Moved to Iowa? Being held back?! :(?

All you can do is either wait until the principal is available to speak with or continue to try to convince your counselor. If you are sure that you understood all the material you might want to ask if there is a placement test or an achievement test available to take that they would take into consideration. If you were able to do well on such a test it would be a lot more convincing than just saying, "I know it. Really..I do." And if you do have to repeat 8th grade don't look at it as getting "held back". Just look at it as a way to review, get into the swing of things in a new place, and enjoy a really easy year before you start high school. High school is where grades really matter for college, and you would have a really strong foundation to build on if you repeated 8th. It also seems like you are interested in a lot of things. Remember that you can always look to outlets other than school to expand on and enjoy these interests. Another thing to think about...your being kept in 8th grade might not have anything at all to do with your performance, but rather a discrepancy in curriculum. Different states have different standards for each grade. Perhaps a significant amount of what your school in Washington taught in 8th grade was covered in 7th grade in Iowa. That would leave you completely unprepared for 9th grade in Iowa simply because you haven't covered the material yet. I hope things work out the way you want, but in any case, I wish you a terrific year! Good luck!