by CAYLEE COURTRIGHT
By now you are probably tired of the refrain “Junior year is the most important year of your high school career!” True or not the refrain carries with it all the pressure that is building on us juniors – the choices that lay ahead. With many of us thinking about the future, and the threat/promise of college applications looming in the next year; things can get overwhelming relatively quickly. As we make our way through the end of the first quarter and students get an idea of what their workload will be, it is important to consider that this is our last chance to impact our transcripts. Contrary to what some might believe, senior year in some ways is the most irrelevant when it comes to college transcripts. The transcript at the end of your Junior year is what colleges will see. It is when we dive deeper into our school work and focus on what our activities outside of the school day will be. Needless to say, junior year is the year where the limits of our mental health are tested. Together let us look at what this year has in store for us and how we can cope.
Let’s say you bit off a little more than you could chew, and you’re drowning in assignments and looming due dates that make procrastination look like a chocolate cake when you’re on a diet. Finding time to still have the high school experience that others are having can be a struggle. However, coming up with systems and a semi-stable mindset can make the struggle a little easier. If you are one of the many juniors who didn’t schedule a lunch this year, it’s important to try and find the space to not overwork your brains. Instead of jumping right into homework when you get home take a small fifteen-minute break/ Have a snack, read, or find a space separate from school. Once in that space, forget about school, indulge in the activity and let go for a second, however be sure to set a timer and not over do your break. When finished have a plan of attack for your assignments. Manage your work by tackling bits and pieces, that way it doesn’t seem so daunting.
Manage your time. If your teacher gives you two days or more for an assignment, get some done early. DO NOT wait until the night before. Spending more than one hour on a single assignment in one sitting is too much. Trying to get it all done in one night will lower the quality of the assignment. Towards the end of a one-hour assignment, the quality of your work goes down, and the will to keep sitting there on your computer to complete the assignment diminishes.
Separate yourself from your phone! This little piece of advice may be the simplest idea but the hardest to do. However if you can successfully pull this off you will notice how much more focused and attentive you can be to the assignment at hand. Use it for the fifteen-minute break, but separate yourself from it once you begin to work. That iridescent glow and buzz of the notifications is just too much for our overstimulated brains to compete with. Having your phone near you will actually increase the amount of time spent doing homework. It may seem ridiculous, but it’s true.
If you’re wondering how to find or create a system of organization, this chart may be just what you need! Or if you would like to explore the system a certain Sider Press reporter uses feel free to try this! Using this system has allowed me to organize my thoughts and check off the work that I have to do. Trust me, there is no better feeling than clicking the check and seeing that daunting task get crossed off.
Even if you are the most organized and well-versed student, the panic to make sure you have a great transcript for college is daunting and approaching quickly. That feeling that your transcript doesn’t measure up is beginning to hit some of us. There will only be one valedictorian so what about the rest of us. Do we need to grab every AP credit offered to even be considered for a decent college?
NO.
It’s okay if you don’t have all the AP credits. If you didn’t join a club, it’s never too late to join a club. There is more than one great student. There is more than one way to impress college admission offices. SAT scores are not the sole indicator and have lost some of their clout in recent years. If you present yourself with your story and show potential, college admissions officers are more likely to separate you from other students. There is no sugarcoating the importance of grades this year, but you’re also important. This year is about figuring out how to separate yourself from other students and create a story that makes you unique.
Figuring out a way to balance the stress of junior year while still trying to be prepared for the SATs and the ACTs at the end of the year can be a struggle. Come up with a plan, not one where you plan to write five essays, two worksheets, and run a marathon, but bite-sized plans, where the amount of work seems a little less overwhelming. Also don’t forget to live a little and get some experience; you are going to need something to write about for that college essay!