WHAT IS A
TAP
?
A
TAP is a Texas Achievement Plan, and it’s a smart postsecondary education goals. Don’t worry. You aren’t
idea to create one to guide your studies through locked into your choices. You should revisit your TAP
high school and into college or other postsecondary at least once a year to update it. You can change clusters,
education or training. Your TAP represents your chance programs of study, and career and postsecondary goals as
to take control of your education and career choices. your interests and ambitions change. Having a plan—even
Working with your parents/guardians and guidance if it changes—is smarter than having no idea of what you
counselor, you can pick the cluster on which you want to do and why you are attending school. Here’s how
want to focus your studies as well as your career and to fill out your TAP.
piCk a program of study within the cluster.
Choose a career cluster on which to
list basic
there are four programs within the finance
focus your high school and college or
information such as
cluster (see page 12).
postsecondary studies. the idea is to
your name and school.
offer you a seamless route to follow from
high school, through college or other
postsecondary education, and into a career.
lan
Choose one or more occupations
not all texas schools offer all clusters, so
tex
as
Ac
hie
vem
en
t P
for which you would like to prepare.
ask your guidance counselor which clusters
Nam
e: Ta
ylor
Jone
s
use resources such as osCar (www.
are available at your school.
Sch
ool:
spr
ingfi
eld H
igh s
choo
l
ioscar.org/tx) to research your options.
Clus
ter:
fina
nce
Prog
ram
of S
tudy
: fin
anci
al &
Inve
stme
nt pl
anni
ng
Care
er G
oal:
fina
ncia
l ma
nage
r
Pos
tsec
ond
ary
Goa
l: ba
chel
or’s
deg
ree i
n fin
anci
al m
anag
eme
nt an
d se
rvice
s
12th
Grad
e
11th
Grad
e
10th
Grad
e preca
lculu
s
plan for what you want to do after high school. 9t
h Gra
de
algeb
ra II
geom
etry e
nglis
h Iv
your goal may be to attend a four-year university
algeb
ra I
engli
sh III
or two-year college, join the military, or enter an
engli
sh II on
men
tal s
ystem
s
engli
sh I
phys
ics
envir
apprenticeship program. your postsecondary goal
chem
istry
t/eco
nomi
cs
biolo
gy
u.s.
Histo
ry
gove
rnme
n
should influence the classes you take in high school;
worl
d His
tory
for example, you will need certain course credits to
worl
d ge
ogra
phy
qualify for admission to a college. lan
guag
es o
ther
Than
engl
ish I
lang
uage
s oth
er Th
an en
glish
II
com
mun
icatio
n ap
plica
tions
fine
arts
pe or
equi
valen
t
busin
ess c
ompu
ter
Infor
mati
on s
ystem
s I
Heal
th/pe
or e
quiva
lent
acco
untin
g II o
r
care
er
nomi
cs
cons
umer
& fa
mily
eco finan
cial p
lanni
ng a
nd b
ankin
g

& fin
ancia
l sys
tems
or
prep
arati
on o
r
Indep
ende
nt st
udy o
r
and
prof
essio
nal s
elling
or
acco
untin
g I
data
base
prog
ramm
ing a
nd
busin
ess c
ompu
ter
sketCh out your schedule of classes for your
or
busin
ess m
anag
emen
t and
busi
ness
data
base
fund
amen
tals o
r
Infor
mati
on s
ystem
s II
own
ershi
p or
ban
king
& fin
ancia
l
busin
ess m
anag
emen
t and

high school years. most of your time will be
Intro
ducti
on to
busi
ness

syste
ms a
nd b
usine
ss m
anag
emen
t
busin
ess o
wner
ship
and
keyb
oard
ing
or b
usine
ss co
mpu
ter p
rogra
mmi
ng
spent taking your core academic courses. By
carefully selecting your electives, you can get

the education and experience you need to start
Curr
icula
r Exp
erien
ces:
busi
ness
prof
essio
nals
of am
erica
(bpa
), de
ca, f
uture
busi
ness
lead
ers o
f am
erica
(fbl
a)
toward the profession of your choice.
Extr
acur
ricu
lar E
xper
ienc
es: a
cade
mic d
ecath
lon, m
ath T
utor,
perf
ormi
ng a
rts, s
choo
l new
spap
er,
ing
un
ivers
ity In
tersc
holas
tic le
ague
, Yea
rboo
k
f the
u.s.a
.
serv
ice v
olunt
eer, g
irl sc
outs
o
Caree
r Lea
rnin
g Ex
peri
ence
s: ca
reer
prep
arati
on—
paid
and u
npaid
, Inte
rnsh
ips, J
ob sh
adow
Serv
ice L
earn
ing E
xper
ienc
es: b
oy sc
outs
of am
erica
, com
mun
ity
piCk extended learning activities that complement
your classes (see page 14). work on community a Career Portfolio (see page 15) is a
service projects. plan for paid and unpaid career good way to organize information about your
learning experiences, such as job shadowing and
educational experiences, record results of
internships. all these extracurricular activities
career interest and abilities assessments,
can give you experience that will help you get into
and hold examples of your best work.
college or land a job.
include a tap in your portfolio.
Page 5
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24