Many people think that senior year is an extremely easy year and you barely have to do anything. In my case, that is not true, but there are some people in my class that only take 2 classes so that might be true for them! Many people say junior year is the hardest, but personally I had the highest grades I have had throughout high school last year. This year I am only taking 4 actual academic classes, which is nice since I am home by 1:30 at the latest every day.
I am taking a philosophy class, English, Spanish, and Physics. I wouldn’t say any of them are easy or “blow off” classes, but some I personally do better in. The philosophy class is a lot of work, but isn’t necessarily hard. Physics, on the other hand, has given me trouble since the second day. (Side note: on the first day of class the teacher taught us how to make coffee the way he likes to… I am still not completely sure if that applies to physics or if he just wanted us to know, but whatever.)
Since I was struggling quite a bit, I had to change my habits and try new things to help pull my grade back up. Today I wanted to share some of my tips that you can also hopefully apply if you ever find yourself in a harder class!
1. Form Study Groups-
This is honestly the thing that has helped me the most. I am actually writing this post a few minutes before I am supposed to meet two of my friends to study for a quiz. Every time we have a quiz or a test we get together at a coffee shop or someone’s house and go over the review guide together. It is great because usually at least one of us knows how to do each problem and we can explain how to each other.
2. Go ask questions-
For me, this has been more difficult because physics is usually one of those classes where “you don’t know what you don’t know.” Basically that means I have no idea what question to ask because I am so lost. Whenever I do have a specific question though, I find the teacher and ask for an explanation.
3. Get a tutor/smart friend-
I have never actually had a tutor, but some of my friends have in the past and it really seems to help them. You could also pay/ exchange something with a friend to get them to help you for a few minutes every day.
4. Study a little bit every day-
Tell yourself you will sit down for 5 minutes every day and study your hardest subject. Usually you will end up looking through the material for over 5 minutes because you want to push through, but if you only do 5 minutes, that is still okay!
5. Find similar problems to work on-
Sometimes there are extra homework problems in your book you can try, or you can try searching online for them. Practice makes perfect, so keep practicing until you get the hang of it!
How do you make it through a hard class with a good grade? Share your tips in the comments!
xo, Scarlett
