How To Be A Successful High School Student

How to Be a Successful High School Student

1. Make good use of your agenda. They give it to you for a reason. Don't only write homework, but make sure to write down other stuff you'll need to remember (like games, practices, study sessions, etc). In order to be a successful high school student, you need to have the ability to stay on top of all your activities. Use your agenda to stay organized and follow through with your plans. Also, use your agenda to set time limits. If you're spending more than an hour on that math assignment, you're clearly not getting it, and are only hurting yourself. Stop, put it aside, move on to other homework. Come back to it later and if you still don't get it, explain what happened to your teacher. Chances are, they'll be happy to help and not dock your grade. Just make sure you've made an attempt to do the work.

2. Stay organized. Make sure you have all the supplies you need. It may help to have one 3-ring binder with pockets for each class (maybe only a folder for an elective class) with loose-leaf paper and dividers if they help. If your teacher likes to lecture, have a spiral notebook for notes- the pages are less likely to rip out than loose-leaf. Keep papers in chronological order- they'll be easier to find later when studying. If your binder starts to get full, transfer old papers into another binder to keep at home. This way you won't have to lug them around, but they will be there when studying for midterms and finals.

3. School IS important. You don't have to be the nerd who holes himself/herself up in his/her bedroom Friday night or reads gigantic books in the corner of the room to be considered someone who takes school seriously. The truth is, school IS important. You need it to have a good resume, and you need it to get into a good college and later get a good career that will support you for the rest of your life, but even though you decide not to go to college, school does help a lot. Social wise and intellectually. It's important to have fun and have lots of extra-curricular activities, but school should always be your number one priority. That being said, never take homework, tests, and quizzes lightly! Note that extra-curricular activities are also good with college resumes as well.

4. School is important, but so is a social life. Balance is the key. You can be someone who makes straight A's in all advanced classes, but if you have zero extra-curricular activities in your application for college, you will have a much more difficult time getting accepted. It's just not attractive either way. Keep on top of your school work but make sure you let your hair down a little sometimes to join a few clubs consistently throughout your high school years. You won't regret it.

5. Get involved at your school. You don't have to wear spirit colors everyday or be a cheerleader to do this. All you need to do is to stay on top of things- current events, who won the basketball game last Friday, attending school functions like dances and variety shows, keeping up with plans your student council has for the school, etc. Just like keeping up with current events and politics is important, so is being active at your campus. Not only will it bond you with other people, but it's always good to have a collective unity over a student body. It shows that you care about the learning environment that you're in that you support all the organizations at your school.

6. Join a sport. It's easy to forget to stay in shape when the workload starts piling up, so joining a team at your school makes it one less worry in your schedule; it's already incorporated in your daily routine. If you're going for all three seasons, that's great, but make sure you're being reasonable. If you're taking all honors classes, for example, and you know you're going to have a heck of a lot of homework, you may want to consider taking a season off. Try your hardest at both your sport and your schoolwork and you should be more than great- you're healthy and on top of your schoolwork.

7. Figure out what your hobbies are and find a club that matches that. Not being an athlete is no excuse for not having something to do after school. If you're into art, join the art club. Music, and join the orchestra or a band. Join something and be sure to stick with it for a long time; it looks good on college applications. If you're not into any of your school's clubs, ask your principal to start a new one. Most likely he/she will say yes and it's just one quick and easy process into a initiating a new activity at your school.

8. Care about college. As soon as sophomore year, start visiting colleges. You don't need to decide anything yet, but it will help you decide if you want a large school or small (urban, rural, or suburban, if a state school is an acceptable choice, and so on). Visit your guidance counselor a lot- they're going to have to write a letter of recommendation so the better they know you, the better a letter you'll get. They'll also be able to help recommend colleges and find scholarships.

9 Care about your Grade Point Average. Your GPA is as important to you as your parents credit score is to them. A low credit score prevents your parent from being able to get a loan, rent an apartment, get a credit card, get a cell phone and on and on. Your parents credit score is their lifeline. It opens doors and closes doors. Your GPA is your lifeline! With a HIGH GPA many options are available after graduation. You will have many choices regarding which colleges you can attend. A low GPA limits your options. There is a program out there for everyone but having a choice makes the walk across the stage a sweet victory.

10. Make friends with everyone.

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