Tips to surviving high school

[Doglover2]

Hey everyone!! So I know I posted asking to see other people's study tips and such but hey, why not decicate a post to survive high school and avoid burnout. Trust me burnout will make you hate school. Currently I'm homeschooled but I did attend a highschool for a bit.

1. EVEN IF you dudnt finish your homework, TURN IT IN!! A low score is better than a zero!!
2. Be yourself! If you try to fit in and be someone else, you cant pull the act for long and you will eventually develop body image problems.
3. The library will become your best friend. Wheither you need something last minute or need a spot for tutoring, BOOM the library is there!
4. Join clubs or even strat one! My school had a bike club, lgbt club, math club, movie club, spanish club, key club and I strated an art club. Keep in mind if you strat a club, it may flop. Mine did but its okay! You tried! JOIN CLUBS
5. Google sheets have a template decicated for assignment tracking! It gives you subjects but its possible to change them.
6. Google also has timers to remind you to take a break or can block out distracting websites. This add ons are free!
6. Bullet journals and planners. Always use them!
7. Some note taking straggies that Im trying out are box, outline, and cornell. Each work depending on the subject but I highly recommend testing out some methods.
8. Colorcode!! Use gel pens or highlighters. be creative! doodle symbols thatll help you remember!
9. Set timers on your phone for breaks. During breaks refill your water, grab a snack,play with your fuzzy friend and use the restroom.
10. When you set goals for homework BREAK IT DOWN. If youre just like oh do project, you wont do it. Look over the requirements and make notes on it. Like research this today, write and organize tommorrow, and begin the poster sketch afterwards.
11. Occasually for break, exercise! You'll feel more engerized and alert and exercising is good for you. Esspecially if you dont have PE
12. If your school has home ec TAKE IT
13. I use Khan academy, desmos, doulingo, and basically anyother internet resource i have. Plus khan has some fun coding and animation classes if your into that.
14. If your local library hosts events for your age group, GO. Everyone forgets about social health and my library and possibly other libraries has a de-stress event where we make slime and pet therapy dogs.
15. Peer presure can be postive! For example: "hey theres this cool club/event youll like wanna go?" or "Hey lets not smoke. No matter the curiousity." Peer presure is when a peer presures you into doing something, good or bad.
16. Step out of your comfront zone! its scary but if it fails you learned!
17. Save 50% of money earned. You wont regret it. Once you have expenses lower it.
18. VOLUNTEER COUNTS AS JOB EXPERIENCE
19. GET CPR CERTIFIED
20. Its absolutily okay to be a kid! play with toys, cuddle stuffed animals, play on the jungle gym, build with legos!
21. Anything that the school grabs your attention do it. Attend pep rallies, games, dances, events! They tell you high school sucks but make your experience suck less and you wont regret it!
22. If someone bullies you, or you concerned about a friend/yourself or about homework, talk to your teacher. Please.

Anyway those are my tips. Anyone else have tips for highschool?

[Unidentified~Unicorn]

I like all these tips! Definitely useful to me.

[Celyn]

This list was very helpful, thank you for sharing!

I would add that, similar to number one, if you are in an exam and don't know the answer to something, come back to it later. If you still don't know the answer, try to write something down because you never know where you could pick up the extra mark, even if you didn't answer it correctly.

[Latte]

Why should people take home ec? That was probably by far the most useless class I took in high school. Maybe the courses are different in your country.

I'd just like to add that people should try to take the highest levels of classes possible for getting into university if they aren't sure what they want to do. You don't want to limit yourself at the age of 14 or 15.

Take as many courses as you can in subjects like math, sciences, accounting, law, sociology, extra history courses, literature classes, drama, music etc. if at all possible. Once you get to higher grades, you tend to get more electives; I think spare periods are a waste of time, it's better to fill it with an extra credit unless you can practically use that time (e.g. if you have a job or participate in sports)

Read a lot for fun. If you can break out of the stereotypical YA novels and occasionally break out a historical fiction novel (e.g. Philippa Gregory) or get into the classics and high level novels (e.g. Jane Austin, Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone is great!, or JRR Tolkein's Lord of the Rings) and fiction, along with magazines (not fashion magazines, but ones like National Geographic), the news (biases and all), and even academic articles (you can find super interesting stuff at this website called Adademia.edu), then you're empowering yourself to become a more informed human.

When you volunteer, pick things that interest you; I've done so many weird volunteer things, mostly with kids, but also I've donated time at fitness/sports things, and much more. You can use the experience on your resume to leverage it for jobs later. If you can, try to get leadership positions because it helps.

If you can, take diet and fitness seriously. I was probably 21 before I realized I was on my way to destroying by body via the "I am young, it's fine attitude" - I still have friends who are abusing their bodies "because they can" and society makes it look normal (like, pretty sure eating piles and piles of pizza is bad for you, but consumerism wants us too, so it's ok???)

[Thinking]

I have an unorthodox advice though. I cannot say that it works for many people, but at least I am following the following schemes below:

1) Enjoy homeworks that you like doing, and quickly skim through homework you don't like. Try your best to complete all homeworks no matter what as you can learn while doing homeworks.

2) You don't need too many friends. You will find yourself much easier to fit in the few people for who you really are as they are like minded as you.

3) Join clubs such that you really want to do something in the club. Even if you plan to just be in the club, or just making friends, that's fine. But if you don't even plan to do so, there is no point of joining it in the first place.

4) I prefer the term "peer encouragement/support". In terms of "good things", don't be pressured by what your peers are doing. They should inspire you do great things like them, but not to make you follow their footsteps. You should think for yourself what do you truly want to do, and don't compare with your friends. I will skip the "bad things" part: Never give in to bad things just because they want you to try.

5) Cultivate curiousity. Read "extra stuff" about the subject that you find interesting. You don't even need to worry whether you covered the syllabus. You should be learning things that you truly want to learn. Never learn just for exams. This will get rid of most of your exam pressure.

6) If you are curious and interested in the subject, work more in understanding the subject, not the correct "learning techniques". The most efficient "learning techniques", I believe, is your will to learn that subject. If not, read more on it to find something that interests you. Ideally and realistically possible, you will be wanting to learn more and more on that subject untill you find that you are "de-stressing" by doing that subject.

7) However, do also "de-stress" properly. Take some time to exercise and rest. Your health matters, and you can save time by exercising as it lengthen your life by staying healthy.

8) This applies not to your school life, but life itself. Do only things you really see it's meaning, or do things that you really enjoy/want to do, and do more of the latter. By doing things you love, you will see it's meaning in your life soon as you grow. Let it be curricular studies, clubs, extra activities, sports, games, volunteers, and so on, do what you enjoy the most. Also occationally do things that doesn't interest you that much, if it's important and meaningful too.

9) Never take in the advice like: "High school life is the best time of your life. Enjoy it, or else you will have harder times once you step into society." I believe you should and you can make your life ALWAYS as happy as possible. It has nothing to do with you are an adult or a teenager. So, enjoy your highschool life now, and don't worry about the future. Dream your future and work towards it, and try your best to acheive what you want. Your future life can be as fun as it is now.

[Latte]

I'd like to add that some school clubs are actually provide "useful" things. Like, if all you're doing is going to events and meetings, that's great and a perfect way to be involved BUT if you get involved with the management of the club (e.g. as the finance officer, the president, etc) then suddenly you have A) great community involvement and B) a resume item.

Trust me, I speak from experience when I saw that you really, really, really need experience to do literally anything in this world -- you practically need a masters degree and 5 years experience for an "entry" level job -- I wish I'd put more effort into things like running clubs at my high school and university because getting a job with less than 3 years experience is super hard because you don't have enough experience to be competitive (which rarely allows for exclusively retail experience, unless you need something with customer service or if you got leadership skills from it).

While the kind of finance stuff you do for a school club is probably just skimming the surface of what you do for an actual job, it's still experience you would not have otherwise and you need to start somewhere to demonstrate you are learning, able to put your knowledge into action, and that you have actual skills. Academic knowledge is great but employers want to see you have skills that can be developed.

[Brandon]

1. Ideally, homework is supposed to help you figure out what you need help with...so that when you go over it in class, you can ask questions and figure out what you did wrong. It's supposed to guide you. Homework is graded because it's just an incentive for you to actually do it. Homework usually isn't graded strongly, so if you don't turn in your homework on time, it's usually not the end of the world. The important part is that you do it, however, so you can ask questions on what you don't understand. Most teachers are forgiving because they understand that homework isn't fun. They would be more inclined to take late homework when you show initiative and apologize for being late, than to grade a half-assed piece of homework.

2. You could be the most disorganized person and still make great grades. The important thing about studying habits, organization habits, etc is all about results. Do what works. You can spend your time changing pens, adding tabs, etc...at the end of the day, if it's not you, it's not you. Not everything works for everyone. As long as you make good grades and understand the material, that's all that matters.

3. Volunteering is good, and clubs. Anything to put on your resume, because it follows you into college if you want to pursue that path. Of course, it's not the end of the world if you don't. As long as you make good grades, and follow the right path of your life, you'll show enthusiasm for your future, and that's what businesses want to see. People who are motivated to pursue their passion and whatnot. Volunteering and clubs are just added bonuses, but it all comes down to your attitude, previous job history, and who you know.

4. If you don't have life figured out by the time you graduate high school, don't bother paying for college. Paying thousands of dollars for universities when you don't know what you want to do is accepted advice, but completely terrible advice. You're far more effective on taking a year off of school to figure out what you wanna do, than you would be to go into a university only to graduate a degree you never even wanted in the first place. With that being said...utilize your guidance counselors (if you have them), or any kind of counselor who can help you figure out what you wanna do. The sooner you find out what you want out of life, the better off you'll be academically in the long run. Worst case scenario, go to a community college, knock out your basics (math, science, etc) and go from there. You don't need to be paying thousands of dollars for a prestigious university under the assumption you'll know what you wanna do. It hardly ever works like that. Many people graduate with bachelor degrees in things they never cared for. On that note...if you know a general area you wanna go, like math, then you have an idea on what you wanna do. At that point, it'd be okay to pursue some kind of degree in mathematics, and you probably would be okay in the long run. Still, if you plan on spending a lot of money on schooling, make sure you have a game plan. Otherwise, you'll waste a LOT of time and money.

5. College isn't everything. There's plenty of careers out there that don't require a degree but can be rewarding. I make more money than my mom does; she's got a master's degree, and I have an associate's degree that I don't use. It's not all what's cracked up to be. When people say that you can't be successful without having a degree, they're full of shit don't have no fuckin' clue on what they're talking about. There's nothing wrong with an education, but there's more to life than College. Either you need it for your career, or you don't. Doesn't make you any less of a person, regardless.

6. College isn't harder than high school; it's actually easier. As long as you apply the things you did in high school, it's a breeze. You can set the times of your own classes and look up professors that are highly rated so you can enjoy the class rather than fall asleep. College is a much more pleasant experience than it is with high school. High school is a joke.

7. Overnighters get the job done, but realistically, you wanna get in the habit of doing things when you're supposed to do them. Break down your responsibilities when it comes to big projects and whatnot. Stay on schedule, so you won't overload yourself at the end having to study for a test AND do a big project. It's miserable.

8. Learn to drive as soon as you can. Build experience, so when you're actually on your own with your first car, you won't look like an idiot.

9. Take advantage of free tutoring if your school provides them. If you don't know something, figure it out. Otherwise, you'll fall behind; especially in math, since most things in math are connected in some way. There's a lot of Youtube videos out there that show you how to do certain problems. At the end of the day, there's plenty of forums that can answer specific questions, as well. TH being one of them (I've done it before many years ago).

10. Don't get pregnant. High school is filled with a bunch of horny dudes with testosterone and girls who wanna fight over who has the bigger tits. It doesn't matter. Avoid aggressive people, you see or experience something odd with someone, tell a teacher. In 4 years, no one is gonna give a shit that you told on Betsy who was giving little Jimmie a handy in the back of the bus. Stuff like that is not okay, harassment of any kind is not okay, and needs to be dealt with.


That's all I got for now.

[Doglover2]

I agree that if you dont know what to do, dont go into a university, yet. I suggest at least do community college to finish general education so when you figure life out, you can go back to school easily and immediately take on the career courses.
College isnt for everyone, and thats okay. You can go right into the workfeild with only a highschool diploma and work hard. Thats okay!

[RichardAnderson]

Great tips, thank you!

[samsteven]

Omg.. I've found some amazing tips in these threads... thanks.

[crystalbrincks]

You made them yourself? This is inspiring

[Latte]

I just want to hop back in here.

1. someone said to hand in homework even if it isn't done. I wouldn't do that if you can avoid it. First of all, it's just a bad habit, at a job, you can't just go to a boss and be like "you asked me to handle this project today, and it's not done, but here is a half assed / half complete effort, that's fine right?" errrr no! If you're behind on an assignment, I actually recommend speaking to a teacher before it is late (preferably not the day of, but rather a day or 2 before at least). This way to you can discuss it with them, and depending on the teacher they might waive any lateness penalties they usually apply to the assignment because you showed you were being responsible and trying to manage you time and communicating with them. If they have one of those "hand it in at the beginning of class or you get a 0, you actuslly might want to look at your school's policy for lateness penalties and see if thats' even allowed, but if you know they aren't willing to bend despite your efforts to communicate, you'll know that you have to hand in an incomplete assignment to hopefully get some grades versus 0, but at least by managing your time and communicating, you'll be able to handle that better.

2. (A) College matters. It might not matter for everyone, and yes, I know of people who don't even use their education but make more money than even people with masters degrees. But for starters, it's extremely hard to get a good paying job with just high school education. Even if you don't use your college diploma or university degree, it's still going to contribute to you getting better jobs (e.g. admin jobs have the potential to pay very well but don't often require a specific degree but they almost always require post-secondary education of some kind, they're not generally hiring people straight out of high school). Of course, this largely boils down to geography, so before scrapping your college plans because it worked out for one person in your area, look up the job requirements for positions that interest you and see what kind of education is needed for them, and then go to school for it if needed.

2. (B).... In addition, don't conflate having a masters or something with instantly making a lot of money OR that doesn't make any money because it usually comes down to individual outcomes -- if you have a masters in biology, history, sociology, social work, etc. you can either make good money or shitty money. For example, a wildlife biologist (with a masters) working for the government could make $75000+ a year... but the same wildlife biologist working for a non-profit might be making $35,000. Speaking as someone who's pursuing a masters, my income could be anywhere between $45,000 (pretty low for what I want) and $100,000+!!! A few masters, like engineering, nursing, public health, public planning, or computer science are for sure associated with higher incomes, so theres that too, but that's partially due to those being fields where the incomes are higher regardless of whether or not you want ot have a masters. Some fields you need a masters to just advance into higher positions (e.g. social work, public health) for some people in those fields, it's about wanting those more advanced positions, versus being like "I have a masters, I'm going to be rich!!!!"