How I overcame Apush by Paris

How I overcame Apush by Paris - July 2026 Scholarship Essay

"We can't become who we need to be by remaining what we are."- Oprah Winfrey. When I realized that opportunities come when you apply yourself, you expose yourself to greater possibilities. Before taking an AP class I never knew how one minor change could shape the future of my writing. I used to think that my writing skills were proficient until I drafted my first LEQ essay. I was ashamed to admit that I failed my writing assignment, prior to this point In life my academic career I had never failed, Most importantly a writing paper. I significantly lacked the understanding that writing was a key factor in Apush. Apush writing is a critical part of passing the class with success and efficiency. However, I had never learned how hard writing was before. I had to take historical information, not summarize it but analyse and identify the course theme and the historical process that connects to one big overarching concept or big idea. Growing up, I was always super competitive, always competing to be better than the next person in the classroom. I had to be at the top of the leaderboard. Sometimes I would doubt myself academically because I didn’t reach that standard. I held myself too, when I was blinded by the handwork and achievements I've actually earned. Being selected for the jr. world affair council in middle school as well as the national honors society both in middle school and high school. Which require strongly writen essays that reflect the importance of being specific over vague. This demonstrates the most challenging thing in
apush to understand is how precited and critical you must be to explain your reason as well as interpret without being repetitive but informative to the readers. When I entered High School, I felt zero academic pressure that pushed me beyond my comfortability, assuming that I was so ahead of my classes because I came from the middle believing that the high school course work would be just as easy as middle school courses were. Considering that I never had a bad critique on my paper.This was represented by the writing I submitted in class, often highly graded with few remarks.i challenged myself with taking up an AP class without understanding how rigor and course heavy Apush actually was. Eventually, at the beginning of the year I would assume that the context of the information seemed familiar and that I would finish within a minute. Then my grade would be 70% out of 100. Unaware of the magnitude of the time that needed to be spent on assignment to dissecting the complex and nuances of each period. In addition, I struggles with time management that is needed to be applyed to recieve the result I desire. Learning to Balance the new fast pace course assignment in class that require an immense amount of time manage and focus was a contributor to my writing challenges. Before, Apush while I became comfortable knowing that my honors placement meant something that I had no doubt I could achieve. However, with how easy my classes were, I wasn't being pushed to think beyond the expectation. My critical thinking skills lacked significantly because i haven’t been challenged the way I need too. I haven’t had any growth because everything felt simple. There was no struggle, no pressure to dissect the rigor or nuance. I thought once I entered honors class I would feel the challenge, but I felt that I wasn't being challenged. My critical skill of writing and thinking constructively began to deteriorate because of this. All that I felt proud was gone knowing all I've worked so hard to come this far has left me declining academically. Unfortunately, I thought I was improving. I remained with the same challenges of deciphering the different formats of a literature paper and a history paper. English papers are more summarization and symbolism while Apush or ap paper are complex of understanding without being vague or nuanced with the information. This was my mistake. I applied the wrong methods of repetition rather than analysisation.
Overtime, I began to ask questions more in class, study the events from each periods and start taking practice leq serious rather than write what i assume the teacher wants to read. Soon I realized that the feedback my teacher gave me improved my write beyond apush but in other classes such as literature, creative writing and research paper that enhanced the efficiency and effectiveness of my writing. This shown me to think beyond what they show borden your curiosity further than what schools or history books tell you but discovery them for yourself. Lastly, this forever change how history for me is taught an understood as i should now more deeply and interpreted before believing.