Author | Lydia Rice |
Freshman Year is quite the year. Maybe you’re hyped, maybe you don’t care, maybe you’re a little bit of both. But trust me when I say, you’re probably not totally prepared. High school classes are definitely a step up from most classes and, if you’re just entering Scholars Guild, Scholars Guild classes are normally a step up from most classes.
Most of the time, it’s not even about how hard the course is, it’s about that “evil” little seemingly unattainable skill called time management. Another big factor is your approach and looking for ways to make things a little easier for you. In this tiny little guide, I’ll give you a list of tips that address both. Now, this numbered list is a bit random, but it’s filled with little bits of knowledge that will help you along the way.
1. Yes, you probably are lost, but just breathe. Don’t worry, yes, I know all the hallways and stairwells look the same
Honestly, I don’t have the best advice for this. I’m basically confused all over again at the start of each school year, so I would definitely stick a map in my backpack the first few weeks. Also, just ask for help. Once in 7th grade, one of my friends and I sat outside a classroom wondering where all the other 7th-grade literature people were when Mrs. Boeckman told us our schedule had the wrong room number listed because they had changed it earlier. We were late to class and that’s never a great first impression.
2. You’ll want to go ahead and stock up on paper.
A lot of paper. Notebook paper, graph paper, any type of paper you can get your hands on. Graph paper, in particular, always seems to never be in stock at Walmart when you need it. In fact, go ahead and stock up on all school supplies. Mechanical pencils, highlighters, and sharpies are a must. Trust me, you do not want to be that kid who has to start off the year borrowing a pencil. Not that I know this from experience or anything…
3. And another school supply tip, please get a small stapler and carry it in your backpack every week.
Staplers are just super helpful in any situation where you forget to staple your paper together or you didn’t know you were supposed to staple it in the first place. As a rule of thumb, teachers appreciate not having to piece together a bunch of loose leaf homework
assignments and trying to guess if it’s yours or not.
4. Speaking of your backpack, think ahead and figure out what you really need because the lighter you can make that thing, the less back problems you’ll have fifty years down the line.
Now, part of this will come naturally as you realize what classes you should have your textbooks and when you can just bring notes and homework. As a general rule of thumb, high school history classes, at least for me, have never required books being brought to class unless specifically stated by the teacher that specific week. Sciences, on the other hand, almost always need the textbook for labs - although this is mostly high school classes like Biology or Chemistry, rather than Physics where the lab is made up by the teacher.
5. Our lunch system is a bit crazy, so just stay calm and don’t get trampled in the lunch line.
Here are your options. There are the tables in the lunchroom, tables in the Mezz, tables in the quiet rooms, and this year there were a couple of tables in the hall right outside the Mezz. Now, it may sound counter-intuitive, but I would find a seat first, plop your backpack down to mark your spot, and then get lunch because then you can scan the lunch room for people you know more inconspicuously if you don’t know who you’re going to sit with at first. Also, as soon as people get their lunch, it’s a mad dash for the chairs, so it’s really best to grab one first and avoid having to look for an empty table.
6. Monday Nights
There is no easy way to put this. Monday nights are generally quite tough. Now, it may be easier to manage things as the school year starts, but for most people, Monday nights catch up super fast. You’ll start shuffling your Wednesday work to Thursday and your Thursday work to Friday and hey, the weekend is actually a really great place to do homework, you’ll catch up then for sure, and, oh wow, maybe your weekend was filled with church and friends, but that’s okay cause you have all Monday. And it’s easy to just put your work off, but ...don’t do that. But, sometimes life events happen and get in the way. When that happens, here is one tactic----- set the minimum boundaries. Think “If I do nothing else, I should do one homework assignment today.”
7. Print your assignments on Wednesday
Even if you just end up procrastinating them, knowing what you have to do is a whole lot better than thinking you know what you have to do and then getting blindsided by a project or a paper.
8. The school year is kinda structured around two pretty important tests, the midterm and the final.
These tests are obviously quite important, but here’s the thing - the first semester will drag on forever and the second semester will fly by, so it’s pretty important to work super hard in the first semester and ace the midterm, so you’ll have more leeway in the second semester. I know this because midterms are my enemy and I’ve notoriously bombed quite a few - trust me, it’s best when you have a strong midterm. 9. Skip your finals
Quite a few of your high school classes, in my experience probably at least half, either don’t have a cumulative final OR have an exemption grade for your final, i.e. kids with a 92 average can exempt our AP Physics final. Another reason being strong first semester is super important, the midterm obviously has a pretty big impact on one’s average. So listen carefully and see if any of your classes allow exemptions, the more exemptions you have the less stressed you’ll be at the end of the school year.
10. Go to your transcript meeting with your parent
I know a lot of kids don’t like going to transcript meetings, but you really should. As anyone that knows her can attest, Mrs. Walker is a fantastic transcript counselor and person. Transcript meetings are where you get input and insight into the classes you both have to take and the ones you can skip and the ones you might want to take. As you go further and further into high school, you get more and more say in what classes you take, so it’s kind of important to know what your options are.
11. Join a school club
Now that you’re in high school, you can officially get credit for your clubs. This is important for college because they like to see you have interests and participate in things that challenge you outside of school work. Also, clubs can just be super fun. You get to actually know people that maybe you only see once a week. Scholars Guild has tons of great clubs and is starting a bunch of new ones this upcoming fall as well, notably being the Drama One and the Debate One. Aside from that, we have Journalism Club, Student Life Committee, Beta Club, and Yearbook Club. IF YOU WANT TO APPLY FOR THIS FALL, the time to do so is now. Student Life Committee has already closed their applications, so you’ll want to start looking into the other options.
12. Study Groups
Find smart people. At Scholars Guild, this isn’t super hard. Even if very few people are geniuses at every subject, a lot of people will have one they really shine in. Having people to study for tests with, or even just text to ask for class information if you were sick, is invaluable.
13. Take Notes
Again, this may seem obvious. It is not. Many students never get into the habit of taking really good notes. I, myself, have a lot of trouble taking notes sometimes. High school classes are generally thirty minutes longer than your middle school ones were as well, so it can be harder to focus. If you’re in a class where you already had to take notes on the textbook for homework, like history, then just bring a highlighter, listen to what the teacher talks about in class and highlight what you have and write in what you don’t have. It’s super helpful because it shows you both what to study and what you don’t need to. If you’re in a math class, it’s still super useful because you can write down the steps of the problem as well as what your teacher said about how to solve it, which is a lot easier than trying to understand it from the textbook at home.
Hopefully, these were useful. I could go on and on about things to do, things to not do, things to try once and see if you like it, etc. The main thing is, if you’re struggling, to try to think critically about what you could improve and what could make things easier for you. Honestly, sometimes the answer is to relax and not stress out so much, while sometimes you should probably be stressing out a little more. Ultimately, your freshman year does not define your high school career, but obviously, it’s important to make the best of it!