GPA Calculator

Many students are trying to guesstimate what they need to do in order to raise their grade point average. This blog post includes a link to a GPA Calculator which will allow you to calculate what grades you would need to earn in order to achieve your desired GPA. (You will need to have your current GPA which is available on PrepHQ.)

Also Don't Forget:

- Tomorrow night at 7:00pm is the Financial Aid night in the auditorium for senior parents. This blog has two recent posts that provided good financial aid information. (FYI, I am having trouble linking to the exact posts so you may have to scroll back to find the posts.)

- For juniors and junior parents, if you are interested in scheduling an individual appointment for us to meet about your senior year courses and to get a jump start on planning for life after high school, please e-mail me with your date/ time preference for February 2nd, February 16th, or February 18th between 7am - 9pm and I will do my best to accomodate your schedule.

Common College Decision Responses

As more and more students begin hearing from colleges I thought it might be helpful to know some of the most common terms you will see in response letters from colleges. Below are some of the more common college related terms/ phrases for admissions decisions. If your son/ daughter receives a letter and you are uncertain what they mean, please feel free to let me know or to contact the college directly.

- Accepted: Congratulations - they are inviting you to join and be a part of their college/ university

- Declined/ Rejected/ Not Accepted: For whatever reason the college did not feel that you would be a good fit. While it is understandably disappointing, please remember that there are lots of colleges and universities out there so don’t give up on finding a good match.

- Decision Deferred: The college is not sure yet… usually they will tell you what additional data/ information they are interested in receiving to help them make their decision. The most common piece of data they will look for are senior year grades at the semester time.

- Wait List: The wait list is not a denial, but it is not an acceptance either. Colleges use wait lists as insurance to make sure that their freshman class will be the appropriate size. If enough students decide to attend, the college will not accept anyone off of their wait-list.

Please remember that we track admissions decisions, but for most colleges the only way we know of the decision is if you come in and inform us, so please, be sure to stop in and let me know as you hear back from each school.

Snow Day!

Hooray! I just got the news that we have a snow day! Enjoy the 3 day weekend and please stay warm and safe. :-)

Schedule Changes

As I pretty much expected, today was a crazy day with tons of students dropping by to try to request changes to their schedules for next semester. I'm not sure how long the line was at different times, but I was moving through the requests as quickly as I could manage. If you want to change a course for next semester, stop in and see me - I can't guarantee anything, but I am willing to see what I can do to help you. (If I am not available, you can leave a note with what exactly you were hoping to change and I will try to make the switch if possible.) I know that it tends to create a few moments of panic as you realize that your lunch periods are changing or that you don't think you know anyone in any of your 2nd semester classes, but please try to relax and keep an open mind. As I said, I will do what I can, but most classes are at capacity so it may take patience to see if other people end up dropping courses.

For any seniors, if you have realized that you will not pass a 1st semester class required for graduation, it is essential that you come and talk to me right away so that we can figure out a plan.

For the rest of you, just to give you a quick heads up - at the end of this month we will start with course registrations for NEXT year. My how time flies!

On a totally different, unrelated note- I'm curious, are any of you hoping for a snow day or at least a delay? Maybe it's just me, but I doubt it. :-)

Exams

You don't need to panic about exams, but you do need to prepare for them! As you are aware, we have just 9 days of classes before exams begin. Exams play a significant role in your final grade for the semester of each course (and remember, because we grant credits based on the semester this is really important to you!) Most of your classes will follow the structure that your 1st quarter grades are worth 40% of your final semester grade, the 2nd quarter grade that you are currently wrapping up now will make up another 40% and then your exam grade is worth 20% of your final semester grade.

20% is a really big deal...
Think about it, if you had a 57% the first quarter and end up with a 60% this quarter then you can still pass the class as long as you earn a 66% or higher on the exam. On the other side, if you are trying to make sure that you earn an A in a course and you had a 95% first quarter and an 88% this quarter than you need to earn an 85% or higher on the exam to reach your goal.

Clearly, exams are an important part of your grade, but more importantly, they provide you the opportunity to practice a more realistic glimpse of what testing will be like in college and helps you to showcase your semester's worth of knowledge.

Below is the schedule for the semester exams:

Day One - Tuesday, January 19th:
7:45 - 9:45: 3rd period exam
10:00 - 12:00: 4th period exam
12:00 - 1:00: Lunch
1:00 - 3:00: 7th period exam

Day Two - Wednesday, January 20th:
7:45 - 9:45: 2nd period exam

10:00 - 12:00: 5th period exam

12:00 - 1:00: Lunch

1:00 - 3:00: 8th period exam

Day Three - Thursday, January 21st:
7:45 - 9:45: 1st period exam

10:00 - 12:00: 6th period exam

12:00 - 1:00: NO Lunch Provided!

1:00 - 3:00: Make-Up Exams

A couple of questions that tend to come up at exam time...

Yes, you are REQUIRED and EXPECTED to be in all of your classes during an exam. (Even if you don't have an actual exam, the teachers are going to be working with you on projects, papers, or other learning related to their course.)

No, you do NOT need to be in school during your scheduled lunch period or during your Options or Prep periods. (Which means, for example, that if you have 1st period options and 6th period lunch that you do not have to come to school at all on the 21st.)

Hope that helps clarify and happy studying! :-)

Just Wondering

How many of your thoughts were along these same lines today? :-) See you Tomorrow!

Don't Shoot The Messenger...

Don't shoot the messenger, but... tomorrow is our last day of winter break. :-) I hope that you have enjoyed your time off and used it as a chance to refresh, relax, and feel rejuvinated as we head into the second half of the school year.

I also hope that you have used the time off to catch up on sleep. Today's Columbus Dispatch included an article about the importance of adolescent sleep. If teens do not get enough sleep, then they are at an increased risk for suffering from depression and also at an increased risk of attempting suicide. As always, I would like to remind you that if you are ever having thoughts of suicide, please TALK to me or another trusted and caring adult. In the meantime, get some sleep.

Enjoy your last day of break. I am looking forward to seeing you all on Monday and hearing about your vacations!