Personal Narrative: My Experience With Advanced Placement Chemistry

From the beginning of the ninth grade until now, I have maintained highest honors. To do so, I made a routine of studying regularly, completing assignments in a timely manner and making sure they are submitted by the deadline, and putting effort into everything I do in school. I do so to develop the habits that will make me successful in college and when I reach my goal and become a physician’s assistant. By continuing to put great effort into school, I display my ability to persevere and show my continuing endurance even when a class is difficult. The most difficult class that I recall having throughout high school was chemistry. It was a rigorous course and the branches of chemistry we had studied were often intricate. We would have to complete lengthy lab reports after every

I was done. I did it. I was all smiles as I walked back through the double doors. Several people mouthed to me, “Did you mess up? Did you do good? Did you do this? Did you do that?” All I could do was smile and nod my head yes. Later that night me and my friends ran up to the front doors of East to find out who made the team. Before I could even get out of the car I took a deep breath and hoped for the best. I slowly stepped out of the car and waited there for a moment. Two point five seconds later I was running like a cheetah towards the front door of the school. I looked crazily for my number on the sheet of paper. It was there. I couldn’t believe it. So many thoughts were going through my head. I literally couldn’t think right. Me and my friends started hugging each other. To my surprise all my friends made it, and I was so proud of them. I layed in bed that night thinking about how fortunate I was to be in such a good place. Good grades, good friends, and fun times. I couldn’t be any happier with my

In my senior year of high school, I took AP Chemistry to pursue my passion of chemistry. The class lectures

Until about 2 years ago I was not quite sure what path I would choose for my future career, let alone what path I would choose when I arrived at college. I tended to be adept at subjects such as science and mathematics throughout my high school life, however I was never particularly fond of any one subject in particular. However, that changed my senior year of high school when I enrolled in AP Chemistry. I was intrigued by chemistry when I attended the pre-AP Chemistry course, however I was not particularly interested at that moment. However, AP Chemistry came with a plethora of hands-on experiments and procedures that existed to illustrate basic concepts of chemistry. Although it may sound mundane, I was amazed at some of the concepts we learned being implemented in front of our eyes, and I was especially

I failed AP English. I had missed the second quarter of the school year, almost completely, due to… technical difficulties. I got discharged from the hospital mid-February, and for the remainder of junior year, the majority of my waking thoughts revolved around passing 11th grade. With motivational speeches coming at me from my parents, friends, and teachers, I began to believe I had a chance of passing the year. I did my best, which apparently was not enough. My teacher had picked up on my tremendous amount of effort, and on the last day of school, bumped my grade up to a low D — just enough to pass. I was not exactly about to put my grade on display or anything, but I passed! Technically. This is not one of the underdog-who-succeeded stories. The real success for me was (look away, it’s cliché) realizing my best was enough. I sound disgusting.

I engage in various extracurricular activities all year round. Currently, I am involved with ASU Prep’s high school color guard team, ASU Sun Devils, and the National Junior Honor Society. Additionally, I partake in ASU Prep’s competitive swim team and another that swims all year round. Now, I’ve competed and performed in color guard for four years now (counting 2016-2017). Every week I practice 3:30 to 5:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and compete against 28 other teams in the High School Regional Scholastic A. Class. Recently, we have debuted as the first high school team of ASU Prep in late 2016. The impact of our performance awed and inspired the judges so much so that we got to move up to the next competition class. I swim competitively during Fall Sports at school as well. These practices are held from 6:00 to 7:00 am before school.

I was so ecstatic that I called everyone in my family to tell them that I actually got a D1 college looking at my records and that they stated that they are actually interested in me. Approximately two weeks had passed and it was time for me to take my first ACT, I was so nervous on the day of the ACT because I hadn’t taken it before and I knew that one of the requirements for MSU were that I had a minimum score of 18. I had no clue what I was going to score but the only thing I could do was pray the night before and have faith in myself. The big day was finally here and as I sat in the room waiting for the proctor to say begin my stomach had butterflies and a very jittery feeling. With only three minutes and twelve seconds left to spare on the last section of the test I chose to do what my English III teacher, Mrs. Triggs, at the time told me to do and that was to reexamine my test. Later that day I went home because I was so mentally exhausted I immediately went to sleep, I woke from my nap and I started crying because if I didn’t make an eighteen or higher I don’t think I would’ve retaken the

Science has become my favorite subject over the years, especially Chemistry. Taking AP Chemistry was the best decision I ever made because I instantly fell in love with chemistry. It was an interesting course that gave me insight on random things like why it rains. We did many cool labs, and I got to use tools and machines that I never would have used before in my life. For example, I got to use a spectrophotometer to record absorbtion of light in a solution. My favorite unit in chemistry was by far Intermolecular forces. They helped me understand the interactions between substances which explained why oil floats on water. Instead of getting an answer along the line of "it is denser", I understood that it was because the oil could not break

As I walked up the stairs of my school to what would be the first ever AP course in my life, my mind raced with anxious thoughts of what lied ahead. I was a sophomore taking AP Spanish Lang, something that my previous Spanish teacher had told me should come naturally due to my Mexican heritage. If only I could believe her, I had spent years trying to Americanize*its a formal essay don't use slang shit like americanize* myself to fit in with those around me.

Learning the different things in my science classes have inspired me to become a chemist and a pharmacist in the future. My teachers have a great impact on my decision that I have made. Mrs. Swiney was my Pre-AP Chemistry and Forensic teacher for two years and has taught me almost everything I know. She taught the subjects in such an interesting and exciting way that I wanted to learn more. The classes were easy to me as well, so it just made it better. Mrs. Smith, my AP Chemistry teacher, made me finally decide that chemistry is something I want to keep in my life in the future. I understand it very well and tend to help my classmates with the subject. In the future, I want to attend a college majoring in Chemistry, and hopefully I will go

When I was in 6th grade, my mother had to drag me by the ear to join the CTMS Science Team. At first, I hated every moment of it as I avoided the competitions by whining and crying. As time progressed, I would sit down every day with my neatly organized binder and stepped into a world of chemicals reactions. I soon realized that I wasn’t doing it because my parents were forcing me to; I was doing it because the science behind every ionic and covalent bond enthralled

However, when I got mine back it was a flat out zero, and after class he pulled me aside. In short, Mr. Grove told me that I basically need to get almost all the points remaining in the school year just to pass the class. If I would fail, I would not be able to graduate considering four English credits are mandatory. At that moment I experienced a moment of shock I have never quite experienced before. I had an immediate sense of stupidity. I questioned it. For lack of a better term, I felt like a complete moron. I was so down on myself and all night I thought about what I got myself into. How I was going to get out of this was beyond me and I was lost and hopeless about what to do. I continued to be sad and depressed for a while. My life went from fun to complete misery.

Spring 2016 was a semester I thought I would give my all to since it was just one step away before I graduate. I did not realize the overwhelming stress it would have over me struggling to keep my GPA. When I spoke with my advisor for Spring advisement I wanted to transfer to a 4 year college since my GPA was high enough at that point but my advisor informed me I am close to graduating and the better choice would be to finish and graduate with my Associates Degree. I took the advice and enrolled in two science classes, on music class, and one statistics class. Taking two science classes was not the best idea especially being so close to the finish line of graduating. I took a Bio 210 class and Chem 121, I am not a science major and I have decided

About as nervous as I could be be, but trying to pretend to be like everybody else. They were just here because they had to be. Inside my heart was racing and my leg was shaking uncontrollably. Everytime my leg shook I could hear the crack of the old chair which increased my nerves. The teachers passed out programs for all of the awards. I quickly scanned for my name under all the awards. Then my heart stopped and I saw it 4.0 Award- Shea Keethler. I tried not let my face betray me and smile in front of my friends. I still did not know if I was going to get called up onto the stage in front of all of my peers and their parents. As I thought this to myself, I heard the principle announce “We will now be calling onto the stage the winners of the excellence award, this is earned for achieving a 4.0 GPA all three years of middle school.” As he read the short list of names, I heard my principle “Shea Keethler” as he proclaimed I felt the pride swell up inside or me. I got up and walked toward the stage. When they gave me my award I headed over to the rest of the winners and I looked out amongst the crowd. It seemed that the rows of my classmates and their families were more people than I imagined. It looked like there was no end to the rows of people. I walked back to my seat ecstatic and all my friends congratulated

To deny a child the ability to have more access to knowledge is an abomination. A child who wishes to learn more about the world and all it's knowledge, yet is denied that access because of what a small test said.The thing about this child is that I am the child. I would raise my voice up and ask," Why can't I go and do advance English?"  I would be told to wait till I get to high school, or wait till I got older then I could ask again. Even asking my friends about the situation I was told to just drop it and accept this fact.