<p>I’d ask them to start learning early. To try and answer past questions from their subjects of study and make time to rest when able.</p>
<p>We moved my daughter out of public system in 6th grade due to ADHD and I wanted a smaller more nurturing environment for her. She thrived tremendously and really improved her study habits, social skills, etc. She had great friends and got excellent grades.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, we moved her to the public high school because the private did not have APs, Honors, etc and I thought that she needed all that to get into a good college. Also, the school was so small that they didn’t have a big track record of getting kids into really good colleges and I was worried that the senior class would dwindle down to about only 20 kids. She did well freshman year but sophomore year was a disaster, specifically because of her AP classes. She should have backed down out of the AP intensive curriculum (I didn’t even bother to pay for the AP tests because I didn’t want the test scores on her record) but she did turn it around junior year and ended with a 4.2 weighted for spring semester. Her junior and senior year cannot make up for the GPA hit she took.</p>
<p>So, by the end of junior year she knew her fate was sealed and she didn’t really try hard on the SAT/ACT and was resigned to lowering her college expectations. I feel really bad for her but she is lucky that she has some good acceptances for college, but they are very expensive and we didn’t get the merit aid that would have let her go to her top choices.</p>
<p>So, in hindsight the whole AP class thing was not necessary, the AP testing too stressful, and all it did was hurt her. She insisted on taking them because she didn’t want to be in the regular classes ‘with the losers’.</p>
<p>Encourage them to enjoy the present, actually experience ALL of their HS years. Let them know HS is not just a stepping stone to the next level, it is, in and of itself a time and place in life in which one should fully engage.</p>