treasurer, class secretary. Get nominated to be the President or Vice-President in your club. Or found your own club to be the de-facto President. Whether you are in robotics or karate or dance, aim to become the instructor or the Lead. Leadership skills are highly prized by colleges – they want students who can energize their fellow students and take charge. This is the year to establish your leadership credentials.
You win when you run for office – even when you don’t win. The creativity required to come up with a campaign, the social capital mobilized to assemble supporters, the public speaking skills acquired in presenting your pitch. These are all excellent skills to talk about in college application essays even if you did not become Lead or Treasurer or Instructor.
Socializing
A big part of the high school experience is the social aspect. High school is where lifelong friendships are formed. So never be too busy to hang out with friends. Go for the movies and the dinners and the basketball meetups. Usually there are three circles of friendships in high school:
1. Core circle – these are your closest friends whom you’ve known since elementary school. You’ve attended each other’s birthday parties, your parents are friends with each other, and you can tell them basically anything. They’re your main support group and you lean on them in tough times.
2. Outer circle – these are friends you make in your various classes. Like Joe from Algebra2 or Akash who sat next to you in English Honors. The ones you do class projects with and exchange notes with about the teacher and the course. If you meet them in enough classes in the course of high school, they can move to your core circle. The students who are in the school clubs and dance classes with you are part of this circle as well.
3. Circling the outer circle – these are the high school students you meet in the corridors. You know of them but you don’t know them. Some of them are students you like but are too shy to approach.
My sons graduated high school a few years ago and are still incredibly close to their high school friends, meeting with them every chance they get.
SAT/ACT Prep
I discussed the timeline of SAT/ACT testing in my middle school and 9th grade blogs as well:
https://www.goaladmit.com/middle-school-college-prep/
https://www.goaladmit.com/9th-grade-dos-and-donts/
Also watch for an upcoming blog exclusively about SAT/ACT.
If you were not ready to take it at the beginning of 10th grade, you should definitely take it at the beginning of 11th grade. This would leave you some time in case you decide to retake it. Many colleges super score if you take the test multiple times – you can select the higher scoring dates per-section – English/Math. This means you have to start prep during 10th grade or the summer after 10th grade.
SAT or ACT?
ACT is a fast-paced test. More in-depth, and includes a Science section. Students who take their time to complete tests and don’t do well under time pressure should stick with the SAT. Colleges have no preference for one or the other.
As I mentioned in my 9th grade blog – SAT/ACT prep is crucial in order to get a good score, ideally in the first attempt. There are of course old test papers available online for free. In addition, there are many online and in-person coaching classes from 4-week programs to 10-week intensive summer/fall sessions. Even though these coaching classes are expensive, they are definitely worth the expense if you can afford them.
For those students who cannot afford prep classes, plan on spending a few hours every week doing practice tests on your own and buy the Barron’s test prep books. Practice is the key to a good score.
10th grade Dos and Dont’s
Dos:
1. Do focus on GPA. GPA is the single biggest thing to focus on in 10th and 11th grades. Colleges pay attention to inverse trajectories – getting all As in 9th grade and having 5 Bs in 11th grade indicates that you may not be as college ready, especially if your 11th grade coursework included many AP courses.
2. Do take some AP courses.
3. Do take SAT/ACT if you have not already done it.
4. Do run for office for your club or apply to be a Lead or Instructor in your extracurricular activity. Showcase leadership.
5. Do have fun with friends and attend prom!
6. Do identify and double down on a few select extracurricular activities and clubs.
7. Do start volunteering activities during the school year.
8. Do identify summer programs for the summer between 9th and 10th grade. Check out my blog on summer programs here:
https://www.goaladmit.com/high-school-summers-what-are-my-options/
Don’ts:
1. Don’t get stressed out. Don’t get bogged down by parental pressures. You can get into a decent college even with a few bad test scores and grades. What is right for you will find you and you control your happiness wherever you go to college. Find some coping mechanisms to deal with stress in my blog here:
https://www.goaladmit.com/high-school-stress/
2. Don’t overload yourself on Honors and AP courses – GPA is more important than degree of difficulty so only take on what you can handle.
3. Don’t compare – each person’s journey is unique and comparing yourself with friends and classmates will take a toll on your self-esteem and on your friendships
How Goal Admit can help
Goal Admit offers personalized, 1:1 advice. No package deals. Only affordable, accessible advice to ease your high school journey. Ask Me Anything – course choices, questions about AP courses, SAT/ACT/subject tutors in your location, stress reduction techniques, parent/child communication issues – anything! We will help you in your goal to get admitted to your dream college.
Awesome insights!