Surviving AP Physics by Kiara

Surviving AP Physics by Kiara - December 2016 Scholarship Essay

The final class change had just started on the first day of junior year. I knew as I walked to my next class, my life was going to become significantly harder. I wandered around the halls looking for Room 426. Three minutes had passed of the allotted five minute class change. Walking feverishly, hoping to find the classroom I thought to myself , “Well, this is great, I am an upperclassmen who still can’t find a classroom.” Turning the corner of the hallway, I walked until I finally saw it, Room 426, AP Physics.
I arrived in the nick of time, crossing the threshold from the halls into the classroom just as the bell rang. Embarrassed by my late manner, I scurried over to the closest seat I could find and sat down.
“This is position,” said my teacher as he pointed to a dot on the board. “Velocity, is the first derivative of position, acceleration is the first derivative of velocity.”
From that point on, I knew all the rumors had been true, AP Physics was an impossible class.
The rest of the school year went similar to that. I walked into class, feverishly took notes, and tried to understand the material. At night, I spent at least two hours just trying to comprehend the material. I took home a textbook, watched videos of the material, and even asked friends for assistance, but nothing worked. Midterms were approaching and my anxiety rose. I skid by the first nine weeks with a “B” but knew the rest of the year was not certain because as the year progressed, so did the caliber of the physics. Eager to succeed, I set up study sessions with my teacher and to go over the exam material for two weeks leading up to the exam.
It was December 16th. I had just finished my AP Environmental exam when the bell for the next exam sounded throughout the school. I ran upstairs to Room 426 and immediately waited for the exam to start. My anxiety rose as the teacher walked nonchalantly throughout the classroom handing out the test. It was just my luck, that I was the last person to get the exam. As I looked at the first question, my eyes began to fill with tears knowing that this was not going to go well. An hour and twenty-five minutes zoomed by, I finished the test to the best of my ability and turned it in. Turns out I got a “D”.
Returning from winter break, I was devastated by my grade, it seemed as if I was the only person working this hard, just to get subpar results. I knew if I wanted to maintain my “B” average, I would have to fully commit to working harder. For the rest of the year, I promised myself that I would stick to my study plan if I wanted to reach my goal. Each day I would review the physics work for 30 minutes minimum, on weekends I would read the chapters in my physics book, and on days when I had physics I would watch videos about the subject matter covered that day. This worked for the second and third nine weeks, but the fourth nine weeks was different.
The fourth nine weeks of physics was impossible. Nothing, and I mean nothing seemed to work. I kept with my same schedule and even added daily review sessions with a physics tutor and nothing worked. It was exactly one week from the end of the school year; my yearly average was a 78.9%, a C+. The only way to boost my grade up to a “B” was getting a 84.2% for this nine weeks. At the look of it, my goal was not going to happen for two reasons: number one, This was my worst nine weeks yet, and I only had one grade pending, a test. Like always I prepped for the test the same way hoping that my efforts would finally pay off.
On the day of the test, I tried a new tactic. I decided to try my best to keep calm, I did not study a single ounce of information prior to the test hoping not to overload myself like I had done on previous assessments. Once again, I walked into Room 426 but this time with a calm demeanor ready to take the test. The class seemed to fly by as I completed each problem. Semi-satisfied with the work, I turned it in feeling uncertain about my fate.
The next two days were filled with me constantly checking my grades every five minutes, I checked a total of 27 times, but on the 28th, to my surprise my grade had changed. Instead of the once 78.9% semester grade, I was now faced with a 79.6%, a “B”! I had done it, I survived physics with a “B”. The long nights of staying up until 2 am and sacrificing other classes for physics paid off. I rejoiced thinking about my success and how I would never have to set foot in Room 426, AP Physics, again.
To this day, surviving AP Physics has been my proudest accomplishment because it taught me a lesson on resiliency and how to set a goal and achieve it. I now know that with hard work and dedication, any goal can be achieved.