Your primary goal throughout high school should be to set yourself up for success in your college years and adult life. With that in mind, the majority of the tips I've outlined below are dedicated to making you a more well-rounded person and presenting you with opportunities to participate in activities that will nurture interests and build your character in ways that would attract potential colleges.
10. Join at least three extracurricular activities (clubs, sports, etc.) and remain committed to them throughout your four years.
9. Attend as many events, trips, and conferences as you can fit into your schedule.
8. Explore new hobbies and interests throughout your time in high school. Whether its trying out beatboxing, teaching yourself how to code in a given language, or becoming a fitter individual, use the free time you get to not only enjoy your current hobbies but also to pursue a wider variety of hobbies. Who knows, you might learn something interesting about yourself!
7. Prioritize effectively. Make sure you know what is most important to you. Do not commit yourself to more than you can handle, and ensure you have some kind of hierarchy to distinguish important things (core subject tests, major athletic conferences) from less important things (lunch club meetings, unimportant field trips).
6. Have some fun! Go out to malls with friends, spend your free time getting to know your peers better. Social development is just as important as educational development.
5. Stay organized. Use your large breaks to plan a system of organizing yourself (binders, sticky notes, planners, etc.) or to ensure all your files and commitments are well planned out.
4. Do not ever be late to class without a valid excuse, and do not ever skip class. If you just happened to be late, apologize (without coming up with fake excuses) and quietly take your seat. When the block ends, make sure you let your teacher know that it won't happen again (and keep that promise).
3. Develop good relationships with your teachers, and be genuinely participative in their class. Maintain your integrity (See Tip #4); teachers notice these things and will be more understanding when emergencies actually do occur. While your goal shouldn't be to suckup to get a higher grade, teachers enjoy teaching students who legitimately care, and will be more willing to help you out if they see you are struggling.
2. Always ask questions, and take advantage of free blocks to schedule (in advance!) sessions with your teachers when you can catch up on material you don't understand as well.
1. READ YOUR TEXTBOOKS. Even if you somehow pay attention to 100% of class lectures for 100% of your classes, a lack of follow up renders any learning meaningless. With the exception of math (purely practice) and language subjects, the textbooks are indescribably helpful and incredibly well-written. I guarantee you will never get higher than a B+ if you don't regularly read your textbook for subjects like Physics, Economics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Psychology, etc.
And now...the most important tip of all. You could mess up on every single of the above 10 tips and still be extremely successful as long as you do the following. I GUARANTEE you will have no problem at all if you can do this right. Additionally, this will make following the above 10 tips a cakewalk.
And yet, no high schooler in the history of humanity has ever successfully done this.
ULTIMATE TIP: Do not procrastinate.
There's nothing I can say that will make you not procrastinate. Almost every video, self-help book, online tutorial, etc. I found to help with this was completely useless. Everyone will tell you to make a schedule, reward yourself with breaks, etc. but that is all meaningless advice you won't do.
However, I found this one three-part series of blog posts that completely changed my work ethic (and my life, no exaggeration). I highly recommend you read this. If I could change one thing in my high school career, it would be to have read this before my freshman year. It's a bit long, but extremely funny and interesting to read.
Part 1: http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html
Part 2: http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/how-to-beat-procrastination.html
Part 3: http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/03/procrastination-matrix.html
10. Join at least three extracurricular activities (clubs, sports, etc.) and remain committed to them throughout your four years.
9. Attend as many events, trips, and conferences as you can fit into your schedule.
8. Explore new hobbies and interests throughout your time in high school. Whether its trying out beatboxing, teaching yourself how to code in a given language, or becoming a fitter individual, use the free time you get to not only enjoy your current hobbies but also to pursue a wider variety of hobbies. Who knows, you might learn something interesting about yourself!
7. Prioritize effectively. Make sure you know what is most important to you. Do not commit yourself to more than you can handle, and ensure you have some kind of hierarchy to distinguish important things (core subject tests, major athletic conferences) from less important things (lunch club meetings, unimportant field trips).
6. Have some fun! Go out to malls with friends, spend your free time getting to know your peers better. Social development is just as important as educational development.
5. Stay organized. Use your large breaks to plan a system of organizing yourself (binders, sticky notes, planners, etc.) or to ensure all your files and commitments are well planned out.
4. Do not ever be late to class without a valid excuse, and do not ever skip class. If you just happened to be late, apologize (without coming up with fake excuses) and quietly take your seat. When the block ends, make sure you let your teacher know that it won't happen again (and keep that promise).
3. Develop good relationships with your teachers, and be genuinely participative in their class. Maintain your integrity (See Tip #4); teachers notice these things and will be more understanding when emergencies actually do occur. While your goal shouldn't be to suckup to get a higher grade, teachers enjoy teaching students who legitimately care, and will be more willing to help you out if they see you are struggling.
2. Always ask questions, and take advantage of free blocks to schedule (in advance!) sessions with your teachers when you can catch up on material you don't understand as well.
1. READ YOUR TEXTBOOKS. Even if you somehow pay attention to 100% of class lectures for 100% of your classes, a lack of follow up renders any learning meaningless. With the exception of math (purely practice) and language subjects, the textbooks are indescribably helpful and incredibly well-written. I guarantee you will never get higher than a B+ if you don't regularly read your textbook for subjects like Physics, Economics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Psychology, etc.
And now...the most important tip of all. You could mess up on every single of the above 10 tips and still be extremely successful as long as you do the following. I GUARANTEE you will have no problem at all if you can do this right. Additionally, this will make following the above 10 tips a cakewalk.
And yet, no high schooler in the history of humanity has ever successfully done this.
ULTIMATE TIP: Do not procrastinate.
There's nothing I can say that will make you not procrastinate. Almost every video, self-help book, online tutorial, etc. I found to help with this was completely useless. Everyone will tell you to make a schedule, reward yourself with breaks, etc. but that is all meaningless advice you won't do.
However, I found this one three-part series of blog posts that completely changed my work ethic (and my life, no exaggeration). I highly recommend you read this. If I could change one thing in my high school career, it would be to have read this before my freshman year. It's a bit long, but extremely funny and interesting to read.
Part 1: http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html
Part 2: http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/how-to-beat-procrastination.html
Part 3: http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/03/procrastination-matrix.html