I feel anxious over my journey to college. How can I gain assurance and stay focused.

Don't compare yourself to your friends. You are all unique individuals and what suits one of you might not suit another one of you. I did not do well in freshmen year of high school so I understand how you feel, but I still got accepted into several colleges (I'm a high school senior). Comparing yourself to your friends is unproductive and you can use that energy stressing out over this to focus on your academics or extracurriculars instead. I'm not saying ignore your friends, no. Be happy for them; their victory is not your loss. Also, you're a freshman. You still have two more years after sophomore year to improve your grades and take more AP's. Don't stress over your grades or coursework so much that you forget about your extracurriculars and social life. Both academics and extracurriculars are important and if you get good grades in the next couple of years, you'll show admissions officers that you improved and got better.

Hi! I am also a freshman in high school and I understand that it can be very stressful. Currently, I am preparing for my IGCSE Maths Extended Exams (IGCSE is a British programme) and I do feel slightly anxious. However, as a Christian, I find rest and peace in GOD. The Almighty helps me to get through the hard situations and I know that everything will be fine and according to His plan. I stay positive and focus on my goal. Just as @joyous said, don't compare yourself to others, it can be tempting, however, it does not get you anywhere except frustration and disappointment. Colleges like to see improvement, so if you can manage to raise your grades and take more APs in the next three years you have left in high school, colleges will be even more impressed that you persevered and constantly improved.

I think you need to know yourself and come to terms with that as a first step. Focus on progress, not comparison. Know that all you can do is your best; at the same time, you know whether you're doing your best or not. Also, hard work usually wins out over just intelligence. Yes, you may have to work extra hard as compared to your friends to stay on par with them. Yes, that may feel unfair. But set your goals and know how to reach them. If you want to maintain high academic expectations for yourself, there's no way around it. On the other hand, if that's not really that important to you, which it might not be, understand that you don't have to put yourself through the grinder if you don't have any genuine motivation or ambition. Also, find out WHY you're not doing hot. Working hard also means working smart. Don't work yourself to death day and night if you don't even have a plan for how you're going to direct that effort. Make plans to target specific issues. Learn new study habits. Find out what works for you academically. Study groups? Noise? Music? Silence?

First off, congratulations on taking a difficult course load your freshmen year! Taking an AP right out of middle school is difficult and it is great that you chose to challenge yourself! You now know what the course load in an AP class is like, and have a better idea as to how to improve in the future, which is extremely valuable. Keep that in mind because you are doing a great job. Second, while it is great that your friends are taking some higher-level courses, try not to compare yourself to them because their success does not determine your success or worth. Consider what was challenging in APHG this year for you and seek out ways to mitigate these challenges in order to feel more confident in your honors/AP classes in the future. Another thing, I have heard that colleges love to see improvement and adaptation, so the goal from here on out may be to learn from this year and apply those lessons into next year in order to do better and feel more confident. Don't stress too much about your grades because at the end of the day they don't define you or your worth. Look to joining and participating in some extracurricular activities and spend some time to reflect on what you can do to prepare for your honors classes next year, honors classes show course rigor too! You got this and good luck :)