There are so many questions in the minds of parents and students about AP courses! Teachers and counselors say they look good on a transcript--but could those tougher AP courses put your terrific grade point average at risk? Could you be over-extending yourself by signing up for AP courses? What if you get burnout?

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. If you really have your heart set on getting accepted into a very competitive college, then it is probably a good idea to push yourself, even if you are putting a perfect GPA at risk. Just know what you're signing up for! You must commit to extra long homework sessions and a little less social time.

Besides, officials at competitive colleges know how to analyze a transcript, and they will recognize students who take on a rigorous schedule. They know that some high schools are very demanding and others are not.

Read more about AP courses and decide for yourself if you might be at risk for over-extending yourself.

Have you ever wondered what a Christmas tree might have looked like in 1850? One of the reasons I like to read literature is because it enables me to learn so much about everyday life in years past. Charles Dickens wrote many essays and short stories about Christmas, including “A Christmas Tree” which he penned in 1850.

It's interesting (and a little surprising) to read over the list of ornaments that hung from the tree. And just so you know, tapers are thin candles:

The tree was planted in the middle of a great round table, and towered high above their heads. It was brilliantly lighted by a multitude of little tapers; and everywhere sparkled and glittered with bright objects. There were rosy-cheeked dolls, hiding behind the green leaves; and there were real watches (with movable hands, at least, and an endless capacity of being wound up) dangling from innumerable twigs; there were French-polished tables, chairs, bedsteads, wardrobes, eight-day clocks, and various other articles of domestic furniture (wonderfully made, in tin, at Wolverhampton), perched among the boughs, as if in preparation for some fairy housekeeping; there were jolly, broad-faced little men, much more agreeable in appearance than many real men—and no wonder, for their heads took off, and showed them to be full of sugar-plums; there were fiddles and drums; there were tambourines, books, work-boxes, paint-boxes, sweetmeat-boxes, peep-show boxes, and all kinds of boxes; there were trinkets for the elder girls, far brighter than any grown-up gold and jewels; there were baskets and pincushions in all devices; there were guns, swords, and banners; there were witches standing in enchanted rings of pasteboard, to tell fortunes; there were teetotums, humming-tops, needle-cases, pen-wipers, smelling-bottles, conversation-cards, bouquet-holders; real fruit, made artificially dazzling with gold leaf; imitation apples, pears, and walnuts, crammed with surprises…

See how you can learn some interesting stuff while you're reading over the holidays? You can read the full text of A Christmas Tree now!

It’s important to know what key ingredients to use in a really good book report. There are certain elements that your teacher will look for. Here are a few words to use in your report that will let the teacher know you've done some homework!

• protagonist: The protagonist is the main character of the story. It’s a good word to use if you really want to sound like you know what you’re doing.
• antagonist: Antagonist is a sophisticated way to say “the bad guy” or the person who makes the main character (protagonist) do a lot of the things he does.
• theme: The theme of a book is the message, pattern, or overall impression that a book gives. The theme can be summed up in a statement or a word, like “coming of age” or “rebirth.”
• point of view: The point of view is the vantage point from which the story is told. First person point of view involves a story in which the writer uses “I” expressions, such as “I saw the book on the table, but I didn’t pick it up.”

If you're like many teens, you can barely drag yourself out of bed every morning--especially when the weather turns cold. That only leads to trouble, because getting up late often means getting to school late. Here are a few tricks and gadgets that might help:

• Keep a small refrigerator in your room, near your bed. As soon as you wake up you can reach for cold water or a caffeinated beverage. You could also keep a cold wet cloth there and wipe your face off until you're wide awake.
• Wake to your favorite tunes with a WAKE-UP© iPod Speaker and Alarm Clock. This works with your own iPod to wake you up--but you don't have to get up to hit the snooze button! It comes with a full function remote control.
• If you're really a heavy sleeper, you might need to get a bed-shaking alarm clock. That's right--the Sonic Boom Alarm Clock with Telephone Signaler and Bed Shaker shakes your bed, flashes lights, and sounds alarms. No way you can sleep through this!

If you have a tip for getting out of bed in the mornings, feel free to share!

The introductory paragraph of any paper, long or short, should start with a sentence that piques the interest of your readers. In a typical essay, that first sentence leads into two or three sentences that provide details about your subject or your process. All of these sentences build up to your thesis statement.

While the thesis sentence gets a lot of attention, it's actually the very first sentence of your paper that provides your best opportunity to capture your reader. It's your one moment to show how clever, humorous, or inspiring you can be.

Learn to engage your reader (and your teacher) by creating a great first sentence with a quote, and anecdote, or a little-known or fascinating fact.

What do you do with a test once it is returned to you with a grade? It's a good idea to do a quick analysis of your performance. Ask yourself a few questions:

• Was there a certain type of question that caused problems for you?
• Was your essay short on substance?
• Was there a question that took you by surprise? Why?
• Was there information that you didn't study?
• What were your strengths?
• What cost you points?

Look over the test to see if you can find a pattern, whether it reflects a problem or a strength in your test performance. If you do this several times, you'll learn a lot about improving your work.

Many students start off on the first day of a research project with a topic that is way too broad. It's important to recognize this problem and to learn to narrow your topic before you start collecting sources. Otherwise, you will waste a lot of time and energy. Remember that a research topic should never be general.

If you find yourself standing in the library staring at a shelf full of books that could all work as references for your topic, your topic is too broad. A good topic addresses a specific question or problem. Think you might have a problem? Read more about narrowing your topic.

Qualifier words are words that give a very specific meaning to a statement, and this can be so important on a test! Qualifiers are words such as all, never, none, sometimes, every, and always.

Qualifiers can make or break you on a multiple choice or a true/false questionnaire. Think about facing the following statements on an true/false exam:

• Cytokinesis follows mitosis.
• Cytokinesis always follows mitosis.

See how the qualifier word "always" affects the statements? In fact, cytokineses usually follows mitosis--but not always. The qualifier really could trip you up if you didn't notice it.

The next time you sit down to a multiple choice or a true/false test, go over the statements and circle all of the qualifier words before you answer, just to prevent a careless mistake.

It's really annoying when a teacher or professor gives a writing assignment and doesn't offer specific instruction about how long the response should be. There is a reason for this, of course. Teachers like for students to focus on the meaning of the work and not just fill a given amount of space.

But students like guidance! Sometimes, if we don't have parameters to follow, we are lost when it comes to getting started. For this reason, I'll share these general guidelines pertaining to test answers and paper length. I've asked several professors to explain what they really mean when they say the following:

"Short answer essay"- We often see short answer essays on exams. Focus on the "essay" more than the "short" on this one. Write an essay that contains at least five sentences. Cover about a third of a page to be safe.

"Short answer"- You should respond to a "short answer" question on an exam with two or three sentences. Be sure to explain what, when, and why.

"Essay question"- An essay question on an exam should be at least a full page in length, but longer is probably better. If you're using a blue book, the essay should be at least two pages long.

"Write a short paper"- A short paper is normally three to five pages long.

"Write a paper"- How unspecific can a teacher be? But when they give such generic instruction, it means they really want to see some meaningful writing. Two pages of great content will work better than six or ten pages of fluff.

Trying to plan for college admission on your own? Don't!

There are several contacts out there who are waiting to help you through the process of applying for and enrolling in college. All you have to do is get to know these 5 people, and your task will be a lot easier! For example, most colleges assign an admission counselor to each applicant. This counselor should be on hand and available to answer questions about requirements and necessary steps along the way. Do you know your admission counselor yet?