I got National Merit Finalism

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That is good, you should get a lot of practice in math off of that. My junior year I skipped from Algebra 2 to Calculus simply because my course load could not bear Pre-Cal and a teacher thought I could handle calculus (he was right), and I took AP Physics Mechanics as well as Honors Chemistry. So, I had a math heavy course load which really helped my algebra because I started thinking a lot more easily in terms of manipulating variables. I really don't know if Pre-Cal is harder than Calculus but I do know that it would give good algebra practice which is what you would want.

Yeah, the scholarship for National Merit is very good. Heck, because of my national merit scholarship I am going to OU for a 5 year scholarship that will even help pay for whatever amount of graduate work I can complete within those 5 years. It ends up being a pretty good deal for me because I don't have to worry much about scholarship applications and I get to go to a decent school and pay very little.

I think that you should do wonderfully with the course-load you have planned for yourself, it is definitely math heavy. Just make sure to keep up practice. If you raise your math to be somewhat close to your other scores then you have it made. I also have problems checking my work, that is something that my math teachers complain about sometimes and it is what often times hurts my grade more than anything.

Hmmm.... you want to become a vet. Do you have an interest in biology or something? I am just sort of curious. I am going into Electrical Engineering for the cash and because I sort of like physics.

Taking accelerated classes helps.
Tremendously. Seriously, I think the classes I am taking have prepared me immensely for the PSAT. Don't worry about it too much, since it doesn't really matter as a test; no one sees it unless you get National Merit status.

Yes, I have a lot of interest in biology. I'm saving all of the 'disagreeable' classes that I want to take to get them out of the way to graduate or that I think would be good to take but am not that excited about for next year, and in senior year am planning to play about with AP Biology and AP Enviromental Science with my explo slots and thoroughly enjoy myself.

I'm also planning to take 4 years of Latin, as well (am going into my third) which is also geared towards that sort of path.

Fractalinfinity, I agree with you that accelerated classes are wonderful. I learned much of my writing ability through accelerated Lit classes, and I've chosen the highest-level classes I feel I can safely take. I do care very much about these test results as I really want a choice of good schools with scholarship possibilities, so I'm definitely taking it very seriously.

Cool, yeah, Biology is not really the science for me I don't think. I am definitely good at Bio but I just don't like memorizing everything and prefer to work with the ideas to some extent, this is why I like physics. Physics is a lot of math but it is concept driven.

It sounds like you have everything planned out, that is sort of good. You should have a pretty good science background and a good science background is a good thing for anyone working in the sciences, including biology.

Yeah, I prefer accelerated classes too.... to some extent. I mostly like how the teachers give students freedom, at least that was often the case in my school. My math and science teachers tend to have the attitude that students will either learn the stuff on their own or that they will fail and that the student was supposed to make their choice. What I hate about accelerated classes now is that they have AP reviews and more and more teachers are making them mandatory which is something I don't believe in. I believe that mandatory AP reviews is a restriction on the ambitious in order to bring up the incompetent, it is wrong because it hurts students with multiple AP classes and with pressing weekend burdens and it is only for the benefit of students who to some extent should not be in the class due to their lack of desire to succeed. BAH!! ! I hate this and I hate the policy of these teachers, I think it will hurt my grades due to the fact that I am taking so many classes and tests and because I cannot juggle all of their narrow minded competing interests.

That's why I like accelerated courses as well. Generally non-honors/AP courses muddle about and assign makework and PROJECTS (which kill me and my grade, I MUCH prefer simple papers) and the slow pace kills my ability to care.

Biology and related subjects encompass all of my special interests but my love for languages, and I'm keeping up in as high-pace Latin and English classes as I can. Latin is truly the best thing for grammar.

AP reviews? What, you mean for the exam? I've only taken one AP class so far (World History) and I've thouroughly enjoyed it, but we're not done learning the syllabus and we haven't started reviewing for the AP exam yet. Nothing has really come up like that. Is there something I should know?

I hate projects too!! I suck at presenting in most circumstances and I have no artistic inclinations so I have a crappy looking presentation that is stutteringly presented. The average AP course is usually not so crappy. I hate the AP courses actually do give out presentations and other frivolous work.

Yeah, I don't like biology too much but I do like it better than non-math/science courses. I actually don't like language too much, that is probably because both the AP English teacher and the foreign language teacher I had were hard graders and I never really saw the subjects as particularly interesting or important. I dunno, my attitude might be different if I took Spanish because I live in a state close to mexico and if my AP English teacher graded a bit easier and stimulated my interests rather than seeming cold.

AP reviews are something that are offered in my school district. I am not sure if they are offered everywhere but they are study sessions offered on Saturdays and 4 sessions are offered per day. They were originally designed to be optional study sessions where students go for extra AP preparation, however, many teachers have decided to make their sessions compulsory in order to get higher AP grades in their classes. Considering that there are only 4 sessions per day and that students can take many many AP tests each of which has different demands means that top students can be forced to choose which AP class they can afford a lower grade in. However, top student to some extent means only me, I am taking 8 AP tests and I definitely have to choose the sessions that will provide me with the most academic benefit. I am being forced to hurt my GPA for my academic ambitions and even though I might fail some of my AP tests due to the strain I should be able to decide what education I choose to pursue. The sin ultimately is in stifling my ambitions for the interests of a few teachers trying force their less motivated students to get better. It is a good plan on paper however, it stifles ambition and in doing so is an evil.

Oh. My school doesn't have them, so I think I'll be thankful. I really love my AP class, but staying after school just kills me. It's why I currently have no afterschool activities but my Obedience classes; I HATE the disruption to my routine and without a lure like dogs (my oldest interest ever, I mean literally as long as I can remember I've been obsessed) I'll 'forget' to go, even if it's something I generally enjoy. I'm going to try to join more things next year, though.

Well, the reviews aren't bad, they are just a system that has been corrupted by people. I liked the reviews last year because it was all voluntary and all teachers ever did was offer extra-credit. I can say no to an incentive but a punishment for not doing something is what I have a problem with because the school can assign homework but I strongly disagree with the school telling me to go somewhere or do something on my own time. I will not go to museums for projects, I will not go to exhibits or anything because of an assignment. The fact my French teacher told me to go to an art museum was a big factor in why I dropped the class. I will go to the library but only if I independently decide it to be in my best interest. I learn in order to succeed, not to boost my GPA and I don't like teachers dictating what I do on my free time. I don't like to have to choose between GPA and success either.

Yeah, I suppose your avatar makes sense because of your love of dogs. Extra-currics do help, if you can find anything that you like to do after school that is part of a club or part of your community then it will help you. I fell into most of my extra-curricular activities because of friends really, I have little interest in most after school stuff. It is sort of weird because I have few friends but the ones I do have tend to leave me in good positions.

Yeah, I hate being told what to do in my own time too. I mean, honestly--when it's not school, you don't dictate where I go.

I've decided that I really need to get to know some other people better, and while I'm part of the Student Advisory Council (after being basically ordered by the school librarian to join), I think it might be better to do some other things. I plan to join Certamen (a Latin trivia club) and maybe the school's Latin Club as well as definitely joining the National Honor Society (I got my invitation last week) and maybe Habitat for Humanity. ...I'm setting goals, huh?

I had some really good friends last year (although very few of them) and I mean really close, loyal, wonderful friends--but unfortunately I moved last summer, and I don't have any now. It took me three years to make the friends I had back home, and I'm not even sure I want to try that hard to make them in this school, because I am currently living in a state I am not fond of and am planning to go to college out-of-state.

Exactly!! I will do homework, I will go to online things, I may even do something outside of school for extra-credit but I HATE being mandated to do something like that.

That sounds like you have your club situation all planned out. All of the clubs I have ever joined are because of the influence of friends or even teachers. I joined Key Club(a volunteerism group) because a friend I had in middle school pressured me to join. I joined Science club because a friend I that I ended up having from Cal and Bio and Physic was the president. I joined Math Club because it was a small group comprised of my friends and they offered me a leadership position. I joined Whiz Quiz(a trivia competition group) because my US Government teacher thought I would be good at it.

Hmm.... yeah, my life would suck if I did not have that one friend from middle school who chose the same highschool as I did. I tend to not feel very close to my friends though for whatever reason, like I will often feel distant because I think that I might simply be the acquaintance that hangs around. I don't suggest that you put a lot of effort into getting friends though because being an aspie often means that you can tolerate friendlessness with greater ease and because working to get friends would be somewhat hard. You might fall into getting friends along the way though if you have traits that have some likability to them. By the way, what is your state? Why do you hate it? I am from Texas by the way, and I love roping me some cattle and driving my oversized Ford Truck that gets 6 Gallons to the mile. Texas is a fine state though and really, I consider it a good place to live.

Heh, I originally joined Latin club last year because one of my friends and I decided that it would be fun. I have fond memories of that club. Wasn't in anything else, though, and neither were my friends except they were all in band. I wasn't, because I have no musical aptitude.

I'm good for homework help, but really am not particularly friendly at the moment. I'm dealing with keeping my old friends online and working with my dog and using him as a 'surrogate friend.' If I do fall into having friends, wonderful, but I'm probably not going to facilitate that much. It's a bit difficult for me to make friends because most high schoolers don't take well to having me squeeing over things like finding a translation of the Historia Animalia, but there's a few people I like to chat with in most of my classes.

I live in Georgia. I hate it; it's much too warm here, I don't like the general people here--way too fast!--and I don't have any real attachment to this place. I lived in Kansas until recently, and before that lived in Virginia, and so I'm used to being much further north. I miss Kansas and the friendly people, the open grass, the cool chill in winter... On the other hand, I don't miss the religious crap, but then I have some of it here too. I think I might want to go back west for college, but I might stay on the East Coast area if I can get a scholarship to a really good one. I'm still wishy-washy. All I know is that I don't want to be here!

I never really like to give much homework help, I only do that for people I know and never on my own free time. My strengths when it comes to friends tend to be that I tend to be nice, a bit fun and playful and stuff like that. I guess I don't have many close friends at all but I do have people that are fun to talk to in my classes and that is sufficient for the most part.

Well, I guess I would not like moving to a place with warmer weather and where I did not have friends and felt awkward among the people. You might do better though as time passes because you have about 2 more years there and most people eventually adapt to their surroundings. I mean, you moved sort of recently, right? Oh well, college won't be too far away either(time wise( and dogs are cool, I am more of a dog person myself. I really never considered location a big part of my college choice, the only thing I had was that my parents were against me moving far away because they are weird and stuff and I wanted an arbitrary way of choosing a University(there are like a bazillion universities and I knew I couldn't look at them all or rationally eliminate enough of them based on price or quality, I actually know one person who is applying to 18 universities which is both crazy and expensive)

My school's Latin club is great... You literally just eat pizza and occasionally watch a movie. Then again, in my school that's basically Latin class in general (we haven't taken a quiz in three years, nor have we ever had homework or even mandatory classwork.)

Yeah, I am also part of the trivia club at my school- I made a lot of friends through it too.

Wow. Yeah, I actually feel that I want to move out of state for college because I want to see if I can really take care of mysefl in 'the real world' without recourse to my parents.

Last year, ours just met for dinner about once every two months. I think they're a lot more oriented towards Latin here, though.

Yeah, I figure that if you simply move out of the city then it would be enough. I don't plan on getting a car any time soon because I hate driving, because I don't think that I will necessarily need it, and because I made a deal with my parents to get money instead of a car. I know most people would say that I need a car but I figure that I could work out transportation deals with others, walk, or use public transportation. Besides, if I am able to get a job far in a big city then owning a car might not be beneficial anyway. So yeah, living in a city that is sort of far and not driving home is my plan, besides, I never use my parents for anything anyway.