Tips for Success in High School (From a 4.4 Graduate):
1.Get assignments done ahead of time so that you can ask your teachers to point out any mistakes and how to improve. They will usually give you a blueprint to an A+.
2.Look up scholarships and financial aid for volunteer work and good grades. This will be an extra motivation to get out in the community to network and focus on your studies, along with a breathe of fresh air from running between home and school.
In the state of Florida, if you have a 1270 or higher on the new SAT, the state will pay for your first bachelor’s degree classes as long as you met the 100 hour volunteer hours requirement and submitted them before December of your senior year of high school. Also, you can add the places you volunteered at and references from your employer there to boost your college application.
3.Take AP(advanced placement) and DE(dual enrollment) classes, they will help you get ahead of your classmates/ age group and save you a TON of money and time later in college, even if you have a full ride. Plus, they look AMAZING on college applications.
Colleges will also be more likely to hand you scholarships, if you demonstrated that you can handle the course load. About 90% of my friends and I that took AP classes were awarded around $16,000 scholarships ($4,000 per year) from our local university, but this will not always be the case depending on where you live.
4.COMPETE IN COMPETITIONS AND EVENTS! They will build your education background and “wow” factor for both college and job applications. Plus, medals, ribbons, and trophies make great high school mementos, room decor, getting on the town’s newspaper, and sometimes your family members will even boast about you to the people they know, which could help you with networking later on!
5.Always get 8 hours of sleep, even if it’s the night before an exam and you forgot to study… Best be well rested and able to comprehend the questions on the test, rather than struggling to read what’s on it. Besides, the more tired you are while studying the less you retain the information anyways.
6.If you wake up later than 5am, start waking up at 5am. Does not matter what day it is or when you have classes, the people who get an early start on the day earlier in life tend to have a higher chance at becoming successful long run. Not a morning person? Me neither, but develop some grit and do it anyways. The next tip will help you get motivated in the mornings.
7.Always make a plan and a to-do list after waking up to get you motivated and to set your goals and priorities. Even better, set a time frame for them to develop a habit of getting things done on time.
8.Set aside an hour to study, each day, in the morning. You are more likely to retain information in the morning then after classes when you’re getting tired from the day.
9.Clean and organize your space (meaning backpack, desk, room, you name it). Don’t give the “organized chaos” excuse. Yes, it will get some time to get accustomed to your new organization system, but in the long run it will help you develop into a badass mastermind who can find anything in a snap, which will decrease the occurrence of the “phantom papers” disappearance and reappearance at the worst of times.
10.Fight for every possible point you can get! Whether it be a misinterpretation of a question or bonus points. You never know when you might need them or make simple mistakes on an assignment, and do your homework. Those points add up and can make the difference of an entire letter grade.
11.Keep two notebooks for each class. One for writing notes in class that can be messy, another to rewrite everything out as a method to studying at home or outside of class, along with some practice questions that are written neatly. (Add in applications to cement the knowledge/ lesson/ skill, and missed quiz and test questions to study for finals)
12.Get into the mindset of “Is this worth my time?” Rather than “do I have time?”
13.Get a digital planner such as the MyStudentLife app (this is what I’m using for college too), which allows you to time block your classes on different days, add in exam dates and homework due dates, remind you in advance of upcoming assignments with in the week of the day, displays a chart that shows the concentration of events and assignments coming up, and an overview in calendar or weekly mode.
You can also take it a step further, and add extra classes labeling them “Study Block” to block out time for studying. Did I mention that it has a cool feature that makes a line across the weekly schedule according to the time to show what you should be doing?