My Highest Academic Achievement and Future Goals by Quentin

My Highest Academic Achievement and Future Goals by Quentin - August 2023 Scholarship Essay

High school is all-consuming for those who are attending, so the achievements made by those students, including myself, are more than simple school achievements. They are life achievements. The weight of those achievements may fade with time as one gains more life experience, but as a 17-year old who only knows what he's lived through, my achievements in high school have been the peaks of my life, the greatest of which would be my scoring a five on my AP US History Exam.
In my Sophomore year I took my first AP class. None were offered to the freshman so this was my first opportunity and I took it without hesitation. I was, however, nervous to no end. As someone who is predisposed to anxiety, the idea of trying something new-- especially something as difficult as an AP class-- can be extremely daunting. Nonetheless, I jumped headfirst into the class ready to do my best and score as highly as I could. My teacher for the class, Mr. Klostermann, was a great help. He was a man who understood very well how to teach to a test while still keeping the material interesting, and more importantly, he understood how to help each individual student so that they could achieve the score they deserved. He helped me greatly in that year of teaching, with his class assignments that cemented necessary material into my head, and study sessions that prepared me for the exam in ways that I hadn't previously anticipated. When the exam date arrived, I was sweating bullets, but ignoring that, I went in and did my absolute best with what I had been taught. After three hours and fifteen minutes, I walked out feeling just as nervous as I had when I walked in. I had no bar for how exams like this were scored, and the two months that I had to wait to find out my score were miserable. The day came when scores were released and I was just as nervous as when I walked into the exam. I've always been a high-achiever in school, and I was hard on myself when I wasn't doing as close to perfect as I could, so anything below a five would have destroyed me. Luckily, when I saw the score I was able to let go of that fear. The hours I had spent working myself to the bone in preparation for this exam had paid off, and I could proudly say I was one of the few who had scored a five. This is something that few people are able to achieve, and it is held in high regard by colleges, including the well-respected schools that I wish to attend, which increased my pride tenfold. Not to mention that this was the first AP exam I had taken and I had done so well. This accomplishment is still one of those which I hold to the highest regard. It was a task which I set myself to in body and mind, putting 100% of my energy toward the goal. Something I had rigorously prepared for, and something I was able to achieve to the highest extent. For these reasons, I am proud beyond belief.