<p>What are some tips for academic success in high school? Do you have any regrets on what you did/did not do academic wise? I am going to be a freshman this upcoming school year, and I was just wondering if you had any advice. </p>
<p>Face the fact that you will never stop procrastinating. Somehow, build a schedule that will try to mitigate procrastination, but you will never defeat it.</p>
<p>Don’t bite off more than you can chew. You may think that you’ll be able to handle 7 AP classes, lead 6 school organizations and win a Nobel prize, but in reality, know that you can’t. Figure out what you can handle in small doses, and try to succeed in the things you do. </p>
<p>Do, I mean don’t do drugs.</p>
<p>Make sure you call your teachers plenty of mean names and slurs. They love it</p>
<p>Don’t hang out with people that don’t care about school. You might start to get their attitude. </p>
<p>Start joining clubs now and don’t rush to join them fall of your junior year like I did~</p>
<p>or the spring of junior year, which is what I will have to do.</p>
<p>Start writing essays early. Like a week before they’re due</p>
<p>A lot of this is more about college than high school academics, but I guess they’re pretty interconnected on here.</p>
<ol>
<li>Make to-do lists or write stuff in a planner. </li>
<li>Keep a notebook or a Word document of random sentences and essay ideas you think of. This will be useful when you write your admissions essays. </li>
<li>There’s a lot of scholarship money out there for people with good SAT/ACT scores, so you should prepare for these tests (by taking the PSAT, for example) and get the best scores you possibly can. </li>
<li>Participate in class. Sit close to the front of the room. </li>
<li>Teach yourself how to teach yourself stuff. There are lots of online resources for every subject. Don’t expect teachers to tell you everything. (It’s high school, so a lot of them will, but it’s a good skill for college and life in general.)</li>
<li>Talk to your parents about how you’re going to pay for college. Run net price calculators on college websites. </li>
<li>Have a rough idea of what classes you want to take for rest of high school. See what classes are offered and what the prerequisites are. This is useful and only takes a few minutes. If you’re taking the most advanced classes offered, your schedule is fine and you don’t need to make a thread asking us about it. :)</li>
<li>If you find it hard to study at home, see if the library or Starbucks or something is less distracting.</li>
</ol>
<p>Leave some things unplanned, because nothing goes according to plan anyhow. Freshman me would be surprised at everything that’s happened between then and now. </p>
<p>Ok, I’m finishing my freshman year right now so I’m just going to give some tips :)</p>
<p>1) Go the extra mile in EVERYTHING you do. Try to build a reputation as that one kid who completes everything.
2) Get on the good side of the teachers. It’s pretty self explanatory. Don’t call out in class and don’t disrespect them
3) Do your homework! Not only will it bring your grades up, the teachers will also think well of you. It really does help if your grade is on the line between a B+ and an A-
4) Many freshmen are used to none of the grades counting for college and will still be in that mindset. Break out of it, its a horrible mindset to be in.
5) Stay organized. Use divider tabs or different notebooks or anything to stay organized!
6) Study your materials when you get home from school. It helps enforce the material you learnt in class and when the test comes around, you’ll be well prepared.
7) Join after school clubs that interest you!
8) Don’t procrastinate. I’m literally procrastinating right now 
I have to study for finals. Procrastinating work is literally the biggest mistake you can possibly make. </p>
<p>Anyways, I wish you the best of luck for freshman year!</p>
<p>Thank you all for your responses! Also, is it a good idea to take the ACT and/or SAT freshman year just to see what it’s like? I know the scores will count, but I am getting a tutor anyway for math/science that can also tutor me for ACT/SAT. </p>
<p>Make sure to try new activities that are out of your comfort zone. For example, joining speech and debate helped me get over my fear of public speaking. </p>
<p>Study. Study. Study. Hard.</p>
<p>Don’t take classes you aren’t ready for.
Know who teaches the classes you want to take. Crappy teachers can make life very sad.</p>
<p>Get involved in school activities. It’s how you make friends a lot of the time.</p>
<p>Don’t compare yourself with other people (I should really be telling this to myself). If you’re signed up in advanced classes and are doing well, then don’t worry. Keep going forward and someday other people will look up to you instead. Oh! Join clubs or other organizations. You can find people who share the same interests as you.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>While this is one way to do studying, I am personally an advocate of working smarter rather than harder.</p>
<p>A good thread on this: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/1651759-work-smarter-not-harder-p1.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/1651759-work-smarter-not-harder-p1.html</a></p>
<p>Why not both?</p>