Everything You Ever Needed to Know about Honors English but were Afraid to Ask

Amanda Amato, Reporter

Have you ever been recommended to join an honors class but were too worried that you would get a bad grade? Well I’ve been in your situation. Last year, I had a talk with my guidance counselor and she informed me that I was recommended for Honors English. At first, I didn’t know how I felt about joining until I asked my mom and my brother because he took Honors English his sophomore year. My mom thought that I would do great in that class. On the other hand, my brother told me it was a lot of work, with many tests, quizzes, and other assignments. I decided to accept the challenge and take the class. Now I am almost halfway through the year taking Honors English and passing the class with a 94 average. So if you want to know what Honors English is like, or are undecided whether or not to take this course, read on.

The course’s only teacher is Mrs. Nieves, who also teaches College Level English. She loves to push her students to prepare us for next years course, AP Lang. But because this is an honors class, the assignments are time-consuming and challenging. We have read “Julius Caesar” “Twelve Angry Men” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Some of my classmates thought “Julius Caesar” was going to be easy at first, then more challenging. The other two works are great in my opinion, I really enjoyed them both. In addition to reading, you take a final exam for each book and write an essay, on different days of course. That is really challenging, especially to study for but she hands out study guides. But if I had one piece of advice for you when moving up to English honors, it would be to always ask questions.                                                                                                                                                                              

Overall, I think it’s worth it to join an honors class. It’s important to challenge yourself. If you don’t think you have the time or will stress yourself out too much, then I don’t recommend it.. But if you get requested to join by your teacher then I think you should try it out. And you receive very low grades, then you can always opt out and transfer back to regulars. Even though you would be in an honors class, those failing grades would most likely cause your GPA to decrease. Hope this article influences, informs, and/or helps you with your future decisions.