forum freshmans come here i go to HS next year ADVICE NEEDED

Started March 30, 2021 by @kavinfrazier21

tune

advice now

Believing your freshman year doesn't really count and you can improve your grades later.
Sacrificing your grades for your social life
Failing to make up missed assignments.

So, these are very important. I'm almost done with my freshman year, and to be honest, my grades aren't exactly the best. It's very important to make up for your missing assignments because if you don't, your grades are going to drop preettty fast (take it from me). High school is pretty much the most important part of your life, so instead of going out with your friends constantly, you have to sometimes sacrifice your social life to do good in school and get good grades. Also, if you get an F in one or more classes by the end of the year, you get sent to summer school.

You're also going to get very stressed, and it's absolutely normal. It's important to acknowledge that it's most likely that you're going to procrastinate during highschool.

not a freshman but

• join clubs, even if it's only a mild interest in the topic
• take advantage of your school's resources (library, tutoring, career/college pathing stuff, etc.)
• Take initiative on homework and projects, dont let them build up or try to cram or finish things the day before. It works in college but in hs you have so many classes to deal with it just doesn't work well.
• Cliche as hell, but be yourself. and be nice. There are usually cliqs and groups, but no one decent cares about which groups you fit in if you're nice. As someone with anxiety, it was really awesome to have a table to sit at even if it was just temporary 'adoption' by the sporty kids. It also will go miles when you have a group project.
• Take useful classes when you have the option to. you might not have much of a choice freshman year, but later on you will. A class about movie analysis might seem appealing compared to home ec or personal financing, but one is significantly more useful than the other.
• Talk to your teachers when you need it. It is their job to help, but there are also many students to pay attention to. Reaching out for help guarentees they'll see you, and besides, it shows your teachers you care about your grades and they will offer more help or be more likely to push the rules a little for you.

One thing I learned freshman year: the library is a safe haven where you can find others like you.
Another thing I learned freshman year: don't have a crush on a senior boy, because he'll ignore you and break your heart.
Yet another thing I learned: said senior boy's friends might make good friends tho. One of them might become an entrepreneur who's promised to buy you the Lamborghini you want once he hits a couple million. And he and his girlfriend are freaking adorable together, which warms the soul.
Oh, and join clubs. I joined Authors' Club freshman year and it = dope. I was also in choir, where I met some lifelong friends. Freshman year is all about exploring.
I wouldn't have any romantic relationships freshman year, because you're going to be spending four years with these people and it will get awkward.

Don't stress too much about exams!!!
You're probably going to study hard throughout the year learning this stuff, so trust that you know it! Take advantage of study periods and go to your teachers if you think you're not getting something. Study with your classmates too. BUT DO NOT do all nighters, or study SO much that you're tired and stressed. The day before the exam, just chill, watch TV, go for a run, hang out with friends, MAKE SURE YOU GET ENOUGH SLEEP. Then right before the exam, lightly go through all the important areas of information, then when you get to the Exam?
Take a deep breath, relax, and do your best! Believe that you know the answers and you'll have an easier time of it!
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Yes studying and getting good grades is important, but so is your mental health!!
If you need to take a day off ask your parents to let you then make up for it later. But don't just take a day off whenever… if you can try and aim for a day when you KNOW you're not going to miss an important lesson/test etc. Aim for a day where you can easily make up the work! Special days where they're doing extra programs or assemblies are usually pretty good for this, especially if the assembly isn't something you're interested in OR if you can get the info later from a friend.
If you are falling behind in class, ASK YOUR TEACHER FOR HELP!! and if your teacher won't help, ASK A FRIEND/CLASSMATE, or even your parent for assistance!!
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Don't take on too many extracurriculars!
Extracurriculars are AMAZING, great for building lifelong skills/friends etc. But don't let them rule your life! I remember before I got pulled out of school that my friends had SO many clubs that I never saw them unless I was also in that club! I also noticed that some of them got stressed out, or even dropped clubs due to stress.
So yes, explore your interests with extracurriculars. But DO NOT overload yourself. Especially in your first year where you're getting used to the school.
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Learn your way around fast!
Learn your way around the school, know where the cafeteria is, the office, your classrooms, the general area of where certain classes are held, and where the gym is etc. Know how to get from point A to point B wether that be from your homeroom to math, or from math to the sports field. Or from the science classroom to the library. You do not want to get lost in the rush to change classrooms, especially if you're outside.
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And on that note! ^^^
Know how you're getting between classrooms and what you need for each class
You don't want to get lost trying to get something from your locker that's on the first floor only to be late for your class on the second floor!
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Good luck mate!

mostly, don't procrastinate
as long as your on top of your assignments and your doing all your hw, you should be fine
also don't feel pressured to take honors or ap classes unless you feel like you want to

• take a study hall second semester, you'll probably be tired by then and you're more likely to get behind when you're tired and it'll give you a good time to get stuff done(i wish i took one this semester instead of last)
• don't beat yourself up over a bad grade, obviously try your best but if your best is a c- then it is what it is
• like moss said, don't procrastinate. it's for the best to just get things done. if you do fall behind, try to get it done as soon as possible.
• eat breakfast. a good one.
• participate in class!! if you're not good at the work, you might still get participation points and it may help your grade.
  also, there's a big thread that @croccin-champagne started with tons of advice for freshman :)

I agree with all of this. and yes, check the thread if you can!

try not to date in your first year. focus on friends and your own acclimation to the new environment, and worry about dating later or never. you'll thank me for that one when your grades aren't suffering because you're stretched too thin or going through a breakup.

while you shouldn't ignore you hw in freshman year, don't stress too much! you'll get to make it up later, I promise. as long as you put the attention in.

don't skip out on opportunities for volunteer credit, and get as much as you can now, so that you can enjoy senior year.

seniors do not want to date you, and if they do, I guarantee its almost always because nobody their age wants to date them, for good reason, or because they want to date someone naive and easy to manipulate. having seniors as friends is fine, but do try to have friends your own age! seniors are graduating, so they'll be busy and then gone and you might not keep in touch

nobody their age wants to date them, for good reason

PREACH

College grad here about to pass on some advice I wish someone had told me when I was in High school:

1. Don’t walk into it expecting to do well. If you assume right off the bat that you’re going to do well and you don’t need to revise, you are sorely mistaken. You need to revise for exams and pay attention in lessons as much as the next person does.

2. Do not date in the first couple of years. I made the terrible mistake of dating people in my first couple of years, and while one of them lasted quite a while, they’re not worth it. Focus on your friendships rather than romantic relationships.

3. Don’t be afraid to be you. Just be yourself, those that like you for you will stick by you. Brush off those haters who have nothing better to do with their time than look at someone who is different, perhaps even more interesting than them, and make fun of them because they’re jealous.

4. Do not stress about exams. The more you stress over your exams, the more room you leave for errors. If you take your time and work at a pace you are 100% comfortable at, you are more likely to improve and succeed.

5. Don’t be afraid to get things wrong. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone struggles, but with every mistake is a lesson learned. Your teachers and classmates are there for advice if you need it, especially if it’s something you don’t completely understand. If the teacher asks you a question and you’re not sure on the answer, take a simple guess because it shows that you’re at least trying.

6. Balance your time. We all love getting on with the things that we want to do, but you need to know when it’s okay to set an assignment to the side and when you just need to knuckle down and do it. Don’t completely sacrifice your social life for the sake of homework, but if it means that you just spend a little less time doing what you want to do in order to get that assignment done then so be it.

Be aware of something called Executive Functioning, usually neurodiverse people who have ADHD, OCD, autism and so on have challenges with it—but even neurotypical people around the high school freshman age can have trouble with these too (and at the same time all the adults are expecting students to… just… not have these challenges, which is exponentially challenging if you are 15 years old and neurodiverse.)

The Bullet Journal method by Ryder Carroll really helped me with it. I have the book, but there's so much free information about it online on blogs and YouTube. I think one risk is that it can look so pretty and that there are so many specific journal setups for specific interests… that it can get so overwhelming that it's useless.

I went wild with highlighters and washi tape and calligraphy pens for the first few months, but now I'm super minimalist with my bullet journal.

I now only start with one future-log-combined-with-calendex, and then set up the next month on the final day of the previous month: setup calendar over next month, activity tracker, habit tracker… and that's it, that's all, except for daily logging or "rapid logging" with bullets that give this method its name.

Parts of executive functioning that this method is supposed to help with:

• working memory (collecting the information that you're supposed to be working with)
• cognitive flexibility (shifting between the thought mode requirements if different tasks it circumstance)
• impulsivity inhibitions and delayed gratification

For the third most, it isn't that if you keep a bullet journal then you'll never have problems. But the practice with journaling is supposed to assist with the increase of mindfulness. Impulsivity inhibitions and delayed gratification doesn't mean "never be inspired or spontaneous, never improvise, and just wait forever for something good to happen"—instead it means that if you want to get something done, then you'll be in a better position and have more resources and structure to plan for ways to get that done, even of some things on the way are uninteresting or difficult.

It's good advice to "be yourself" but I think you first have to find yourself… Journaling can help with that, if you notice your emotional responses to things, write it down and think it over later. You might be able to notice if you're extroverted, introverted, ambiverted, socially anxious, good at pretending to be courteous when you're cross or tired, or not good at not acting angry if you get hungry…or other things, like whether you value honesty and courage over taking care of people's feelings so that they like you, or whether you value kindness and niceness over honesty…

Basically, the way that you are doesn't have to be the way that you're always going to be, especially if you don't like it. You can get to meet different aspects of yourself, like maybe you'll find out that you can be mean, but that doesn't make you bad if you notice that it comes from a desire to protect yourself or others; or if it comes from something that doesn't make sense or doesn't make anything better and isn't the way you want to be—so, only by noticing this can you change it. Maybe you'll discover what you're really afraid of in life. Or maybe you discover what you really want to do with your life.

Otherwise…sheesh, I don't know! A global pandemic hasn't happened before in most adults' living memory… I'm not a parent or an educator myself, and I'm not saying anything bad about those community leaders and adults at all, but it's just like—the world has been turned upside-down so many times in the past twenty years that I think everybody's just making everything up by now.

whats cliche

a word?