<p>So I was bored and decided to create an advice thread for freshmen nutty enough to come here. Add stuff to the list, etc.</p>
<p>1) Really try to understand the material, rather than just going for A's. Remember that especially in math and science, harder classes often build on material from easy classes. In low-level classes you can often get away with not thoroughly understanding everything since a lot of it is review of the previous class (half of precalc is algebra II stuff). But the higher up you go, the more you'll be expected to remember. You don't want to get bad grades in college math classes because you don't remember the formula for sin 2A.</p>
<p>Note that getting an A in a class (or even a 5 on the exam) doesn't mean you're any good at the subject. It's very possible to get A's in calculus, then forget the material right after you hand in your tests, and not remember it when you're taking a harder class. Don't let good grades lure you into a false sense of security.</p>
<p>Besides, it sorta defeats the purpose of school if you go there and don't learn much. After all, that's the fun in it.</p>
<p>2) Keep your options open. As a freshman, you might think you're going to major in biology, but that shouldn't stop you from paying attention in English class. Not only could you change your mind (in which case you'd be significantly less skillful in the subjects you didn't care about), but fields these days often blur together -- someone who can approach a biology problem from a physics angle is often more valuable in the workforce than a pure biologist. Knowledge is becoming more and more interdisciplinary. It's wise to know at least a little bit about everything.</p>
<p>3) Start your testing early. If you get your SAT IIs done at the end of freshman year, you won't have to take them junior year, when you'll probably be overwhelmed with harder classes, social pressures (prom!), college stress, burnout, and extracurricular responsibilities. Don't wait until senior year thinking you'll be smarter unless you have a real reason for thinking you're going to know more stuff. (For instance, if you're taking honors bio freshman year but plan to take AP Bio in 11th grade, wait to take your SAT II Biology, because you're going to get better at it. But if you're not taking AP Bio at all, you have no reason to wait.) You're probably going to forget a lot of low-level stuff anyway.</p>
<p>SAT I's should be taken as early as possible for similar reasons (yet here your scores actually can become spontaneously higher over the course of a few years, so you should probably take them twice, once in freshman year and once later on). If you get a good enough score freshman year, you'll never have to worry about them again. And even if you don't, at least you'll know where you stand (and have a score to fall back on).</p>
<p>4) Try to get involved in competitions (some national ones are the AMCs, USPhO, USChO, USABO, ISEF, Intel, Siemens, JETS, and probably lots of humanities competitions I haven't heard of). Most are really fun, and if you do well they'll help distinguish you for college. Get involved in local competitions too (because plenty are really cool). If your school doesn't offer these, you might be able to pay for them yourselves or take them at another school.</p>
<p>5) Don't do drugs. Don't play NetHack. Both can screw you over.</p>
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<p>May write more later, if I feel like it.</p>