Gates Millennium Scholarship
Essay 2
Discuss the subjects in which you have had difficulty. What factors do you believe contributed to your difficulties? How have you dealt with them so they will not cause problems for you again? In what areas have you experienced the greatest improvement? What problem areas remain?
French and United States History are the courses that have given me the most difficulty in high school. While I enjoy learning both French and United States History, I have trouble putting all of the concepts together. Kind of like a crossword puzzle you have all of the answers to but just can't put them in their correct places, I know a plethora of indispensable French terms and facts in U.S. history, but I have difficulty tying all of the concepts in each subject together. In large part, my inadequate study habits during my junior year of high school, combined with my busy schedule have played a significant role in my difficulties in French and U.S. History.
My difficulty in French is not in reading and understanding the material but rather in interpreting the material. For instance, I can read my textbook, take notes, and understand the information that I read, but I struggle pronouncing certain words or sometimes misuse a word in a sentence. Now that I am a senior in high school I am currently enrolled in French two Honors, which is an easy class to pass, but actually understanding the material in the textbook and being able to communicate that material is a great academic difficulty I have had this year. To cope with my difficulties in French I have stayed after school and received helped from my teacher, listened to the supplemental cd that comes with our course textbook, and practiced having conversations with my friends. While all of these efforts have helped me speak French better than I previously did, I still have difficulty finding the right words to use in a sentence. But I have reflected significant improvement in areas such as spelling, writing, and interpreting.
However, my greatest areas of improvement in French are my reading comprehension abilities as well as my speaking skills. Although I still have difficulty choosing the right word to say at the right time, I can say a sentence clearly and without the aid of a textbook. This improvement has been reflected in my grades and my ability to carry on a conversation with others. Nonetheless, I still have room for improvement in areas such as choosing the right word in a sentence and also pronouncing words that are generally difficult to pronounce like accueiller or to welcome.
Unlike French, United States history has always intrigued me and is a subject I enjoy learning. Whether it's learning about the roaring twenties or about the more recent Watergate scandal, I am an avid reader on United States history. But there is one difficulty I had in U.S. History last year as a junior. My most difficult challenge in AP U.S. History last year was reading all of the material in the textbook and extracting that indispensable information into a Cornell note style format. Deciding what dates, names, periods, and other valuable information to extract from an ocean of signficant information was my greatest challenge. It seemed like all of the information in the textbook was valuable to know but taking notes was time-consuming and exhaustive. Gradually, however, I became a better note taker and learned how to read more quickly by applying and adapting the SQ3R study method. SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review) is a study method that ultimately helped me improve my note taking skills in U.S. History and also helped me in my other courses.
But I can still improve my areas of weakness in United States history like extracting information from a document based question. Document based questions are generally difficult for me because they contain an ocean full of information and have to be written in fifty minutes or less. The writing process is fairly easy but providing an adequate thesis statement and constructing a well-written essay under a given time constraint proved to be my greatest challenge last year when I took the AP exam. By writing the document based questions in my AP U.S. History Princeton review study guide, I have been able to improve my writing skills under pressure and am confident that I can pass the AP U.S. History exam when I take it again in May of 2013. While I may not have perfected all of my weaknesses in French or United States History, I have improved the areas which needed the most attention and this has motivated me to do my best in both subject matters.
I feel like I didn't answer the entire question. Any criticism and suggestions would be especially helpful.
I think that anybody can relate to the frustration that you describe, and you did a very good job with explaining your struggles. From your essay, it is obvious that you are very intelligent, and you are taking advanced courses which are designed to challenge you. It seems that you completely answered the prompt question, and you have no errors or structural problems in your paper. Well done :) One suggestion that I have is to shorten these two sentences, or break them up into a few shorter ones, they are a bit too long:
Now that I am a senior in high school I am currently enrolled in French two Honors, which is an easy class to pass, but actually understanding the material in the textbook and being able to communicate that material is a great academic difficulty I have had this year. To cope with my difficulties in French I have stayed after school and received helped from my teacher, listened to the supplemental cd that comes with our course textbook, and practiced having conversations with my friends.
Thank you so much. And I agree those sentences are a little lengthy.
I would be happy to help you with any of your essays but I do not see any listed below your response, You may want to check your threads or do you have any essays? I'm sure you do.
Once again thanks for your assistance.
