Questions for Americans who are in or just graduated high school as of 2020
I’m finally (finally) getting started on the novel I’ve wanted to write for years. The main character is a girl who’s a couple months short of her 17th birthday, in her junior year of high school. At the beginning of the story, she’s dealing with the pressures of school and struggling with a depressive episode. She’s not at the point of suicidal ideation or self-harm, but her motivation and enjoyment of things has been severely impacted.
I remember pretty well how things felt for me back when I was that age, but considering this story takes place in the late 2010′s (say around 2018/9) and I haven’t been in high school for a very long time, I just want to be sure I have some things right, especially since from what I’ve heard, pressure has increased a great deal from even what it was in the 00s.
So, if you will, a short questionnaire:
1. When do pressures for studying for the ACTs start? Do most students still take it for the first time in the spring of their jr year, or has that changed? How big is the pressure now? Are there prep courses, and how common is it for students to take them?
2. When can you start taking AP-level or college-credit courses these days? Can you start during jr year, or is that extremely rare/impossible?
3. When do you start getting advertisements for colleges and pressure to make your decision? Do colleges still do mailed packets?
4. If you are a good student through most of high school and your grades suddenly drop, what happens? Do you get called in for counselling or sent to remedial classes, or does nobody care that much?
Anyway, I’d love to hear from young people about their experiences in this area. I don’t need the nitty-gritty details of daily high school life - in fact, my character never sets foot in high school again after page 1 - but these pressures are the issues impacting her emotionally at the start of the story, so I want to make it as realistic as possible. I know that experiences are different according to school districts too, so I’m hoping to hear a variety of responses.
