i'm interested to know the way school works in america. most of all, i'd like to know about high school. i mean the whole system and particularly what u study each grade of high school and the scores u can earn, what's a diploma like. everything that comes to your mind. thanks to anyone who has time to tell me

Watch the America video I posted in thie forum then you'll understand

umm I went to private school so its a little different from public. In general school goes from 8:00am to 3:00pm with a thirty minute lunch break in the middle. Usually you have 7 classes and each are about 45 minutes. I cant remember for sure its been 5 years since I was in highschool.

You get graded on percentile and a corresponding letter grade 90-100% is an "A" 80-89% is a "B" 70-79% is a "C" which is considered average. 60-69% is a "D" below 60% is an F and is considered failing. You also have a GPA based on a 4.0 system the only way to get higher than a 4.0 is to take honor classes which are a little bit tougher. All A's in your classes mean you have a 4.0. All B's mean you have a 3.0 and so on. If you have 1/2 A's and 1/2 B's you have a 3.5 GPA More A's than B's it will be between 3.5 and 4.0. Add a C in there and it will drop some.

As far as classes it depends on if you are going to take honors classes or not. Some classes will be the same regardless. I had 4 years of America history, English, Spanish and computers. I took Algebra 1 and 2, Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus, 2 years of Biology and 2 years of Chemistry (you can also take physics) I took a year of tech theater. I cant even remeber what else I took but those are some basics.

O and on your first day be sure to kick someone's ass or you will get your ass kicked consistently for the next four years

thanks, now everything is a lot clearer. two more questions:

1. if u got all D's, what's your GPA?
2. aren't there any forced classes? i mean, here in italy, you have to take all the classes, u can't choose; from what u said, i've got that in america it's the student who chooses what to study...

Here in the states you must take 4 English classes that they assign (American Lit 1 and 2, British Lit, and something else), 4 social studies classes I believe (American Cultures 1 and 2, World History, and World Government), You need 4 Math Credits (You choose), Health (at least one year of it), Gyms, Sciences (You choose), A Year per Art, Music, and those humanities, a few other things are neccessary.

do you have hall monitors like you see on the tv programs or is that exagerated/made up?

thank you all very much, is there any site where i can find out what is studied each year (even approximately) and where i can find tests similar to SAT? i'm interested to check them out

We didnt have hall monitors at our school. It was pretty laid back. You would always see students randomly roaming the halls during class. Sometimes friends would show up in classes and hang out if the teacher wasnt doing much such as the time left in class after everyone has taken the final.

if you got all D's that would be a 1.0 GPA and your suckin

ya you have to have humanities classes like art or music or drama (acting) Mine was tech theater where we built the sets for the actors.

I never had to have a health class, I did have gym and afterschool I played varsity soccer, but because I went to private school I had to take 4 years of Bible classes and we had chapel every Tuesday. Also at private school as i am sure you know you have to wear uniforms.