Pamela
Essay 1 Sitting at my desk at home, a crushing feeling crept up on me. I didn’t know what to think. I’m not going to make it, am I. It was already midway through junior year of high school, and having just calculated my GPA requirements for many of the colleges I had wanted to go to, I realized that my grades were not even close to what I expected them to be. I guess I had been in denial for so long that I let them slip this far. How could I have let this happen? Where was my mind when I needed to study and do homework? Why did so many stupid things like watching T.V. or going out with friends or just mindlessly waste my time on the internet? I felt an awful combination of disappointment, anger, panic, and frustration.
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I worked so much harder. I began to pay attention in class, studied my notes everyday instead of cramming the night before the test, participated in class, did my extra credit, and gave it my all. Soon, people began to notice. My friends said I looked and acted stronger, more driven. My teachers said they noticed my improvement, saying things such as: “I’ve noticed the change in effort you’ve been putting in my class, I’m very impressed.” “You’re test grades have gotten higher, keep up the good work!” These observations from my teachers and peers satisfied me, but what truly made everything worth it were my grades. In every class I took, my grades shot up at least 10 percent from the previous semester. I actually learned things in my classes instead of carelessly writing down notes to spit all the information out on a test before I would quickly and surely forget it. For once, I was actually happy with my schoolwork. Things were finally working out how I planned it to be. I felt accomplishment that my hard work finally paid off, but I still kept in mind that my original goals were still far from reach. Nevertheless, I was happy about all the things I had changed and improved in the short amount of time I had left. When I first realized my grades were below my expectations and that I wouldn’t be able to go to the school of my dreams, I was devastated, but at the end, after I worked hard and got the grades I wanted, I was okay with it. I truly
At this point in my life I find myself in an interesting predicament regarding my attitudes toward reading and writing; more so towards reading. Years ago I used to love reading books for pleasure but nowadays I find myself reading things that little to no effort to digest. This includes the very basic posts on facebook expressing one’s opinion on something or articles and threads on reddit discussing topics I find intriguing. Perhaps it’s the severe senioritis that has overcome me as I enter my last semester at Chapman University. As I’ve gotten lazier I can see it start to reflect in my everyday life. Deep down I still love to read but I rarely find myself getting truly invested into the action unless it relates to something I am very
I couldn’t stop smiling and kept looking back and forth at my results. Preparing for my final took loads amount of work but at the end it was all worth it to get an A in the class. It took motivation to accomplish what I had thought to be impossible. Which was passing the math final with a C or higher. I am proud of myself for not giving up at the end even though mentally I told myself I wasn’t smart enough and at times when I simply just wanted to quit. I know I wasn’t the smarts student in my class and had doubts toward myself but I still putt in all my effort to study, ask questions, and pay attention in class. Showing that I am capable of pushing myself even when times get
I may have accomplished a lot but there are still many things I need to improve on. My behavior was not always up to par, I can get very hyper at inappropriate times and would start to block out the teacher. I talked
The transition from the first semester of high school to the second semester marked a significant change in my work ethic. During the first semester, I lacked motivation because of unexpected events during that summer. Eventually, the stress caught up when I received my report card and saw three B’s. Receiving those grades was a warning to work harder. After the first semester, I started to push myself to become more involved in the school. During my freshman year, I competed in band competition in Florida, sang a chorus solo, and performed many concerts around the Durham area. Becoming more involved with my activities was a life changing decision for me due to the fact that I figured out how to stay motivated.
As weeks passed, I studied harder. But not only that, I needed to start learning from other classmates. I asked them about how they study, and when. Basically I tried to know about their studying habits. Which came up to be beneficial in changing my grades. One of the studying habits from one of the students was coming back home at3:00pm having lunch and relax until 4:00pm and start studying, start with core subject then the easier ones until 6:00pm. The rest of the day is free time and dinner and then sleep at 9:30pm. Which I use until know except maybe the exam days. As days passed my grades got shifted up along with my English skills that significantly improved, which made my parent so proud. Having class discussions, helped build speaking skills in me. And listening to different point of views and accepting it. That also was beneficial in real life. One time we had an argument that I remember and like it until this day. Which was about forcing good handwriting in all subjects and in all schools. Which I completely disagree with due to my awful handwriting. This argument very polite and respectful, the teacher thanked us and rewarded us
I started my freshmen year in high school with a negative attitude and had no goals set for myself. I didn't even know if I wanted to go to college, so I didn't take anything seriously. I didn't really care about my grades or gpa. However, throughout the years, I matured immensely, and devoted myself in school. I started to care about my grades and how they reflected me. I joined clubs, and started attending tutoring to increase my knowledge. I proceeded to challenge myself by taking harder classes to raise my GPA. My junior year I set a goal to achieve straight "A's" through the whole year, which I successfully achieved through dedication. I continued to set goals for myself for my senior year. I challenged myself by taking my first AP
I felt as if there was no return from the abyss I put myself in to. I had failed both semesters of my honors algebra two and trigonometry class during my sophomore year, and I believed that all doors to success had closed. I was at my lowest point in my high school career and I had no idea how to pull myself back on track. I felt as if I had nowhere to go, I was not making any progress in the class no matter what I tried. I was hopeless, lost in my fear of failure. This was a wake-up call to me. Previously, I strolled through school almost effortlessly because the grades I received seemed good enough to me. I had underestimated the effort needed to succeed and failing my math class caused me to overturn my previous thoughts and my negative work ethic.
Many times my efforts were not positively reflected through my grades. These disappointments remind me that I must take a step back when I become overwhelmed, and remember that I am equipped with the right work ethic, attitude, and determination to handle new challenges. Before the start of most school days, I spent time with teachers reviewing the previous night’s homework that I persistently fumbled through. Countless hours were spent watching tutorials and reinforcing class notes with my dad. Like mastering manual driving, I determinedly redirected focus towards what I knew I could achieve in math, instead of fearing the ride to get there. By focusing on my strengths, I was able to push myself daily, and strengthen skills to improve my quarter grades, earn an A on my semester exam, and celebrate these
In high school, everything was laid out for me, but in college I had to make many decisions for myself some of which did not go well. In addition, during this time, I had to work part-time. I also had significant responsibilities at home. My parents were not familiar enough with the English language, so it was up to me to handle all of the family bills and help them complete any paperwork. In addition, things became even more difficult when my mother went back to Egypt for six months leaving me the responsibility for managing our house. All of this additional work left me little time to handle schoolwork properly and my grades suffered. From my sophomore year on, I have been able to dedicate more time to my schoolwork and learned to manage my time more effectively which has improved my GPA from 3.1 to a
I wanted to be better. In my junior and senior year of high-school I became more focused. I started taking class early in the morning, around 7, where I would have to wake up at around 5 in the morning due to the distance between my house and school. I have told myself that I have changed. I began to take my classes more seriously by arriving to class on time and studying for my quizzes and exams. I knew the changes I made surfaced when my guidance counselor recommended me to take an AP English course at the start of junior year and I couldn’t have been more excited. I have kept telling myself ever since then, “You’re doing
To improve my grades, I reached out to my teacher for help. My teacher told me that I need to take better notes and study more. With his advice, I was able to increase my test scores. I raised my grades by forming study groups with my classmates and studied for upcoming tests. Although I was passing the class, I wasn’t pleased with my achievements and told myself that I should work harder. I attended tutoring sessions to understand difficult concepts and topics.
There are a number of reasons why school has never been such a earnest commodity for me, but I cannot say I repent all of my mishaps. For one somewhat slacking-off gave me a chance to gain more knowledge on electronics and even myself. Although now I am at a point in my life where I see peers of mine becoming so hyped up on Universities, Cars, and the college-life. Mostly because they all earned it. I can’t really say the same thing for myself and i'm ok with that, because I know my life is just beginning and the best is yet to come. Over the past year I’ve slowly overcame my procrastinations, tardy’s, and dull motivation. In a many ways I can thank my family for my conquered insecurities.
With almost four years behind me, I look back now and I only thing I can think about is how much I’ve changed. And I’m not like some students who are going to reflect on how horribly they did freshman and sophomore year because that’s not me. Every year I’ve tried to hardest to prove everyone wrong to prove myself wrong because I doubted myself every single day, I felt as if I wasn’t good enough for anything. Today I am a well organized student who now understands that they are just as good as any. Yes, I am one to talk up a storm but I am still fixed on getting my work done whether it's on time or late. Some reading this may have stopped and reread the last sentence and questioned late? I am not going to say I am a perfect student because I’m not, far from it. But, at the least I know I put every last effort in me into everything I do. Whether it’s rewriting my essay’s or rereading chapters for history if I didn’t fully understand them. I’ve come to realize that if it isn’t your best then there is no point in turning it in. I can also be quite productive when I need to be, hence when I need to be. Meaning I can tell the difference from a time to joke and play and a time when I should be focused and on task. I often do catch myself thinking about things that have nothing to do with the material which is being taught but I think that is good sometimes to get away from everything and let your mind think what it wants to think. One thing I’ve noticed about myself is that I know
After struggling through a tedious, fourteen-year battle of demanding instructors, cruel girls, inedible lunches, and grueling assignments, I thought that my journey of receiving an education was finally over. While participating in my high school graduation in May 2017, I remember thinking that I finally accomplished my goals and finished learning. Soon after graduation, I realized that I had to begin a new journey and was in turn, infuriated. I mean, what is the point of a “graduation” if a person just has to continue pursuing an education for usually at least four more years? If you ask me, that sounds more like a bogus celebration to make people think that they are done with school when they are actually not even close. Anyways, to get to the point, I finally thought I defeated education, but in truth, education came back swinging and then proceeded to drive me out of my hometown into something awful known as college. Once driven out of my home, I found myself in Montgomery, Alabama, which is where I have spent the past three months. Over these past few months, I have been through one of the most challenging journeys of my life. From intense battles of stress to the lovesick Kydo, the purple-headed monster, and the evil serpent, I have faced many trials. Despite these struggles that I have endured, I have somehow remained strong and am still alive today to tell many of my experiences. Thus, I have decided to put the journey of my first semester of college into writing
My sophomore year was an academic repeat of my freshman year. In other words I didn 't do so good that year either. My mother would lecture on and on about how I shouldn 't let anyone, or any rule dictate how I handle my future. I thought how I 've let down my parents for all their hard work over the years. They went to hell and back just to get my family and I where we are now. My parents sort of pushed me to want more for myself .I knew it wasn’t fair for me just throw away my education like how I was. Once I started to apply myself more in school I figured out that school was, so easy. I started to recognize the potential and what I was capable of. I also realized most of the people in the same classes were like me; they didn’t even care. The teachers knew too, so most of them didn’t care if most of classmates passed or failed.