Tag Archives: high school student

Back to School: Get ready for a great academic year!

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As your summer break comes to an end, you may be excited about a new school year or dreading the early mornings. Whichever describes you, it’s always a good idea to start preparing early, so you can set yourself up for a great school year. Here are a few tips to help you get ready for the year ahead!

 

Have a plan and set goals

Before the first day of school, you should list some long-term and short-term goals. For example, “preview chem textbook before class every day” or “work on college essays for 30 minutes every morning.” Try to set goals that you can realistically achieve. Be specific on what you want to accomplish. Then, mark your calendar with deadlines and methods on how you can reach those goals.

 

Are you using your time wisely? Learn more: Setting up Routines for High School

 

Complete back-to-school tasks before your first day

The first day of school can be chaotic, especially if you have not been to the campus for 18 months! If you have never been to your school, try to arrange a visit before your first day. Get your student ID early and check out your textbooks. Figure out the route to your classrooms. Gather all the necessary school supplies and pick your outfit the night before. You want to be as ready as possible, so you can fully enjoy your first time back at school!

 

A note for seniors, you may be familiar with the campus and registration process already, so spend some time completing your college applications before school starts. Schedule a quiet afternoon (or two) before your first day back to school, have your transcript in hand, and fill out all the necessary data for your college applications. It’s one less thing off your plate for your senior year!

 

Read more: Top 10 Summer Tasks for College Admissions

 

Manage your time and schedule wisely

Staying organized and planning out your day can help you use your time wisely. Time-draining activities, such as mindlessly browsing social media, can result in last-minute panic or sleep loss. If procrastination has always been your arch-nemesis, a new year is the perfect time to tackle it. At Insight, some of our counselors prefer the time-block method: they schedule or block off time to work on college essays or application reviews. You can do the same! Simply schedule when you will be in class or studying or participating in club activities AND stay true to your calendar. Don’t forget to schedule short breaks in between, too!

 

Create your space

Imagine this: your parent’s talking on the phone; the TV is on; your sibling is jumping on the couch; the dog is barking; and your phone vibrates every 3 seconds, showing a text or a notification. How productive do you think you’d be? Probably not too much. Find a space in your house that you can claim as yours. Set up your study space and minimize distractions. Yes, that means turning off your phone and close all unnecessary windows on your computers, too. You’d be surprised how much you can accomplish when you only focus on one task.

 

Talk to your teachers and counselors

Get into the habit of talking to your teachers, even something as small as “how are you” or “thank you.” Schedule a time to meet with your guidance counselor. Don’t wait until you need something from them (like a letter of recommendation) to start building that relationship. Besides the subjects they teach, your teachers can be a great source of information. They may have recommendations for books or activities that you may be interested in. Besides, it’s a great practice to talk to people who are different from you and build rapport, which is useful in interviews.

 

 

Preparation is only the beginning. You will have to devote time and effort to keep building a successful year. If you need help or guidance, all of us at Team Insight are always happy to help! Reach out to us!

 

Best of luck,

Team Insight

Setting up Routines for High School

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Do you know how you actually spend your time?  Gone are the days of my high school life when I was waiting for the bus, I would pick up my book and read.  Now you can fill your time with Facebook, Tik Tok, Snapchat, read through your texts, Tweet, take 10000 selfies of what you would look like with and without bangs.  And before you know it, that project that was due two weeks from now is due tomorrow.  There is no possible way you can get it done in time so you fake a stomachache and stay home to finish the project. 

 

How did this happen? You started the year off awesome!  You wrote all the due dates in that school planner, you started reading ahead, heck, you even took a pre-course course for your hardest classes!  But now you are so behind, you are looking forward to Thanksgiving break so you can “catch up.” 

 

Don’t worry, all is not lost.  You can catch up before Thanksgiving.  Here are a few things you can do in order to better manage your time.

 

For the next two days, start a log of all the things you do and how much time you spend on them.  Yes, every. single. thing. Log how much time you are on Facebook, youtube, etc., how much time you spend eating, attending a class, talking on the phone, watching TV, assignments. Everything!!! There is no judgment here, don’t try to change anything you do in your normal day just yet…

 

For instance:

7:00-7:18am –  wake up, check Instagram, get dressed

7:18-7:30am – eat breakfast and check Tik Tok, check emails

7:30-7:40am – ride to school with Mom, make a Snapchat of my mom lecturing me

7:40-7:45am- get my books from my locker and go to class

class (1.5 hours)

lunch- eat lunch with my friends and talk about the snapchats or Tik Tok we posted this morning

class (30 minutes)

…… and so on throughout the day

 

This exercise should be really eye-opening to how you spend your time.  Even while studying, you may be spending way more time completing a project than estimated. Look at your daily log inventory to make serious changes. For example, wherein your schedule can you completely put away your smart phone and social media and actually focus on completing your tasks?

 

Now that you’ve found all this time you can fill, let’s fill it productively!

 

Write in your planner:

plan your day to minimize time waste

Are you just writing due dates in your planner?  If so, that’s a great start.  Yes, I said start. Go back and read over the assignments, estimate how much time each one is going to take you, and block out times to complete before the due dates.  This includes writing down when you should start studying for finals and midterms, ideally starting to review at least 3 weeks in advance of your final.

 

Make a to-do list daily:

This should include your study times and goals for you to complete.  Once you’ve completed it, check it off!  Do this daily to manage your daily schedules and track if your goals. Also take some work with you to use your downtime, like waiting for your ride or riding the bus to school, as an opportunity to get some studying out of the way. 

 

Written by Jenny Bloom

This article is written by Insight Senior Counselor Jenny Bloom.

Jenny has worked with a variety of students since 2012 to help them take the right steps to achieve their academic goals. Part of her philosophy is to guide students to consider how they will build and hone their skills and talents to make a difference in the world around them. Contact Insight Education today to schedule an initial consultation with Jenny. Read her full bio here.