All of my high school career, I was told many different things. However, only one of those things was constantly repeated - junior year would be the death of the GPA of anyone who attempted to take it on. Through my freshman and sophomore year, I composed many theories of horrible things that could befall me during that dreaded third year of high school. Over the past year, however, I've learned which of these were completely obscure and which of these were absolutely true, so here are the top five myths I created or heard in my underclassman years, and whether they've been deemed true or false.
1. "Physics will be the death of me."
FALSE
This was one of the first things I ever told myself. As my friends who were juniors at the time received failing grade after failing grade, they constantly warned me about the horrors of physics. However, this past year wasn't deadly at all, and I credit most of this to my teacher. Aside from being a Navy Veteran, which gave him firsthand experience with physics in the planes he flew and the radios he worked with, my teacher could teach any topic to any student, and every tutorial I walked into knowing nothing, I walked out of with almost complete understanding. His classes had a low fail-rate on each test, and he explained every single topic in depth, which gave everyone very detailed notes to study. Those who sought improvement improved, and for those who chose to slack, he tried everything to help them get back on track. Overall, physics was not at all the death of me, and honestly, if you can plug some numbers where some letters are in a formula, than you've already mastered about a fourth of the class.
2. "The seniors do nothing but pick on the juniors."
FALSE
I'll say this once and I'll probably say it again next year - the seniors honestly don't care about the juniors. Or the sophomores. Or the freshmen. Those of them who haven't already come down with a severe case of senioritis are too busy focusing on college applications and other (#)senior year problems to even take time out of their day to bother any of the underclassmen. Honestly, majority of my friends this year were seniors, and they didn't (usually) pick on me.
3. "Your teachers start treating everyone like college students."
FALSE
Yes, a lot of my teachers stopped sympathizing for anyone who was out sick because "the assignment was on the online calendar" and "you should've seen it and done it", but in all of my classes except one I still had to ask to go to the bathroom....not exactly a "college" atmosphere. Teachers also sometimes go the little extra half-mile to help you get an A...not exactly "college-y" either. But hey, that's one thing I'll take advantage of while I can get it!
4. "Class rank gets extremely competitive."
TRUE
I thought my freshman class was competitive, but man, some of the things kids in my junior class this year did just to get their ranks up were enough to make your jaw drop. Mixed into the higher portions of the class with the kids who were either born with the memory of every mathematical formula or budgeted their time for studying were sometimes the kids who knew how to cheat without getting caught. However, I learned that if you work hard and do what you're supposed to do, your GPA will still increase. This doesn't necessarily mean your rank, because that depends on everyone else in the class, but your GPA, which depends solely on you, will get a little boost, which will in turn boost your self-esteem (probably more than it should!). This is the year that class rank becomes a serious thing, so yes, it does get competitive. Work hard and study hard, and you'll be fine.
5. "I will be so free because I will have my driver's license AND a car!"
FALSE
Maybe if I actually GET the license this would be true, but because my mom didn't let me start driver's ed until I was well into the summer after my sophomore year, I'm still waiting for that precious little card. Fortunately, with my test coming up (FINALLY), I might be able to prove this one true...we'll just have to wait and see.
