1. Stop reading hacker news. Procrastinating is (probably) what got you into this mess 2. If you are in twelfth grade, you aren't expected to be a good C++ eng

1. Stop reading hacker news. Procrastinating is (probably) what got you into this mess 2. If you are in twelfth grade, you aren't expected to be a good C++ engineer/dev, you are expected to know some curriculum they gave you already. 3. If you have the curriculum, you should start grinding through the lessons you have already been given. It's what you are going to get tested on. Sorry, this may not seem helpful, but getting as far as you can through the courseware you should already have, is going to be the best thing to do. Unplug the internet if you can, and just grind through it. If you pass, it will have built character. Edit; ColinWright has some good comments too. Seriously look at what you already know, and try to use any questions/tests built into your curriculum (if there are any) to test yourself.