By Ryan Chou and Maler Suresh
Getting your game together for a new school year can be a great experience. With everything that’s going on, it’s important to be current with your work, but make sure to square away some time for having fun and getting some exposure to new people. Here are our tips for high school!
1. Don’t Stress Too Much
It’s Sunday night, and you have three tests, two projects, and a 2 hour after-school club meeting on Monday. We’ve all been there, but you can deal with this. Try squaring away your time for studying early on, and start your projects early and space the work out so you don’t have to rush anything last minute. Finally, just remember, doing a bit worse than you thought on one quiz isn’t going to make or break your high school experience. Try not to focus on every point, and be sure to take some time to chill out; you’ll be able to avoid burn-out and that can even help you out in school!
2. Get Involved
There’s a ton of clubs and events at East you can get involved in, and you should make some use of them! They’re great chances for you to connect with people, learn about new things, and latch onto your interests. Check out WITS for a list of some of our running clubs.
3. Stay Organized
With all of the things you have going on in high school: homework, friends, extracurriculars, sports, etc., it’s easy to schedule yourself for two things on the same day or forget about a homework assignment. Save yourself the extra stress and start writing things down or setting up a system to help you remember. By staying organized, you can make sure that you get the chance to enjoy everything you’re doing without confusion or overloading your schedule.
4. Learn How You Learn Best
Whether it be knowing how long it takes you to do math homework at night, knowing that flashcards work best when you’re studying for Spanish, or knowing when your most productive and least productive parts of the day are, learning how you learn best is the key to getting your work done in the most efficient way possible. You don’t want to be wasting your time on study methods that don’t work for you or trying to do your homework when you can’t concentrate. Instead, take the time to experiment a little and see how you learn best. This will make learning easier for you in high school and beyond.
Above all else, remember that high school is an amazing time of your life. It’s a place where you can learn and experience new things. So if you have a bad week or get a bad grade on a test, remember that those things are all normal parts of life, and that they aren’t the things you’ll remember as a Senior or after high school. The things you’ll remember most are the things and the people that had a positive impact on your life, so cultivate those relationships, try new things, and above all else, have fun!
