Personal Narrative: My Highest Math Class

Last year I took a few classes at Columbus State Community College. There were definitely some changes that I had to make so my life could still run smoothly. Some of the things that changed were my extracurricular activities. I had to swim less often than before because I had classes or homework that I needed to do. My study habits didn’t change very much, surprisingly. I still did my work sooner instead of later. I won’t say I always did it as soon as I could because while that would have been optimal it didn’t always work out. And I made sure I always got the work that was due first, done first. Also during the school year my classes at Columbus State were on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. In addition to those I still had all

My AP Physics C classroom is filled with whiteboards. You can start writing a problem on one board, circle around the room, and find the answer right next to where you started. With a small class of just eight students, application of physics and calculus to real world scenarios is gripping. I remember contemplating during the MLB World Series fervor how long batters had to react to a pitch. My physics class and I were intrigued. We all grabbed Expo Markers and began solving for velocity, acceleration, impulse, all the while keeping in mind cross-sectional area of the ball, the stride of the pitcher, and other minor variables. I modified the problem by asking the class to use Aroldis Chapman (the fastest pitcher) as the pitcher. We spent hours

As a proud feminist, I was thrilled to discover that Columbia Engineering is a 47% women, and that the Dean of Engineering, Mary Boyce, is a woman. My AP Physics C class is heavily males and almost all the girls sit together in the back corner. When I sat front and center in the classroom, boys surrounded me because no other girls braved the front row. At Columbia, I know that I will be in an environment with enough women that we can all sit proudly wherever we feel comfortable, and if women are outnumbered, they will work together to have their voices heard just as loudly.

My SAT scores aren’t the best because I lacked motivation to learn in high school and barely studied before taking the test. However, after graduating from high school, I stopped playing video games, which took a big part of my time, and motivated myself to become a life-long learner and improve every day. For example, during my first year at IU, I worked hard to be involved in campus organizations such as the Toastmasters Club and the Kelley Student Government while also working hard to get a 3.8 GPA. As a result of this effort, I got accepted into the Kelley School and the Business Honors Program. After transitioning from an average student in high school to a high achiever in college, I realized that any goal is achievable if one if willing

"I felt a little lost between the blue and white of the sky and the monotony of the colors around me—the sticky black of the tar, the dull black of all the clothes, and the shiny black of the hearse. All of it—the sun, the smell of leather and horse dung from the hearse, the smell of varnish and incense, and my fatigue after a night without sleep—was making it hard for me to see or think straight." –Albert Camus, The Stranger

Junior year at Tucson High Magnet School I was enrolled in College Algebra a class I was having difficulty in. First semester had already passed and I received the letter grade D. I knew I had to work harder and study more especially if I wanted to get a better grade point average in order to get excepted into Universities.

As a young child, I was timid towards participating in class activities, and I would not seek help if I was struggling because I was terrified of judgement from both my teacher and my peers. I was so insecure about myself, that I became obsessed with the idea that I was obligated to complete any task anyone gave me because I was a burden on them and their life. I would go out of my way to help someone on their homework to my own grade’s deficit, or I would knowingly place myself into the middle of social drama I was not involved in simply because I could not say no. This eventually resulted in me becoming both emotionally and physically exasperated. I began to isolate myself from both friends and family. This way, I could not be held accountable for

I hope the year has been interesting for you so far at Westinghouse. As for me, I am 9th week in of my semester. To be honest, the classes at USC are extremely difficult. I found myself studying over 10 hours a day, but the work has paid off for most of my classes. I am really struggling in writing and biology. USC's writing standards is so different from than the typical "high school's five paragraph essay". I feel extremely motivated nowadays, maybe it was the change of scenery. I still remember when we talked few months ago, I seemed to be a bit unmotivated with life. That has all change :).

I am confused as to how you scored our AP exams. In class you had told us that you would grade our exams exactly like the AP. However, when I placed the scores you gave me into an official exam calculator (recognized as the best and most accurate in the world and based off the 2015 grading curve) I received a 4 instead of a 3. Do you know why this would be the case? I am very concerned because if my true grade on the test is a 4, my test grade would raise 16% which is dire if I am to maintain my streak of never having received below in a B in any of my classes ever. I am not concerned for the AP and feel that your preparation for me has been stellar. However, I am majorly concerned for my trimester 3 grade as I have dedicated so

During my second year in a high school, I made the foolish the decision to take three Advanced Placement courses despite my counselor's warning; only three other students my age chose this course of action, yet I was guileless, headstrong, and ready to move into the fray. The three classes were Advanced Placement Biology, Chemistry, and World History combined with a rigorous cross country eight-mile cross-country run, and a demanding pre-calculus class. I went into AP Chemistry not knowing a thing about chemistry. I remember feeling a sense of insecurity around my peers, who were far more intelligent than I. As I sat listlessly in my one-armed desk chair, I could not grasp the words coming out of the instructor's mouth, vocabularies such as

Majoring in actuarial sciences and becoming an actuary is something that I consider my top option when it comes to college. The interest began in my statistics class junior year and it continues to grow the more that I look into the career. I have always excelled in mathematics courses but early on I had always been more interested by other subjects so I didn’t pay much attention to how naturally mathematics came to me. I was enrolled in honors math classes when I began middle school

Hi Mr. Clark, I think that I have signed up in the wrong math class. On my schedule it's says intermediate algebra, I signed up for the 65, but that class is super easy. I thought maybe I was suppose to be in the 85 instead now after working on it. If so please let me know how or if I can change it.

A personal quality that I have is that I will never give up. During my first year of college, I took an Advanced Algebra class. I wasn’t doing very well, I tried my hardest in trying to get a C. I went to the tutoring center a lot more and I stayed at school for longer hours to study. I ended up not passing the class. When I went to talk to my professor to see what was the best course of action to take, she told me that maybe higher level math wasn’t for me and suggested that I take a business math class. Business Math consists of simple arithmetic. I had to prove to her that I could be good at math. When it was time to register for classes again, I proceeded to take another Advance Algebra class. My advanced algebra class started at 7AM everyday,

Tell us about a time when your expectations and outcomes differed. How did you grow from this experience?

My 9th grade year was a memory to never forget. 9th grade, i was new to the school just like the rest of the freshmen's i came into the school with, we were not really focused on the education we were more so focused on having fun and seeing different and older people and just experiencing the life of a high schooler. As bad as that may sound it was the truth but that was the year i meant my home boys Block, Tick and Jalen, i knew block and tick for some years already but i meant jalen when i got to high school and instantly we became close like brothers.